What can you walk to?

[JNL]

Related to recent cyburbia discussions about the importance of having destinations within a walkable distance if you want to encourage people to walk more often, and also to get some idea of the places we live in, i thought I'd ask:

what can you walk to within 5 minutes walk (or 400 metres) from your home? Do you walk to some of these places, and if not, why not?

For myself, within 5 minutes walk of home, I can reach a dairy (=corner store?), a high school, a university, a hospital, a public park, a fish & chip shop (a kiwi essential), a couple of cafes, several bus stops, a chinese takeaway bar... hey i think i like my new neighbourhood! It's in an older part of the city. I walk to some of these things but have to cross a busy 5-lane intersection to get to the food outlets, which is annoying, but at least there is a pedestrian signal.

What can you walk to? What do you walk to?

 

[Zoning Goddess]

I can walk to my mom's house. That's about it. Altho' there is a proposal to build a Walgreen's drugstore at the end of my street. I'm in an older subdivision (platted in the 30's) but no commercial here, yet.

 

[BKM]

My downtown Vacaville neighborhood offers (If you expand it to 15 minutes):

the post office
a drugstore with basic groceries and sundries
two convenience markets
the best bicycle shop in the county (very important!)
a high school, the school district office, and an elementary school
a huge health club (in an old grocery store)
five churches

Vacaville's "Creekwalk" (a major city park with a little art gallery, sports center, playground, waterfall, fountain, creekside walkway, and public events plaza www.creekwalk.com

Several restaurants (four taquerias, fancy California seafood, Chinese, a nice dinner house, Peruvian pastries, pizza, a fancy dinner house overlooking the waterfall)
Our weekly farmers' market
medical clinic (maybe twenty minutes away, actually)
Under construction now: a new library, another taqueria, new retail buildings centered on a town square.

I love my neighborhood. It's still sleepy, but its getting better.

Most of these are south of Monte Vista Avenue, a pretty busy street, but there are frequent signalized crosswalks that make crossing this main arterial not too bad.

 

[SkeLeton]

within 5 min walk (for me) a store... or the university...
within 2 km... I can get to the city's downtown (15-20 min walk)

Valdivia is a mess (tourist trap... in the sense that they can get in but have to ask directions a million times to get out ), and has very low density... but I'm quite close to downtown, at least I can walk to it in less than an hour....

 

[JNL]

I love my neighborhood. It's still sleepy, but its getting better.

Your neighbourhood sounds pretty cool. Mine's all built out, so the only development that's occuring is the construction of new apartments to replace older housing.

 

[Cardinal]

If I head north I could get past the edge of the dairy farm across the street. South, I would get to the end of my side yard. West, I'd be standing in the middle of a hay field. East, I am on my neighbor's field. I don't walk much from the house. On the other hand, unless the weather is bad, I will walk from my office to the city offices or downtown businesses.

 

[SGB]

From our new home:

South: about 1/2 way to a golf course.
North: about 1/4 of the way to the village
East: to the neighbors fishing/swimming pond
West: A town park on a local lake that the local rail trail (non-motorized use) passes through.

[Edit]
From work:
The entire downtown of the city of 7,000 where my office is. Great array of small parks, restaurants, farmers market (2 days a week), small independant retailers, two national pharmacy chain stores. Add another 10 minutes, and I can walk to and from the auto mechanic shop I frequent.

 

[JNL]

Yes this could easily be expanded to discuss what you can walk to from work. A 5 minute walk-radius from my workplace would get me to railway yards, a motor camp, a paint manufacturer, a "specialist automotive dismantler", an auctioneers (specialising in vehicles), a battery manufacturer, and a salami factory, amongst other things. Yet I would not walk anywhere from work - too many heavy vehicles, broken footpaths, industrial smells, not enough trees, no cafes in walking distance. Wide roads with footpath right next to the road. Very different from where I live.

 

[el Guapo]

Just slightly off topic: I can bike to any place in a town of 80K in less than 45 minutes. I find it kind of cool that I can circle the outer roads of town in 2 hours ride. So everything is within a reasonable commute time, if I don't mind getting there sweat-soaked. I'm sold on this bike thing. Now I just have to get the drivers and pedestrians to pay attention to what they are doing. As to walking - the downtown is pedestrian hostile. I wish my city was more ped oriented. But in a five minute walk I can cover 40% of the downtown. With a 10 Minute walk I can cover the entire downtown. Good topic.

