Jones students looking out across State St. are met by a familiar view: the 609 S. State St. parking lot. Home to 199 spots, the lot has been clutch for so many students needing to park their cars ahead of the long day at Jones College Prep.
And it’s not just us. This lot, this flat, big, gray lot, nearly fills with the cars of workers and students around the South Loop. It serves so many people who couldn’t park in the other parking lot across the street, or the Metropolis Parking Garage also across the street, or even the Astoria Tower Parking Garage just down Ninth St., home to a staggering 1,200 parking spots.
Enough with the sarcasm. There is practically parking falling out of the sky around Jones, hiding in crevices one may never expect. And yet, even with garages holding literal thousands of spaces, this giant lot of real estate across the street, holding a measly 199, is taking up precious space in the bustling South Loop.
It’s time for the city to repurpose. Chicago, and so many cities across the United States, are in the middle of a major housing crisis. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of housing in the Chicagoland area jumped 2.2 percent, not a major increase, but an increase that took place over just twelve months.
The solution is relatively simple, though. It’s just basic supply and demand. If the demand for housing is higher than the supply… build more supply! Cities like Phoenix, Houston, and Miami are all thriving right now, even under the tide of rising temperatures, because there is the supply for housing! Affordability was, arguably, what got Zohran Mamdani elected to the mayoral office in New York City. Believe it or not, people are concerned about if they can afford to live under a roof or not. Shocking.
But it’s understandable that people still want to park their car. Even if there is ample parking nearby, the convenience of the 609 S. State St. parking lot is clutch to the subsection of Jones students with cars. Being relatively cheap and just across the street makes it a very popular choice with students looking for an easy parking space. But here’s the thing: repurposing doesn’t even mean getting rid of the lot.
Let’s look at a hypothetical reconstruction of that lot, one that turns it into a 20 story mixed- use apartment complex with dining and convenience commercial spaces included. If you dedicate literally just one of those twenty floors to parking, you end up with not just the exact same lot as before, but one that includes hundreds of living units for Chicagoans and outsiders looking to come into the city, along with stores for passerby and even Jones students looking for an off-campus bite to frequent.
And if that sounds impossible, just look across the street! Right above popular lunch spots like Devil Dawgs and Dos Bros, there’s a 210 spot parking lot for the public to use. It would be par for the course for another building to do just the same thing.
And finally, if building over a parking lot seems like complete sacrilege, it may be interesting to know that Jones itself is a product of that very ideal. The New Building itself, prior to its construction in 2013, was just a measly surface level parking lot, not at all unlike the one across the street.
So please. Let’s get repurposing!
