CUED
Center
for Urban Economic Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
Community
Impacts of Proposed Community Shopping Center at the
W.F. Hall Printing Company
Site
Project Number: 249
Report Date: March 1987
Author(s): John Betancur
The Center for Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UICUED) has examined the potential impact of a community shopping center at the former site of W.F. Hall Printing Company (4600-4632 W. Diversey Avenue). This analysis was requested by the Northwest Neighborhood Federation as part of an effort to determine the pros and cons of the proposed new use compared to its redevelopment for only manufacturing.
Closed in 1985, the site was one of the larger --if not the largest-- manufacturing facilities available in the Chicago area until its purchase last December for development of a community shopping center and a small manufacturing operation. If approved, this transformation of a manufacturing district into a shopping center will continue and indeed reinforce an ongoing trend in this and other areas of Chicago. In fact, starting with the Brickyard regional shopping center, the area has witnessed the conversion of many manufacturing sites into commercial projects in recent years. Such conversions not only have increased retail very substantially but have deprived the area of key manufacturing sites and jobs.
Local actors are concerned about the ability of the area to handle more retail, the opportunities lost with these conversions and the ability of the area to retain its existing manufacturing base with this type of pressure. Evidence from other parts of the city such as Lincoln Park, River North and Goose Island/Clybourn industrial corridor suggests that these conversions play a key role in driving out other manufacturers.
Staff at UICUED have analyzed the impact of the proposed conversion on job opportunities
in the area, traffic flow and safety and on existing retail. Our analysis leads
to three key conclusions:
1) The area is already well-served by retail stores.
The development of new stores will largely cause existing businesses to close.
Thus, there will be no net benefits in either jobs or consumer choice.
2)
The proposed commercial use of the site is likely to generate less than a fourth
of the number of jobs that would be generated by a manufacturing use. Furthermore,
retail jobs pay relatively little and are of limited use to the residents of this
area, who have traditionally depended heavily on better paying manufacturing jobs.
3) The site poses severe traffic problems. It has very poor accessibility and
Diversey Avenue, the main access road, already has very high traffic volume and
among the highest accident rates in Chicago.
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
400 South Peoria Street, Suite 2100, Chicago, Illinois, 60607-7035
Phone: (312) 996-6336 Fax: (312) 996-5766
This website is maintained by Cedric
Williams, Manager System Services,
UIC-Center for Urban Economic Development
at Chicago
