"Curious…Is Phil Berger a licensed architect?
Or a licensed developer?

I highly doubt Blair Kamin would concur with Mr. Berger on this one. Saying that they should look more like the development at Lake and Morgan!? That they look Disney-esque?! Now the buildings on May St. between Lake & Randolph with the horse statues atop the pilasters…now those look disney-esque. Not these.

Is he serious?! The development at Lake & Morgan has exposed CMU block on all sides! At least these buildings on Fulton have some character and attention was given to brick masonry detail.

But maybe Mr. Berger is right…a more suitable building with absolutely no attention to detail that is completely void from protrusions, reliefs, masonry accents or other architectural detail would've been much nicer here."

– ML's comment on our video post in which architecture critic Phil Berger expresses disappointment in the design of new live-work spaces on Fulton Market

"Would you guys like triangular ducts? Would that pique your interest? Jeez…leave it alone. Does ductwork really make you say…'No thank you. I was looking for something different, like triangular ducts!'"

– Stokes commenting on Paulj's comment critical of the spiral ductwork and bamboo floors mentioned in our post on the Park Kingsbury Residences

"The credit crunch will only have a slight effect on mortgage availability for people buying $350,000 condos (which is quite cheap for downtown). It certainly won't result in people having to pay only cash! That's just a completely ridiculous assertion. Financing will still be widely available, but it will be harder for people to stretch beyond their means. The days of interest-only financing could be over, and that's a good thing."

–UptownR commenting on Jane's comment on our post about Metropolitan Tower's closeout special

"Then explain why tons of Chicagoans have weekend places in NYC. Not sure there are any New Yorkers with a bolthole in Chicago. Please, Chicago is a great city, but it ain't the big apple."

– Paulj commenting on our post in which Chicago Spire developer Garrett Kelleher touted Chicago as a treasure compared to New York

"…Logan Square is gentrifying faster and much more successfully than Humboldt Park in my eyes. The Boulevards and mansions of Logan Square are maybe a big reason, and also that the expressway cuts through it. I mean come on, they are building a Cheetah Gym in Logan Square, which Cheetah Gym is in those already gentrified neighborhoods. And up to the North of Logan Square things are looking good for "West Roscoe Village" (or what should be called Avondale), which it borders to the north, and I am sure that will spill over as well…"

– Chicagoago commenting on our post about Bucktown and Wicker Park remaining edgy despite gentrification

"Will the median River North condo price be higher than it is today 10 years from now? Of course. Two years from now? Probably not. The point is people need to stop treating for-sale residential real estate as if it is a stock-like asset class. It's not. The flippers have packed it in, and that is a good thing. The current pain in the market will prove to be a positive for the long-term health of the market…"

– Sam commenting on our post about 9 West Erie, a 14-story condo tower being marketed in River North

"One of the most rudimentary problems to be solved with a row of housing, whether it be rowhouses or flats, is how to deal with the end condition. With stylistic considerations aside, this project completely blew it on what could have been a great opportunity for some innovative design. It simply faces the park and has a utilitarian alley behind, a front and a back, but the end condition is an afterthought. This is a particularly terrible sin if the end is what faces the street. The street units should have a different design from the others! They simply took a front-facing typology and turned it sideways!"

-UptownR, commenting on our post about 1218 - 1220 W Carmen Ave

"See, in Logan Square people would flip out to get a major cultural institution like that - I suspect lots of neighborhoods would also appreciate the jobs, tourism, etc."

– Carter commenting on our post that included a headline about Mayor Daley's proposal to build a facility for the Chicago Children's Museum in Grant Park

"It's long been one of those 'dirty little secrets :-)' among Realtors and others in-the-know that not all of the North Shore is…well, the 'North Shore.' As you move westward from Sheridan Road, towards and across Ridge Avenue, you are still technically within the city limits of North Shore suburbs but in a quite different environment. Houses are smaller and (relatively) cheaper, the shopping strips are less chi-chi and more 'affordable,' but the city services, schools, transportation, etc. are still attractive enough to qualify as 'North Shore' living. (Sort of like the -haha- 'slums' of Beverly Hills, CA - the city limits include a small working-class area along with the lifestyles of the rich and famous.)"

-  Local Realtor, commenting on our post about suburban Wilmette's surprisingly urban qualities.

"If you've been over in Wicker Park in, say, the last FIVE YEARS, you'd know that it is quickly becoming an extension of Lincoln Park west past the Kennedy. I don't think a lot of the new residents really care about being hipsters–but are more likely to worry about their Audis getting scratched."

- UptownR, commenting on our post about The Shops and Residences of Wicker Park