Skip to main content

Near West Neighborhood Research and Data

Redevelopment of the West Loop continues to spread down Madison and adjacent streets, bringing new investment up to the eastern edge of the Near West study area. However, Ashland, Ogden, and the United Center create barriers to connecting the Near West and West Loop areas. The Westhaven Park development is a success in creating its own revitalization momentum, which can be supported by providing improved retail opportunities and other amenities at the neighborhood scale.

PDF Polling Results - Near West Study Area - 08.2008 (33 KB)

Jump to:

Analysis and Issues

  1. The 1.5-mile station spacing between Ashland and California on the Green Line leaves a significant gap in the service area, from Damen to Western.
  2. Bus routes on Madison, Warren, and Washington operate in the rail service gap area.
  3. The study area is well served by bus routes operating on main thoroughfares.
  4. The United Center does not have direct access to a rail station, the closest being Ashland and Medical District; yet the Pink Line passes by the arena, roughly 800 feet to the east.

Transit Lines and Routes, Service, and Facilities

Green Line
The CTA Green Line operates as an elevated track passing to the north of the study area along Lake Street. The Ashland Station serves the area, its half-mile walk circle extending from Ashland east to the intersection of Damen and Lake. The California Station on the Green Line is 1.5 miles to the west of the Ashland Station and its half-mile walk circle extends to Western Avenue.
Pink Line
The elevated Pink Line tracks are located just to the west of Paulina Street. The Pink Line stops at Polk, south of the Eisenhower Expressway and at the Ashland Station.
Blue Line
The Blue Line is located in the center of the Eisenhower Expressway. Medical District and Western stations have half-mile service areas that cover portions of the southern part of the study area.
Metra Western Station
The Metra has a station at Western Avenue north of the study area. The half-mile walk circle for this station extends into the study area.
Bus Routes
CTA buses operate on Washington and Van Buren (#X20) and Madison (#20), Western Avenue (#49 and #X49), Damen Street (#50), Ashland (#9 and #X9), and Odgen (#127).
Walk Circles and Rail Transit Service Area
The service area for most forms of transit is typically defined as a half-mile, or ten-minute, walk from the station. Therefore, a half-mile radius circle centered on a transit station provides an indication of the service area. In an area with an urban street grid the walk circle will roughly correspond to actual walk distances along public right of way, however, where interruptions in the grid occur a half-mile walk can fall short of the circle radius. In the study area, direct access to stations is provided on main streets, such as Ashland. Even in areas where the grid is interrupted, by superblocks or large surface parking lots such as those around the United Center, pedestrian access to these main streets from most locations is possible without taking indirect routes.

Access to Commercial: Land Use

Neighborhood grocers, coffee shops and diners, bookstores, and boutique shops provide more than necessary daily goods and services, they also offer spaces for public interaction that constitutes a large part of the social life of the community. A neighborhood without access to local commercial space is poorer culturally as well as in terms of economic exchange. Market experts shout out for more rooftops to bring the necessary demand, and new rooftops (or housing units) are being constructed in the Reconnecting Neighborhoods study areas. Planning and zoning can help to reserve quality locations for new retail, rather than miss opportunities as residential infill moves forward.

Overall Land Use Pattern
The study area includes a variety of land use and development patterns, organized on a street grid of long blocks separated by a series of major east-west arterial streets. The Lake-Kinzie Industrial Corridor abuts the neighborhood to the north, resulting in an abrupt change in land use pattern and character separated by the elevated Green Line tracks above Lake Street. Limited commercial development is present primarily at the fringes of the study area, along Western Avenue and at Ashland/Ogden. The development pattern can be understood as four areas divided by the CTA Pink Line, Damen Avenue and Washington Boulevard.
Area East of Pink Line
Land uses east of the CTA Pink Line primarily include institutional uses along Ashland Avenue and a high-rise senior housing development near Ogden Avenue. Smaller scale residential uses and some vacant parcels are present primarily along Warren Boulevard, sandwiched between these larger scale uses to the north and south.
United Center and Parking Lots
The United Center, a significant regional entertainment destination throughout the year, is located between Damen Avenue and the CTA Pink Line surrounded by a vast expanse of surface parking. These lots interrupt the north-south street pattern at Wolcott, and are surrounded by tall security fences.
Area North of Washington, West of Pink Line
This area comprises several phases of the ongoing CTA transformation of the former Henry Horner Homes into the rowhouse-style Villages of Westhaven Park. At the eastern end of the development condominium development is also accommodated. While a new street system has been created in the completed development area to the west, east-west streets between Lake and Washington do not extend east to Damen. The development is oriented away from Lake Street, due to the industrial character of that street. Limited commercial uses in mixed use structures are anticipated on the east side of Damen near Lake Street.
Area South of Washington, West of United Center
This area provides the only significant commercial development in the study area, with several existing or planned auto-oriented businesses located along Western Avenue. Rowhouse and three-flat type residential uses predominate along the wide east-west arterials through the area. South of Madison, strong neighborhood institutions and traffic calming features have sparked reinvestment and compatible infill, creating a comfortable neighborhood environment that extends south of Monroe.
logo
Take Action!

NEAR WEST