Looks like I wasn't the only one calling around about the Lofts at Lakeview Collection. Crain's reports this morning that Centrum Properties will turn the condos at Belmont, Ashland and Lincoln avenues into luxury apartments.

“The reason for the change is obvious — the condo market is soft and the luxury rental market for an infill urban deal of this type remains strong,” Centrum Principal John McLinden writes in an e-mail.

The six-story project, designed by Chicago architecture firm Hirsch & Associates LLC, now will include 130 apartments and 90,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a Bank of America branch and a David Barton Gym. The Chicago-based developer has yet to line up a loan for the project but plans to break ground this fall, Mr. McLinden says.

There you have it, sports fans. (Thanks to the sharp-eyed lakeviewer for the tip.)

Fort Dearborn Station, the U.S. Postal Service's sprawling mail hub at 540 N Dearborn St, is the subject of a new request for proposals aimed at developers interested in acquiring and repositioning the site.

Today I braved the legalese and read through the document (prepared by The Staubach Co., the USPS' real estate consultant for this process).

One item jumped out immediately: The site is zoned DX-7, permitting a wide range of uses, including residential, mixed-use and hotel development, according to the document. Moreover, a source close to the RFP process said a residential component would likely be part of the overall plan. The only caveat is that the chosen developer must acquire and prepare two smaller facilities for the Postal Service to occupy once it vacates Fort Dearborn Station.

The facility (shown here in a handy aerial shot) sits on a large site with the potential for a variety of projects. We'll keep an eye on what's sure to be a lengthy planning process and report back with more.

In New Homes Magazine's March issue, columnist Don DeBat takes a look at the "antiquated" property tax system in Cook County. A solution might be found in a process called "acquisition-based assessing," which is championed by groups like the Tax Reform Action Coalition.

Acquisition-based assessing puts a limit on assessments increases until a property is sold. While you own your property, your assessment cannot go up more than 2 percent a year. So homeowners will never be slapped with assessment increases of 30 percent to 120 percent while they own the property.

TRAC predicts that if an acquisition-based assessing system is adopted, an established homeowner’s assessment will stabilize because it is not tied to the price a neighbor receives when he or she sells their property.

Read Don's entire column here.

We may look back on 2008 as a year when developers put their big dreams on hold and focused instead on finishing what they had started. If that's the case, and if builders are successful in selling off their existing units, 2009 might just be a big year for new project announcements.

None of this is set in stone, of course, but it's what Gail Lissner and the team at Appraisal Research Counselors expect for the months ahead. Lissner, co-author of the quarterly Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report, offered her observations on the Chicago residential market in the March issue of New Homes Magazine.

The Chicago market, she writes, is in better shape than many other markets across the nation.

Existing home prices in Chicago have been growing annually at a rate of 6.9 percent per year since 2000 and have lost only 4.1 percent in value from their peak. This is a far different story from what is occurring in many other parts of the United States, where pricing climbed quickly and then fell fast…

Locally, a survey of resale prices in 10 major high-rise condominiums developed in downtown Chicago during the last five to seven years indicated that prices have been generally flat for the past three years, with one building outperforming the market and one building underperforming the market. Stable pricing is certainly preferable to declining pricing, and the market is weathering the changes in market conditions relatively well.

As many as 11,000 new downtown Chicago homes will be completed between now and the end of 2009, and developers have started marketing another 4,300 in the past year. With all that inventory, Lissner predicts that "this will be a year to sell out projects currently under development."

Read the rest of Lissner's column.

About 25 percent of all Americans shopping for a home in the next 20 years will want to live within a half-mile of a public transit stop, and people who give up cars completely can trim more than $6,000 from their annual household budgets.

That's the word from Peter Skosey, vice president of external relations for the Metropolitan Planning Council. Skosey wrote about public transportation's benefits to home owners in the March issue of New Homes Magazine (available now at these locations).

After college, Chicago resident Ariel Diamond chose to settle just two blocks from the Sheridan Red Line station on the North Side. She quickly discovered that the city’s streets are laid out on a grid, making it a no-brainer to get just about anywhere on a bus. And she was thrilled to discover what she calls “the magical grocery store” located adjacent to “her” train station. Alta Vista Foods carries an abundance of fresh foods, including meats and produce, all packed neatly into a tiny storefront just steps from the Sheridan stop.