 

[Plannerbabs]

From home, south, I'd end up at the construction site for the new Panera (mmm, bread) and Walgreens. It would involve a mad dash across a five-lane arterial that's already overloaded. North, I'd be lost in a cul-de-sac. East and west, more or less the same. It's a neighborhood that was platted and built in the 1970's, and the walkability to stuff is sort of a happy accident. But from work...ah, that's a different story. A huge city market, offering everything from sushi to pastrami, is just an elevator ride and two lanes away. Then there's about 5 coffeeshops, two bookstores--including a pretty cool AIA store--an urban-ish mall, two stadiums, two major museums, a Catholic supply store that stocks glow-in-the-dark rosaries, a university.....I love walking around where I work. All within ten minutes walking distance, more or less.

 

[giff57]

My town has only 1470 folks so I can walk anywhere in just a few minutes, but being so small we do need to drive to a larger town to get many things so it balances out.

 

[gkmo62u]

The Park
The Pool
The Middle School
The nature trail
100,00 sg retail center with grocery, bank, restaurant, salon, drycleaner, chinese
My neighbors

See, you can walk to stuff in the suburbs

 

[Maroon]

From my apartment...
Kroger
Family pharmacy (with lunch counter)
Equestrian clothing store
Ice cream shop
Barber
Dentist
Doctor
Dry cleaners (2)
Window coverings store
Vet
Art gallery
Bank
Post Office
Bar and grill
Cafe
Church (3)
School (2)


From work...
Bank branch that closes at 4:00pm
Random offices
Church

My neighborhood has an interesting blend of single family, duplexes, and apartment buildings. It's a great neighborhood built in the late 40s through 60s.

 

[H]

I am downtown in a small town that has been inundated by a large city. I can walk to about everything I do here, including work. I can also walk to the rail and go downtown Miami (the large city). But if you read my recent dilemma post you know this is all about to change because I am moving.

I have always made a point and priority to live in a walkable community. I love walking to the store or the barber, or the pub, or what not. This wont change when I move, because I wont let it. The only difference will be I will no longer be able to walk to work.

Walking is good and healthy. :-D

 

[Wulf9]

Hmmmm.

Work
A small but relatively complete downtown (Movies, restaurants, post office, shopping, etc.)
Fairgrounds
City park with baseball field
Elementary, middle, and high school (okay, the elementary is about 8 minutes)
That's about it

 

[bocian]

I live in downtown Champaign, IL. I can walk almost everywhere I need to: the post office, downtown bars and restaurants (including Thai and Japanese ones), used bookstores and clothing stores, Amtrak and Greyhound station, independent movie theatre, public library, community radio station, the City Hall, hardware store, etc.. Plus, I live right across from the city's best park - it takes me 5 seconds to get there. City bus stops are all around, the buses here stop on every corner. Rent is cheap and for those who prefer to own, it's a bargain. Still, I miss the NE and Europe sooo much...

 

[tsc]

my neighbor on their 1/2 acre lot.....

I work in a walkable city though.... can get anything...from department stores to locksmiths... .. 50,000 sf chinese grocers... to 200 SF coffee shops.... anything... which is all related to the fact that there isn't much available in the burbs... I never drive around the city in which I work.

 

[JNA]

From home it is just more residences.
from work - about 15 min walk to the Ohio riverfront
and next door is the credit union and post office.

 

[jmf]

In one direction:
Community College
Convenience store
Vet Clinic

In another direction:
park with playgound and soccer pitch
small grocery store (about 10 mins)
hospital

In another direction again is downtown and within a 10 min walk are all sorts of things:
churches
funeral home
library
police station
courthouse
municipal (county) office
town office
museum
stores - including a farm market
restaurants
banks
law office etc
plus Tim Horton's, of course

now, if only I could get a job there!

 

[donk]

5 minute walk from my house

River.
a few convenience stores
primary school
bottle redemption centre
baseball diamond
abandoned coal fired power station
abandoned wharf

Work is about a 10 minute walk away as is downtown

The liquor store is about a 15 minute walk

 

[Jeff]

I can walk to practically anything I want to from my house....

