Watchlists
22
Live boards tracking places that need continuing attention.
Watchlist Blog
Watchlist Blog
A running watchlist news source tracking places in the research library through updates, follow-up reporting, and place-by-place coverage over time.
Live Watchlist
A public view into the places, signals, and reporting activity moving through the watchlist system.
Watched Places
169
Places currently moving through the watchlist system.
Need Coverage
152
Places that still need reporting or a follow-up pass.
Published Updates
141
Published watchlist reporting tied back to the library.
Watch Status
Active 92
Carryover 61
Needs Recheck 14
Watch Site 1
141 posts
Watchlist Blog
September 14, 2026
Edinburgh backs nonprofit effort to buy and reopen the Pixy
A council support letter advances the public case for the theater’s revival while acquisition remains a future milestone.
A council support letter advances the public case for the theater’s revival while acquisition remains a future milestone.
Watchlist Blog
July 22, 2026
READI support moves the Crump toward a larger restoration
An approximately $6.1 million award strengthens Columbus’s Project Encore, with design and fundraising still part of the work ahead.
An approximately $6.1 million award strengthens Columbus’s Project Encore, with design and fundraising still part of the work ahead.
Watchlist Blog
July 1, 2026
Lawrenceburg’s Liberty Theater earns Indiana’s Renaissance Award
The award recognizes a completed rehabilitation that returned the former German music hall to public use.
The award recognizes a completed rehabilitation that returned the former German music hall to public use.
Watchlist Blog
September 8, 2026
Cortland Bridge replacement push puts landmark protection in question
A proposal to replace the closed river crossing has opened a debate over what should survive of Chicago’s pioneering drawbridge.
A proposal to replace the closed river crossing has opened a debate over what should survive of Chicago’s pioneering drawbridge.
Watchlist Blog
September 18, 2026
Lansing’s Ford Hangar centennial sets the stage for restoration plans
The village scheduled a design unveiling for September 18 as a campaign seeks a museum and community future for the Albert Kahn hangar.
The village scheduled a design unveiling for September 18 as a campaign seeks a museum and community future for the Albert Kahn hangar.
Watchlist Blog
September 9, 2026
Bellwether opening brings 117 homes to the landmark Rector Building
The completed conversion at Clark and Monroe gives Chicago’s LaSalle corridor housing initiative its first finished project.
The completed conversion at Clark and Monroe gives Chicago’s LaSalle corridor housing initiative its first finished project.
Watchlist Blog
July 6, 2026
Gary moves from a ruins garden to demolition at City Methodist
A July bid notice places Gary's best-known ruin inside the regional blight-elimination program, ending years when stabilization and a public ruins garden remained possible.
The RDA is seeking a contractor to demolish City Methodist and the former St. Mary's Hospital, shifting the church from unresolved landmark to impending loss.
Watchlist Blog
August 20, 2026
Gary’s eleven-day outage makes the electric grid impossible to ignore
Nearly 100 mph winds broke hundreds of poles, but the long restoration turned physical damage into lost food, closed schools, medical risk, and neighborhood-scale hardship.
More than 20,000 Gary customers remained without power eight days after the August 11 derecho, with full restoration then projected for August 25.
Watchlist Blog
August 24, 2026
Tolleston’s new community campus approaches a fall opening
Crossroads YMCA continues to target Fall 2026 for a campus joining youth programs, health services, childcare, recreation, training, and gathering space on former school ground.
The new construction does not preserve Tolleston's old school buildings, but it carries the site's public-service role into a broader neighborhood institution.
Watchlist Blog
July 29, 2026
500 North Michigan starts its second life as housing
Work has begun to turn a 1968 SOM office tower into 320 apartments, one of the Mag Mile's clearest responses to downtown office vacancy.
The conversion retains the modern tower and its retail base while rebuilding vacant upper floors for housing and adding a new rooftop amenity level.
Watchlist Blog
August 3, 2026
LeClaire Courts reaches construction after fifteen years of vacant land
CHA closed financing for 183 mixed-income homes at the former public-housing site, with construction expected to begin in August and completion planned for 2028.
The first two buildings return housing to a site cleared by 2011, including 91 CHA apartments, 74 other affordable homes, and 18 market-rate units.
Watchlist Blog
August 19, 2026
Second Church’s old walls now frame a nearly finished apartment building
The six-story Lincoln Park conversion has reached exterior finish work, making its bargain between streetscape preservation and interior loss fully visible.
Three facades of Solon S. Beman's 1901 church now enclose 22 apartments and a smaller worship space, while the sanctuary and dome survive only in the historical record.