Diamond’s experience illustrates why more developers and homebuyers are embracing “transit-oriented development.” TOD is pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use development built around – and shaped by – transit stations. Typically focused on capturing residential and retail opportunities within a half-mile of a transit station, TOD combines rental and for-sale homes with restaurants, grocery stores, office buildings and other commercial uses.

Read the rest of Skosey's column here.

Over the past few months, tidibits have been accumulating about the fate of Rokas International and the developer's South Loop projects. Lawsuits, foreclosures and a potential immigration hangup have resulted to several moribund projects and a local development firm in disarray, according to David Roeder in today's Sun-Times.

"He's a very nice guy and doesn't come off as a crook, but his situation got much worse," said Patrick Fitzgerald, an architect who designed Augunas' Motor Row Condominium project that was started at 2300 S. Michigan. "Desperate people do desperate things."

Records show several mortgages and lines of credit are attached to Augunas' home in Winnetka. Calls to his home weren't answered, and Augunas has set his cell phone to block incoming calls.

His immigration status is unknown. In 2006, Augunas sued the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of himself and his family, saying it hadn't acted on their applications for permanent residency. The case was later settled.

YoChicago has kept tabs on Rokas International's South Loop projects, including Motor Row Condominiums at 2300 S Michigan Ave and 2100 (still a bare patch of ground) at 2100 S Indiana Ave.

The sign for Rokas International's 2100 development was still on display last week in the South Loop, even though indications are that the firm is no longer a cohesive business entity.

It's important to approach these sorts of news items with an objective eye, but these tantalizing comments from Yo readers are hard to ignore. I emailed with a buyer last week who confirmed the pending legal nightmare for folks trying to recoup their losses at 2100.

Related Companies, the New York-based developer behind several notable high-rises in Chicago (through Related Midwest), is considering a partnership with Magellan Development, according to an article in Crain's.

The two firms have already worked closely on 340 on the Park, a high-rise delivered last year in Magellan's Lakeshore East community. If an agreement is reached, Magellan's executive leadership would likely take the helm at Related, which has been sans CEO since last fall. The article goes on to describe how current market conditions have impacted Related's other developments.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the weakening downtown condo market, Related has decided to stop marketing its proposed Canyon Ranch Living tower at Rush and Huron streets, east of St. James Episcopal Cathedral, sources say. At Related's other project, the firm has agreements to sell only 15% of 358 units at 515 N. Peshtigo Court in Streeterville, according to one industry source. The Related spokeswoman declines to comment about either project except to say, "There is a good amount of interest in all our Chicago properties."

Why aren't more people taking the plunge on a new condominium or townhouse at the moment?

“They think that things may be worse than they are. They look at headlines instead of reading the details,” says Chad Baugh of Winthrop Properties.

Baugh and YoChicago.com’s Joe Zekas discussed the market for new homes during a recent tour of the Printers Corner sales center at 170 W Polk St. Watch the video above to hear more of their conversation, or click back to this recent Yo post to learn more about Printers Corner.

Chicago-based Terrapin Properties LLC may be in danger of dissolution following a foreclosure suit against one of the company's Kenosha, Wisc., developments, the Sun-Times reports.

That could be bad news for one of Terrapin's biggest local projects, The Residences at Burnham Pointe. The 28-story, 298-home high-rise under construction at 720 S Clark St is 55 percent sold, according to the Sun-Times. A Burnham Pointe sales manager told me last month that the building would be ready for first deliveries this spring.

So what's going to happen to these condos?

Sources said (Terrapin principal Jay) Geleerd begged for time Friday on a conference call with a large number of creditors. They said Geleerd asserted he was close to selling the Burnham Pointe condo inventory to somebody whose cash would prop up the company.

"The atmosphere was pretty intense," one person said. "And nobody believes that in this market, there's an investor looking for condos."

Terrapin's inventory also includes homes at the Grand Plaza condo conversion at 545 N Dearborn Ave and new construction units at 901 W Madison St.