3 supermarkets
CVS or a local pharmacy
Bars
Bike Shops
Bakeries
Dunkin Donuts
Ritas Water Ice
Blockbuster Video
Hollywood Video
2 Tattoo shops
Main Street -- Manayunk
-- Yoga
-- Sushi
-- Bike Shops
-- Other yuppy-esque eateries
-- Music stores
-- Art stores
-- Hippie shops
Wachovia (the bank formerly known as First Union)
Wissahickon/Fairmount Park (largest inner-city park system in the world)
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Academy of Music
Franklin Institute
Rodin Musem


...jealous?

What I can't walk to, or could, but its just over/around 10 miles ...

Philly sports stadiums ...

 

[NHPlanner]

5 minute walk from my house:

2 Elementary Schools
3 Parks
3 Pizza Joints (including the best one in NH)
5 Small Convienience Stores
Hardware Store
Gym
McDonalds (which my daughter walked to at 6 am in her nightgown a couple of weeks ago...but that's another story)
Video Store
Barber Shop
2 Beauty Salons
Pretty much most of the Main Street Businesses.

 

[Repo Man]

I just moved from an area where I could walk to just about anything. In my new neighborhood I am a half a block from a small cinema that plays classic films, and a decent restaurant. Within a 5-10 minute walk I have and a handfull of bars, 2 regular grocery stores, a bunch of restaurants, a natural food store, a couple of parks, and a coffee/bagel shop.

I am still exploring my new neighborhood, but being close to things was one of the main reasons I moved to this neighborhood.

 

[j_deuce]

BKM, you live in "cowtown"?

Me, living in an old part of Boston, I can reach by walking 15 minutes or less:

chinese takeout
bus & subway transportation
supermarket
bodegas
liquor stores
the airport
dunkin' donuts & honey dew
more restaurants than are easily countable, including the best pizza in Boston and some darn good Columbian food
several churches
several schools -- public and private
the Post Office
the Police Station
the Fire Department...
...
the list goes on, but you get the idea.

Also, piggybacking off of a comment in another thread that Latinos bring a neighborhood down, I beg to differ. We've got one of the most thriving communities in Boston with one of the lowest crime rates. Gentrification be damned!

 

[Chet]

I live on the border of two auto centric suburbs - Oak Creek and Franklin. I can spit in my back yard and hit City of Milwaukee lots. Both suburbs are horribly autocentric (sorr y Cheesewhiz), but so am I. I can walk to a County park (no sidewalk though gotta walk in the street).

Other than that, not much is walkable. Not even bike-able. I usually throw the Trek into my SUV and bike someplace more friendly.

 

[biscuit]

5 minute walk from my apartment:
Large city park
Installation arts museum
CVS
Gas Stattion
BBQ Rib Joint
Neighborhood Pub
Beer Distributer
Produce Market
Oh...there's also an old porno theater but it's supposed to close by years end, and I just don't want to sit in those seats.

Less than 10-15 minutes walk from my apartment is:
The Andy Warhol Museum
Baseball Stadium
Football Stadium
Seattle's Best / Ben and Jerrys
Outback Steakhouse
local resturaunts
Sports Bars
A small business district
Lots and lots of other stuff

It's also about 1.75 miles (or less) from my place to work so i usually walk there and back home everyday. Busses are for wusses.

 

[j_deuce]

Additions: A beautiful Authority-built park (MassPort) right on the Inner Harbor, a soccer and baseball fields, tennis, rollerhockey, and basketball courts, and several playgrounds

 

[Seabishop]

1920's - 30's "streetcar suburb" in a mostly non-descript inner ring city of 75,000. Probably considered pretty urban outside of the northeast.

If I expand walk to 15 minutes I can get to a decent (neither fancy nor run-down) "main street" business district with:

A small supermarket
Liquor, hardware, salons, flower shops
Elementary school/playground (just 5 minutes)
Friendly neighborhood mechanic
Nickel & dime store
Small restaraunts/deli
Lawyers/doctors
Post Office
Tiny library
Small movie theatre - vacant for 5 years but being renovated to show art-house films
City Hall is walkable but I work for a different city

I do wish I was closer though.


I'm also near a large athletic facility and a separate public pool.

Ideally I'd move Rt 95 a little farther away from me. I made the mistake of trying to jog next to it once :-#

I'm also a 30 minute walk from a fancy 1960's shopping center. Its the semi-New Urbanist kind with small chains linked by covered outdoor walkways but with tons of parking in the middle.

