The Curbed Cup, Curbed Chicago's annual Neighborhood of the Year tournament, is kicking off with 16 'hoods, which will square off in a series of one-on-one matchups. Voting for each matchup will close in the wee hours of the following day. We'll showcase two first round contests per day through the week with results reviewed on Friday. Let the eliminations begin!
Hyde Park enters the ring with the more eventful year on paper. But then, it's a lot larger than Roscoe Village and serves as the South Side's downtown. Big developments, talked about for ages, actually descended on Hyde Park this year: Harper Court's mix of office space, hotel rooms, retail, and restaurants; UChicago's Logan Center for the Arts and new medical building; and the Del Prado restoration. Momentum is swinging in favor of the Jeanne Gang-designed City Hyde Park apartment project, although it was recently reconfigured from two buildings to one. The neighborhood's spectacular lakefront setting, great architecture, and relative affordability are nothing new.
Roscoe Village can otherwise be thought of as West Lakeview. The residential character carries over, as does the cost of living. Its commercial strips have excessive charm, particularly the relaxed span of Roscoe Street from Damen to Western. Belmont ain't bad, either. There's not a ton to report, as the area is fairly well stuck on yuppie. But it's not supposed to be a hub of any sort. And agree or not, it received two nominations. One interesting adaptive reuse project has launched in an old technology park just across Western. A warehouse at the Bradley Business Center will become a high-tech incubator. The 260,000 square feet of leasable space could attract as many as a dozen small firms to the neighborhood.
·Curbed Cup 2012