The credit markets are mostly closed to developers unless they’re happy to pony up equity worth about 40 percent of the project’s cost. Across town are innumerable deals — some announced, through the zoning process, and even with substantial sales — that banks are turning down. But not everything has stopped…
…The only type of housing being built is rentals. Rising unemployment is causing the apartment market to soften, but many lenders still like its fundamentals.
– Two nuggets from David Roeder’s “traffic report for downtown housing” in today’s Sun-Times. Despite a promise that “there’s still a boom in the city — if you know where to look,” Roeder’s column is light on news about Chicago developments, with most of its focus turned to a new apartment development under construction in Oak Park, and the scrapped plans for a large mixed-use development at the site of Lincolnwood’s Purple Hotel.