On a good day I'm a 15 minute drive to downtown Providence and a 15 minute drive to all the big box shopping you could ever hope for.

 

[Miles Ignatius]

All For The Price of Shoe Leather!

Great Thread!

Within A 5 Minute Walk:

3 chain grocery stores
Adjacent to grocery stores, small retail & services offering
the essentials: haircuts, coffee, liquor stores, post office, etc.
A shrinking, yet viable 20 year old mall
A decently sized public library
A trail system, removed from thorofares, along an old agricultural water delivery system
Nationally recognized public high school
Bus stops with links to light rail

Within 15 minutes:

Nationally recognized public middle school
A larger public library

It's funny, I spoke to a Realtor friend about the marketing value of these attributes being within walking distance. He says it doesn't sell; people prefer "convenience and freedom" of the car and don't view walking as an attribute.

I, on the other hand, attribute it to the phenomena of "sloven laziness"....

 

[jresta]

5 minute walk -
2 bus lines (at my front door)
3 more buses (3 blocks away)
subway stop
numerous vietnamese and mexican restaurants
vietnamese bakeries&grocery store
video stores and drug stores
banks
grocery store
italian market

10 minutes -
bars
italian restaurants
creperie
clothing/shoe stores
whole foods market

15/20 minutes -
Market East regional rail station
Convention Center
Chinatown
Independence Park
Penn's Landing
City Hall
Rittenhouse Square.

 

[biscuit]

Re: All For The Price of Shoe Leather!

It's funny, I spoke to a Realtor friend about the marketing value of these attributes being within walking distance. He says it doesn't sell; people prefer "convenience and freedom" of the car and don't view walking as an attribute.

I, on the other hand, attribute it to the phenomena of "sloven laziness"....

I think you hit the nail right on the head...Laziness plain and simple. We're going to start house hunting next spring and one thing that is very important to me and the future mrs. biscuit is buying in a decent neighborhood with most amenities (bar, restuaunt, dry cleaners, etc..) within walking distance. If I wanted to spend my time in the car getting everywhere I needed to be I would move out to the country.

 

[BKM]

BKM, you live in "cowtown"?

Well, Vacaville was actually named after Juan Vaca, an early Mexican land grant recipient, but, just like my last name ("Miller") refers to a profession, so did his

I work in the downtown of the next suburb up the freeway (at least our suburbs in Solano County have managed-to date-to remain physically distinct from each other.) So, I have access at work to all the typical small downtown things (restaruants, banks, library, community arts center, etc).

O/T rant: I could never imagine being banished to some sterile suburban "office park." I don't care how good the freeway access, landscaping and overplanned "graphics system" are, office parks are to me the epitome of what's worng with current land use planning and development practices. My sister works in Redwood Shores (Silicon Valley) an amazingly lifeless and overplanned office environment on SF Bay. What a lifeless and horrible place.

 

[pete-rock]

Within a 5 minute walk I can get to:

- my church
- two city parks (one is right behind my house)
- a county forest preserve
- Walgreens
- assorted (but sometimes seedy) fast food joints
- other marginal strip commercial businesses

My neighborhood is overwhelmingly dominated by 3-4 bedroom bungalows on small lots (around 5000 sf; I think that's about 500 square meters) that stretch about 2 miles north, east and west of me, with little interruption of other land uses.

 

[pete-rock]

O/T rant: I could never imagine being banished to some sterile suburban "office park." I don't care how good the freeway access, landscaping and overplanned "graphics system" are, office parks are to me the epitome of what's worng with current land use planning and development practices. My sister works in Redwood Shores (Silicon Valley) an amazingly lifeless and overplanned office environment on SF Bay. What a lifeless and horrible place.

Still O/T: I work for a planning consulting firm located in a sterile office park. How ironic. We have bucolic views of a golf course, but no real connection to it. And getting food for lunch requires driving on a six-lane highway that is just short of being an actual freeway.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

Lets see, within 30 seconds is my mailbox. Within 10 minutes is the elementary school for my boys....Thats about it. Brand new subdivision in suburbia.

 

[H]

Still O/T: I work for a planning consulting firm located in a sterile office park. How ironic. We have bucolic views of a golf course, but no real connection to it. And getting food for lunch requires driving on a six-lane highway that is just short of being an actual freeway.

