4 Chicago High-Rises Are Demolished

Public housing officials say the demolition of four buildings along Chicago’s waterfront skyline represents the beginning of the end of the high-rise era--a chapter that many Chicagoans are more than happy to close. Officially, the four Chicago Housing Authority buildings were known as Lakefront Properties. To many, they were simply “the projects,” a term that encompassed any number of Chicago’s public housing high-rises. The buildings, developed in the 1960s, were considered nice places to live until gangs and drug traffic made inroads in the 1970s. By 1985, residents were moved out of the 604 units for a renovation that never happened. Some activists are upset that only 25 percent of townhouse units slated to replace Lakefront units in two years will go to the poor.