The South Loop has always been strong (some would say unbeatable) on instititutions and big amenities - the Art Institute, Soldiers Fields, Grant Park, the lakefront, Harold Washington Library, the Museum Campus. But skeptics have used other touchstones for why the South Loop was not a real neighborhood. Where was the corner bar, the church, the grocery store? Where were the schools and restaurants, the sidewalk traffic that transforms a geographic area into a community?

The answers to those questions have been coming faster than you can say tax-increment financing district during the last two years, and more will be provided in the next 12 months.

South Loop residents who once complained of not having a good grocery store now have their choice of two large ones, the Jewel at 13th and Wabash, and the Dominick's, at Roosevelt and Canal. Major new retail developments on key strips also have been announced, with construction expected to start within a year.

Café Gourmand has opened a trendy coffee shop at 18th and Indiana and another new coffee shop is slated for one of the side spaces next to the new Jewel. Three relatively new restaurants, Bar Louie, the Chicago Firehouse and Gioco, soon will be joined by two more, an Irish pub/restaurant and a place specializing in breakfast and lunch.

At a time when many parishes have been shrinking, the Chicago Archdiocese is building a new, expanded church for St. Mary's, in the 1500 block of South Michigan. Schools also are on the move in the South Loop. The somewhat controversial conversion of Jones Commercial High School into a magnet school is underway, and the Chicago Board of Education is building a state-of-the-art teaching academy on Cermak. The working grade school will train city teachers and include a preschool, daycare facilities and a community center.

Not only is the South Loop starting to look like a neighborhood, in many ways, it is a model for neighborhoods throughout the city. Because of its newness and location, close enough to downtown to have real cachet but far enough south to be appealing to South Siders, the South Loop has developed as one of the few integrated middle-class communities in Chicago.

The Near South also has had the benefit of careful planning and slow growth, managing to avoid some of the clogged arteries and infrastructure problems of older neighborhoods to the north.

"I've lived in Lincoln Park and Lakeview, and I think what attracts me to the South Loop are all the tangibles - Grant Park, which they've done a tremendous job with, the Museum Campus, great access to the lake, the infrastructure," says Matt O'Malley, owner of the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, 1401 S. Michigan, as well as the Schoolyard Tavern, at Southport and School. "It's not as congested down here. It might take me 20 minutes to get from School to Belmont on a Saturday. Down here, there are more avenues. I think it's taken longer to develop than other parts of the city, but also a lot more thought process has gone into the infrastructure, which will be good in the long run."

O'Malley's faith in the neighborhood is not idle. He lives in a new condo development on South Michigan Avenue and has plans to open two more restaurants in the South Loop. Grace O'Malley's will be an Irish pub serving "comfort food," at 1416 S. Michigan, a nice place to hang out with a medium to low price range, O'Malley says. He hopes to have this establishment open by March, in time for St. Patrick's Day. He also plans to open a restaurant specializing in breakfast and lunch in the 1500 block of South Michigan and is in final negotiations on that deal.

The development of retail and restaurants is only the latest chapter in the growth of the South Loop, which has been gaining momentum in the housing sector over the last decade.

Today, after years of slow growth, virtually every block in the South Loop seems to be under construction. Large tracts of land that used to be home to junkyards and weeds are now filled with new townhouses. The old industrial buildings in between them have become chic lofts, and a new wave of larger buildings, including multiple highrises, are planned or underway.

"From Clark to the lake and from Roosevelt south to Cermak, there are something like 3,000 housing units under development," says Garry Benson, president of Garrison Partners, a firm marketing several South Loop projects. "It has enormous popularity. The whole South Loop is on fire."

Much of that momentum is now being provided by Central Station, the 80-acre mixed-use development of former railroad land bounded by the lake, Michigan Avenue, Roosevelt Road and McCormick Place. Fogelson Properties, which is development partners with Forest City Enterprises on Central Station, recently announced that the new project had passed $500 million in new development under construction.

"Today, this neighborhood has about 750 residents living in 300 homes," says Gerald Fogelson, of Fogelson Properties. "In about 18 months those numbers will climb to more than 3,000 new residents in more than 1,000 new townhomes and condominiums."

The momentum at Central Station currently comes from three new developments:

• Prairie House. Bejco Development is building this 14-story terraced highrise with 187units. Prices range from the $170s to more than $800,000 for units with one to three bedrooms, one to three baths and 800 to 3,000 square feet of living area. The "Prairie-influenced" design features 22 special terrace residences stepped back along the north façade and six four-story townhouses. At press time, Bejco also was finalizing plans for a new highrise at Central Station.
• Prairie District Homes. Legacy Development Group is building 48 townhouses, priced from the $450s to the $800s, at 18th and Prairie. The homes have two to three-plus bedrooms and two to 3.5 baths. Legacy also has opened the Tower Residences, adjacent to its townhomes, 177 condos in a 23-story highrise.
• Museum Park. Enterprise Development is building three highrises totaling 550 condos, 94 townhouses and 150 new construction "lofts" at 13th and Indiana. Prices start in the $190s, and the development will include the Museum Park Club, a three-story facility with a game room, party room, concierge, business center and outdoor pool.

This burst of activity during the last year follows a lull during which Central Station was reconfigured to better meet the demands of the market, Fogelson says. The project's newest phase will be 90,000 square feet of retail space fronting Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt Road and 13th Street.

"There will be some service retail, but we're expecting a pretty good variety of soft goods and hard goods - bookstores, clothing, the whole gamut," Fogelson says. "The service is always local, but it would be primarily destination shopping, which benefits everybody, local and farther away."

