Teachers union wants affordable housing as part of contract, survey says 85% of Chicagoans against property tax hike: Daily digest

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JVM Realty goes luxury resi complex buying in the ‘burbs. The Oak Brook-based firm acquired the 254-unit apartment Uptown La Grange apartments in La Grange. The seller was Minneapolis-based Opus Group. [Crain’s]

151 North Franklin, 625 West Adams and the Old Post Office building (Credit: Curbed and Wikipedia)

Chicago’s office tenants want the latest and greatest. Vacancy rates in Class A office properties fell to 13 percent, while older, Class B properties remained stagnant at 18 percent, according to a third quarter Savills report. The main reason? Tenants want more modern features and amenities. [TRD]

A preservation group is scrambling to find a developer to save an industrial 1930s building along the Chicago River from the wrecking ball. The group, aptly named Preservation Chicago, contends that Union Power House — which is owned by Amtrak — could be repurposed. [TRD]

The Chicago Teachers Union is bargaining with new chips. The union is demanding the city accept its affordable housing plan as part of a new contract. The request is holding up negotiations between the city and the union, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.  [Tribune]

The following may not come as a surprise. Results from the mayor’s survey show 85 percent of Chicagoans are against raising property taxes. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has not ruled out the potential tax hike as a way to help close the city’s $838 million budget deficit for 2020. The survey includes 2,500 people who attended the four town halls the city hosted about the deficit in September and this month. [Curbed]

A proposal to build a 100-unit apartment building on city-owned land in Logan Square is seeking approval. Nonprofit developer Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation would take over the land under the plan. The affordable housing project, located on 2602-2638 N. Emmett St., includes ground-floor retail space. It is seeking final approval next week.[Block Club]

A preservation group wants to save the historic Union Power House Station. Preservation Chicago is trying to find a developer willing to transform the 1930s-era structure along the Chicago River, at 301 W. Taylor St. Amtrak, which owns the building, plans to tear it down and turn it into a parking lot at a cost of $13 million. [Sun Times]

Mortgage costs and interest rates are out of step. While interest rates have fallen, mortgage costs haven’t followed at the same speed. According to an analysis by Dow Jones Market Data, the gap between the two rates is close to its highest point in more than seven years. [WSJ]