Jan. 6, 2009 – With the demolition of the former Pacific Garden Mission building on South State Street complete, Jones College Preparatory High School is gearing up for big change in 2009. Chicago Public Schools has changed construction plans for the now-empty lot immediately south of the school from an extension to a new seven-story, $130 million building.

The school council announced the change at an open meeting in late November where students, parents and community members gathered to discus the expansion. According to the council, the new building will hold up to 1,200 students, a 60 percent increase over current 750-student capacity.

"I think it's a good thing," said Christina Richards, a student at Jones, "because a lot of people don't like that there's not a gym right now. It will probably bring more people here."

Richards, now a junior, will probably not be around to see the completion of the new facility, as there has been no date set at this time to begin construction.

"It's disappointing because they have been talking about adding a gym and pool since I was applying here," Richards said, "but it's good that future students will get to have them."

The selective college preparatory school will also open its doors to the growing south loop population in connection with the South Loop Elementary School located just south of Roosevelt Road in Dearborn Park.

"With the growing population in the South Loop," said Joseph Powers, the principal of Jones, at the meeting, "CPS would like very much for us to, in addition to serving a citywide function through the selective-enrollment process, serve in some way the neighborhood population as well."

It is estimated that the 2010 census will show that the Loop is the fastest neighborhood in the city. As quickly as the Loop population is growing, so is the number of family households with children, said Von Deluna of the Chicago Loop Alliance.

There have been no official plans to set the enrollment boundaries, according to Tom Kubiak, President of the Local Student Council. Powers emphasized that the community needed to come up with a plan that illustrates how the shift to the new facility would work.

"I think it says something about the community that they are willing to invest so much in our children's education," said Katherine Wright, a resident in Printer's Row and mother of four-year-old Gabby Wright. "I'm seeing more and more children in the area and, it's important that we plan for their future education."

The current building, located at 606 S. State St., will be sold, and the new building will be funded with $90 million in tax increment financing and the remaining $40 million from CPS. Previous plans for the vacant lot included a gymnasium, a library and a pool.

"I've lived here for some time now, and it's quite a switch to see the mission giving way to a new high school," said Wright.  "It just goes to show how much the neighborhood has changed.  I'm sure that it will continue to do so."

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Dec. 10, 2008 – It is touted as being one of the hottest and fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in the city, but despite the rapid rise in development that has occurred in this trendy area, even the South Loop is not safe from the ill effects of the looming recession.

It is perhaps most evident at night, when the myriad of new condominium buildings stand tall and dark against the city's skyline.  The construction on most of these buildings has come to an end and residents of the purchased units are fully moved in.  But their lit-up windows are outnumbered by dark, empty units.

In an annual West Loop Town Hall meeting in late November, Ald. Robert Fioretti of the South Loop's 2^nd Ward addressed the crowd of constituents about a rise in home foreclosures in the neighborhood.  

"They're happening right here in this community," Fioretti said. "In the condos, in homes. We are in a tough economic crisis."

According to Fioretti, there have been approximately 500 South Loop foreclosures in the last year. 

"Five hundred families are no longer paying taxes, that means 500 empty homes, 500 boarded-up homes," he said. "And if we don't find a way to end this financial crisis, then we're going to have a city that has a lot of problems."

A report by Appraisal Research Counselors said that the downtown market had only 161 condominium sales in the third quarter of 2008.  That is the lowest number of sales since the downturn in 2001 that followed the 9/11 attacks.

"Sales have definitely slowed, as have rentals," said Ken Baker, a Prudential real estate agent in the South Loop.  "It's a tough time for everyone, and even with reduced sales prices, not many people have the ability to buy right now."

According to the Downtown Chicago Residential Benchmark Report, there were 74 new-construction condominiums, 62 condo conversion units, 25 adaptive-reuse lofts and one new town home in the third quarter.

Despite the housing crisis, construction and development in the South Loop does continue. While condo sales may be down, the economy has not yet stunted the ever-growing number of students in the loop.

A joint venture of two Chicago-based area estate firms, L&H Real Estate Group and Brownstone Realty & Development Co., has requested a zoning change that would allow for a new dormitory in the East Loop. The current owners of the Buckingham, an existing 456-bed dormitory, submitted the request with the intention to connect the 37- floor building at 51 through 67 E. Van Buren St. to the neighboring building.

The new and existing dorms together would comprise 1,677 beds, which would make it the second largest student housing facility in the city, second to the University Center on State Street, which holds 1,720 beds.

In 2007, according to Chicago Loop Alliance, 2,858 students lived in the loop, a population that is largely responsible for the development of businesses in the once deserted central business district.

"I'm sure that we put a ton of money into the local economy," said Ida Gretch, a student at DePaul University.  "Hopefully it will be enough to keep the businesses afloat while they wait for new residents to buy the empty condos."

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