Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting that A. Finkl & Sons has acquired a large parcel on the city’s south side. Crain’s contends that this is fueling speculation that Finkl may move from its current Lincoln Park location.
Finkl is part of the Clybourn Corridor Planned Manufacturing District (PMD), the jagged eastern boundaries of which lie west of Clybourn along the Chicago River, from just south of Webster Ave to North Ave.
The Clybourn PMD, the first of 10 in the city, was adopted in the late 1980s after heated debate. At the time, some observers viewed it as a temporary measure on the part of a small number of large property owners in the PMD to minimize real estate taxes, forestall environmental pressures, and wait for surrounding development to increase their land values.
Has the Clybourn Corridor PMD outlived its usefulness? Will it be terminated? Should it be? If it is, how should this prime location be redeveloped?