EVANSTON, IL-Some members of this suburb's plan commission suggest the 16-story rental building, which is 600 feet from the Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Street station, is too tall and also needs the required first-floor retail space.

CHICAGO-A 103-acre area in West Chatham, including a 50-acre site that once was the home of a Ryerson Tull steel processing plant, could see much needed infrastructure improvements as a result of tax increment financing.

CHICAGO-A June 2003 fire at 538 N. Milwaukee Ave. forces Royal Industries to find a new home at 4100 W. Victoria St. in the Knox Industrial Corridor. The company gets $4.5 million in industrial revenue bonds and a Cook County Class 6(b) property tax incentive.

CHICAGO-Construction Trades Associates Inc.'s $7.9-million project will add rare market-rate units to the neighborhood's housing stock. The company, the only bidder to answer a request for proposals, will pay the city $116,000 for the land near 49th Street and St. Lawrence Avenue.

CHICAGO-T.J. Maxx has 70,000 sf on the second floor of the former Mandel Brothers department store building, while Filene's Basement has 50,000 sf below grade level in the property owned by W9/ONS Real Estate Limited Partnership.

CHICAGO-Brokers report the price of three parcels on the 1200 block of North Wells Street would have been much higher if they were sold to a brave condominium developer, but the ability to make the necessary zoning changes was questionable.

EVANSTON, IL-A city council committee nixes a zoning change that would allow for a $58-million, 117-unit townhouse and row house plan. Neighbors of Kendall College already questioned whether the $9 million Smithfield Properties paid for the 3.49-acre campus was too much.

CHICAGO-Poter Construction & Development Corp. is paying $200,000 for the triangular Portage Park landmark at 4001-13 N. Milwaukee Ave., a $1.3-million write-down, and could get another $800,000 in tax increment financing.