Also OT:

I never understood how planning firms could locate in an suburban office complex (unless that is what they promote). It just seems to wrong.

The Department of Community affairs, in Florida, is in a suburban office park. That says a lot to me.

 

[Mud Princess]

I never understood how planning firms could locate in an suburban office complex...

It's an affordable alternative when the closest downtowns charge exorbitant amounts of money for rent.

 

[mendelman]

From my apartment:

5 minute walk:
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park Zoo (last free muni. zoo in USA)
Lincoln Park Conservatory
Lake Michigan
Three (3) grocery stores
One Private and 3 public schools
coffee shops galore
bars/restaurants/quick service food joints galore (one in my building)
4 dry cleaners (one in my building)
Blockbuster

10 minute walk:
Chicago Historical Society
CTA El station
More and More commercial/retail
More churches and schools

Brisk 30 minute walk:
Pretty much anything a person would ever need in life


All praise Chicago!!!!

 

[otterpop]

From my house, I can walk to work, though it is a little more than five minutes distant. There is a neighborhood market we ocassionally go to for an ice cream or to stock up on something we are out of and need for dinner. There are three bed and breakfasts, though. The old governor's mansion is a half a block away. Within five minutes of my home are: the St. Helena Cathedral, a Prebyterian church, a Methodist church, downtown Helena, a bar, two pawn shops, a coin-operated laundry, two mortuaries, a lawyer's office, a financial advisor's office, a park, a parole office, a sandwich shop, a carpet and flooring store, the courthouse, the law enforcement center, a grade school, a beauty shop, and numerous single-family houses and apartment buildings. My neighborhood is the fine example of mixed use development.

 

[BKM]

Downtown Chicago does rule!

(Don't like midwestern climate anymore though. My blood has thinned-as has my tolerance for humidity).

 

[SkeLeton]

a few things I forgot...
- I can walk to 4 parks... one is very unsafe, one is in the University, another is property of the University and is quite big, and the other one is also big, and is property of the city, you have to pay to get in, but it also has room for events( like the Bierfest )....
-I can also walk to the German School, which is a little farther than the convenience store I said earlier...

Now... If I walk for like 10 mins westward (considering the hills in that part) I get to the Cruces River... and the west edge of Valdivia and the Island I live in...
If I walk 10 mins eastward I get to the Valdivia River and the Bridge to cross to the rest of Valdivia..
If I walk 5 mins northward I get to the Cau-Cau river
And I can get to the south point of the Island in about 20 mins walking or 5 in bike

 

[moose]

I live in Fairview, OR (http://www.fairviewvillage.com/), and I can walk to....

Freddies (grocery/department store)
Lowes (but since I live in an apt, I have little use for home improvement stores)
the gym
an adorable park with lots of artwork and a riparian area
City Hall (popn. 8,000)
Library
a small, quaint, but too new to be totally vibrant "main street" (shops, a coffee house, the library, day spa, travel agent, etc)
Target (not sure if I'm happy about this one or not)

 

[Seabishop]

...but it also has room for events( like the Bierfest )....
-I can also walk to the German School, which is a little farther than the convenience store I said earlier...

We should have a contest - Which is more German, Valdivia or Milwaukee?

 

[jordanb]

Downtown Chicago does rule!

Downtown Chicago is an office park, but that's changing. I assume that by "downtown" you mean where the L trains make a circle, not The City of Chicago. I know suburbanites like to refer to "Chicago" as "downtown" for some reason, but the vast majority of the city is absolutely not "downtown." Arlington Heights isn't "Chicago" for that matter, it's "Arlington Heights" and nothing else. Same goes for all of the other suburbs.

(Don't like midwestern climate anymore though. My blood has thinned-as has my tolerance for humidity).

I actually didn't care for San Francisco weather ether. When it's cold it aught to be cold, and when it's hot it aught to be hot. Splitting the difference so it's perpetually too cold for shorts and too hot for a coat just dosen't sit well with me.

Back on topic, my list would be similar to mendelman's, except replace Lincoln Park with Montrose Park and drop the zoo and conservatory. Also up here outside of yuppie ground zero, some of our cafes aren't starbucks.

 

[BKM]

I actually meant by "downtown" Chicago the older, denser neighborhoods near the lake/near northside (like Medelmen's Lincoln Park). Michigan Avenue and some if its side streets are (were) pretty nice, but much of "The Loop" is a little too "cold" for me. It's still definitely a step above "the office parks" in a place like Oak Brook (yucko!) or Naperville.

