Most Chicago neighborhoods grow and die piecemeal — old buildings get new uses, condos sprout as shuttered storefronts slide into decay. Change happens a few lots at a time, the identity of neighborhoods forged by the advance and retreat of myriad competing interests.
But if you drive east on Roosevelt Road and turn south on Halsted Street, this accidental city suddenly falls away. Shops of the same style and vintage appear en masse. Newly minted brick condos and townhouses with landscaped lawns extend as far as you can see — nearly three full blocks to the south — as if a master chef whipped up a batch of raw dough and cooked an entire neighborhood fresh.
Read more about the giant Chicago developments that have the scale and complexity of mini-neighborhoods in Kate Hawley’s New Homes Magazine feature, Chicago’s mega-projects.