European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Building site on Chicago s Michigan Avenue downtown resurgence la part Ota larger nationwide phenomenon fuelled in port by a healthy Economy. Riding a Boom downtown Are no longer Downtrodden now Yui Kli. By William  new York times Ike Many other cities around the uni cd Stales. Chicago is Riding the Crest of a Boom in downtown investment. New office buildings new stores new residents and whole new neighbourhoods Are being added at a record Pace to the heart of America s third largest cily. Since 1979, investors have pumped More than $6 billion into downtown development creating what Louis Masotti an Urban affairs professor at Northwestern University refers to As the Chicago super  the super Loop is a mix of Tow and High Rise residential commercial and retail development that sprawls Over an area nearly four times the size of the City s historic Loop the commercial Center so named because of the elevated train tracks that Girdle it. Masotti and others say Chicago s downtown resurgence is part of a larger nationwide phenomenon that has been fuelled by a healthy National Economy a Boom in service sector employment that has expanded downtown Job markets and the movement of affluent baby Boomers into the cities in search of housing and entertainment West of the Loop streets Hal were once a Tumble of parking Lols and skid Row holds Are the site of High Rise towers with 2,700 luxury apartments. To the North a Cluster of old warehouses has been turned into office lofts nightclubs Wendy restaurants and galleries. And East of the Slick Michigan Avenue shopping strip developers have begun building a s3 billion Complex Hal Over 20 years wit turn 50 acres of vacant Railroad land into apartment houses shops and office towers. In All nearly 34 million Square feet of comp eled space has gone up in Chicago since 1979, increasing the downtown inventory by nearly a third. Residential housing in the downtown area is expected to accommodate 95,000 people by 1989, an increase of 21 percent Over 1980, and2,400 hotel rooms Are now being by