I actually live quite a bit (50 miles) inland from San Frnacisco, so my residence is basically pretty hot in the summer. There is more seasonal variation in northern California than the myths would suggest. Summer: 95 degrees and sunny (every single day). Winter: 50 degrees and sometimes rainy. Still, very rarely any humidity at all. I remember wilting at 82 degrees in Chicago because of the humidity. 82 degrees is a perfect day in the Sacramento Valley. Where I work gets a lot of wind cooling.

I LIKE the "spring-like" weather of San Francisco. Frankly, most American adults (myself included) should NOT be wearing shorts-so the chilly air is an aesthetic benefit. -except for the tourists, who insist on dressing like its LA.

 

[BKM]

Weird

Its now raining. In California. In August. Is Phoenix to blame?

Oh well, I was just told by my boss that I had to go to a workshop at Solano County, so I can't bicycle anyway.

 

[Dan]

The house I rent now ... it's in a 1950s-era suburban community designed by J.C. Nichols. Within a five minute walking distance there's a Wal-Mart and a fifty year old Osco complete with the original now-elderly customers and that distinctive old drugstore smell. That's all. The Wal-Mart isn't even a good Wal-Mart ... it's an older store that caters to the poor Hispanic population living over the county line in KCK. Many of the store announcements are in Spanish, and products with multilingual labels are placed with the Spanish side facing out.

A twenty minute walk will get me to a 1950s era business district that is somewhat pedestrian oriented, but the mixture of shops leaves a lot to be desired. We're talking about a German food specialty store, a taxidermy shop, a gunsmith, a store selling overpriced parts salvaged from 486-based computers, several "interior design trade only" furniture stores, a store selling survivalist supplies, a store selling jewelery to Asian Indians, a couple of new age bookstores, several veterinary clinics, a water filter store, "The Plumber's Friend," a mullet bar, a very expensive gourmet restaurant, a few gas stations, a golf club repair shop, a dusty toy train store, and the like. There's also Wild Oats, a yupscale organic supermarket where the customers are quite uppity and rude.

A five minute drive though, will get me to Country Club Plaza. Ten minutes will land me in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Walking is not an option in Kansas City now. It's 109 degrees out. That's ... oh, 45 degrees Celsius.

The house in Orlando ... nothing. The nearest commercial zoning district was over 1.5 kilometers away; it was the size of a new 1,000,000 square foot mall. There was a large park about five minutes away, though.

 

[BKM]

The nearby business district actually sounds kinda....interesting.

(Downtown Vacaville doesn't have a lot of everyday stuff like clothes and housewares. For that I have to drive to a giant poorly planned collection of big boxes and power centers. Our nearest equivalent to Country Club Plaza is probably downtown Walnut Creek-40 miles away).

 

[simulcra]

a 5 minute walk:

chicago st pizza (best pizza in the dfw area, i swear to god)
an eckard's
a post office

and some nondescript corner store stuff.

hm... if i walked for 2 miles, i could reach a tom thumb's,
but i'm not walking in this heat w/out any shade. and those curvy sidewalks piss me off. what the hell is wrong with just having straight, shaded sidewalks?

i envy many of you people's locations.

OT: how exactly does chicago define its downtown? because i read something about downtown residents, and it started off at being really low (i guess the office park nature?) then jumped up to 4th in the nation, and then soon to be second in nation (i assume behind manhattan, er nyc). if it's just like the area south and east of the river, west of the lake, that's sweet, but if it also includes lincoln park and stuff, that's far less impressive.

 

[jordanb]

I have no idea why BKM includes lincoln park in "downtown", it's not even close. "Downtown" is pretty much defined as being the loop. When you say "downtown" in Chicago, that's what people assume you mean. Buisness is expanding into the near west side (Greektown, Westtown, etc) and into the near north side (Streeterville). I know the State of Illinois calls that area the "outer buisness ring" and it actually has more jobs in it than the loop does.

The south loop is gentrifying like gangbusters (it was pretty shady in the early '90s and still has a lot of parking lots and such), and many of the buildings going in there are condos or mixed use buildings, so they could just be talking about the Loop. The place was pretty much devoid of residences before the south loop gentrifaction (and the north loop is still an office park).