He expects to announce the first phase of retail before the end of the year. Another phase of 150,000 to 200,000 square feet of retail, also on Michigan, is planned for the near future, although a slowing economy and uncertainty in the wake of terrorist attacks have thrown its timing into question.

A market slowdown just as Central Station is building steam might be a bad sign for the South Loop. The massive project was derailed once before, in the late '80s and early '90s because of a market slump. This time, however, sales seem to be remaining strong at projects underway, according to Fogelson, who says Central Station eventually will include up to 5,000 residential units, as well as hotel, office and other uses.

And it's not alone. From smaller loft conversions to major new highrises, thousands of new units are underway in the South Loop. Some of the latest include State Place, 1111 S. State, 240 units in a highrise and three mid-rises by Near North Properties, Mesirow Stein Real Estate and Northern Realty Group; 1111 S. Wabash, a 247-unit highrise by Legacy Development Group; Vue 20, a 150-unit highrise by CMK Development, at 1845 S. Michigan; and Wells Street Tower, a 170-unit highrise, at 701 S. Wells, by D2 Realty.

Loft projects include Locomobile Lofts, 31 condos by the Lyonhart Group, at 2000 S. Michigan; Engravers Lofts at Bank Note Place, 83 units by Chrysalis Development, at 1910 S. Indiana; and Prairie Avenue Lofts, at 221 E. Dearborn Tower, the South Loop's largest loft conversion, had sold about 95 percent of its more than 300 units at press time.

The Near South Planning Board estimates that from 2000 to 2002, more than 2,800 units will have been built or started in the Near South. The group's projections call for nearly 5,200 units to be built from '02 to '06.

One effect of all this development has been to push the borders of the neighborhood. While the South Loop once stopped at Roosevelt Road and everything beyond it was considered no-man's land, most observers now seem to agree that the neighborhood's unofficial southern boundary is Cermak.

"When I did 18th Street Lofts a few years ago, I was the farthest guy out," says Tony Torres, of the Lyonhart Group, developer of Locomobile Lofts, 2000 S. Michigan. "Now I'm somewhere in the middle."

Torres's project is part of the newly declared Motor Row historic district. Since most of the district stretches south of Cermak, Torres says the neighborhood may soon begin to push beyond that boundary too.

Buyers are more comfortable buying in what might be considered the south South Loop today because a number of infill projects have made the blocks around 18th Street seem less barren.

When Tim Duquette and his wife bought a condominium at 1440 S. Michigan Avenue just three years ago, she was nervous. Although the couple knew the community, the location was edgier than what they were used to.

"My wife was a little skeptical, but it's come so far since then," Duquette says. "The Firehouse (Restaurant) has opened across the street, and there's been much building. She's very comfortable with 1440 (S. Michigan) now."

Jeff Welch, 31, moved into his new condo, about four blocks south of Duquette's, at 18th and Michigan, about two years ago. Already, he has plans to sell his current unit to move into Vue 20, the new highrise by CMK Development being built across the street.

"You always see good appreciation when you buy in a new development, but I didn't realize mine would go up as fast as it has," Welch says. "The value has gone up about 45 percent since I moved in a year ago, and with the way things are going here, this new building will be a good investment."

That runaway growth may be slowing as the rest of the economy cools and buyers remain worried and uncertain about the future. Barbara Lynne, executive director of the Near South Planning Board, says it's too early to tell how recent events might affect new-homes sales and the retail climate.

"There certainly is a huge increase in the number of residential units down here, and interest from retailers is increasing," Lynne says. "What impact the current situation will have on development I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to have affected things too much so far. Some retailers are feeling reduced spending activity, but I think that will pass fairly quickly."

Developers report strong sales continuing through the end of September and well into October in the South Loop. The Tower Residences of Prairie District Homes had buyers lined up outside for its grand opening, and State Place has had a strong initial response, with 60 contracts in the first month of sales, according to Keith Giles, of Frankel & Giles, exclusive sales and marketing agents for the development.

"We opened at State Place the week after Sept. 11, and sales were as good as we've ever had at an opening," Giles says.

The project will put 240 condos in a 24-story highrise and three attached mid-rises on the former site of Chicago Police Headquarters, at 11th and State. The development is designed with park-like fourth floor terraces between each of the seven-story mid-rises. The final terrace, between the last mid-rise and the highrise, will include an outdoor pool.

The development is especially important for the neighborhood because it includes about 70,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor - one element of the neighborhood that residents say needs to be expanded.

The pace at which growth will continue in the South Loop is open to debate now, but buyers and longtime residents have no doubt that it will continue, buoyed by the big amenities that have anchored the Near South during its last decade of expansion.

Ted Guarnero has bought three South Loop homes in the last two and a half years. He lived in a small starter townhouse and then, with the appreciation from that unit, moved up to a nicer one in Dearborn Park. Recently, he purchased a four-bedroom penthouse at Prairie House, Bejco's new project in Central Station

"I could never have afforded moving up like this if not for the strong appreciation in the South Loop," says Guarnero, a real estate sales agent at Rubloff Residential's South Loop office.

Guarnero moved into the South Loop back in 1984, and his family begged him to leave what was a gritty location for the North Side. But even then, Guarnero says, he had faith in the South Loop for the same reasons he now believes his investment will be protected in the event of a real estate downturn.

"No matter what happens, you still have the lake, the Art Institute, Soldier Field," Guarnero says. "That's what it's all about, that whole trend of empty nesters moving back to the city. They want to be able to enjoy what Chicago has to offer."