The TIF Balance Sheets and TIF Projection Reports data published by the City of Chicago to its data.cityofchicago.org is great info on existing TIFs. But if you want to keep up with what’s going on with new TIF legislation, you still have to jump through some extra hoops. Here’s what I do.
I use Update Scanner to monitor the Proposed TIF Legislation page on the City Web site. I get a notification every time something new is published there. There were two new things when I last checked, highlighted in yellow:
As you can see, there’s a new TIF called “Zapata Apartments” in Logan Square. The exact addresses are 3230 W. Armitage; 3503 W. Armitage; 1955 N. St. Louis, and 3734 W. Cortland. The TIF was approved on May 10, 2011.
Although I couldn’t find any news coverage about this approval, here’s the Web site for the Zapata Apartments project. Here’s a Curbed article on the subject: Logan Square NIMBYs Seek to Block Zapata Apartments in Court. This post refs a Sun-Times story about a lawsuit filed in December about the project: Neighbors sue over apartment units. Here’s some recent detailed covereage on the Chicago Latino Communities Web site: Zapata Apartments becomes housing battleground in Logan Square.
Documents like the May 10 Staff Report from the Department of Housing and Economic Development are dry and cool, but there’s lot of heat out there about this development.