City In Review: Chicago

Lower West Side · Then vs Now

Lower West Side: 2025-05 vs 2026-05

A side-by-side look at how Lower West Side shifted between two periods.

2025-05 2026-05 Change
Building permits 32 0 -100%
Construction value ($) $42,085,180 $0 -100%
New business licenses 47 5 -89%
Business closings (proxy) 0 0
311 service requests 1,320 0 -100%
Reported crimes 257 0 -100%
Violent crimes 88 0 -100%
Failed food inspections 2 0 -100%

2025-05

Lower West Side permit value jumps to $42M

Permit value in Lower West Side shot up more than 1,000 percent in May, hitting $42 million compared to $3.5 million the month before. The count actually dropped from 40 to 32 permits, so one or two big projects are driving the spike. Crime rose 30 percent overall, with violent offenses up 44 percent to 88. Service requests climbed 19 percent, led by 447 graffiti removal calls—nearly half the month's total. Street lights out and potholes rounded out the top complaints. No new business licenses recorded.

2026-05

Five new businesses, then nothing

Lower West Side added five businesses in May—Rocket Productions, Hondai Enterprises, Express Grill, Boost Mobile, and R R Street Co—but every other metric fell to zero. No building permits (down from 19), no 311 requests (down from 549), no reported crimes (down from 13), no food inspection failures (down from 3). April logged $478k in permit work; May's total is zero. The data doesn't say why.

New businesses — 2025-05

  • TACOS LA GUERITA VIN #1GBKP32R1X3302668 PL # 33766641B (Special Event Food)
  • THE ONE HAIR SALON SPA (Limited Business License)
  • ST. PIUS V PARISH (Pop-Up Retail User)
  • MEXI-TACOS VIN #5B4JPD28X83433920 PL #186764F (Special Event Food)
  • CHI-TOWN FAVORITES VIN# 1GDKP321LXR3500551 PLATE# 511574D (Special Event Food)
  • SO TASTY (Mobile Food License)
  • DELICIA 100% MEXICAN STYLE VIN# 6397 | PLATE# 4129701B (Mobile Food License)
  • THE FAT SHALLOT VIN: 5B4HP42V253408090, PLATE: 1Z1395 (Special Event Food)
  • TAKUMI RAMEN (Retail Food Establishment)
  • LA CATRINA CHRIS CORP. (Mobile Food License)

New businesses — 2026-05

  • ROCKET PRODUCTIONS, INC. (Limited Business License)
  • HONDAI ENTERPRISES (Wholesale Food Establishment)
  • Express Grill Inc. (Retail Food Establishment)
  • BOOST MOBILE (Limited Business License)
  • R R STREET CO INC (Manufacturing Establishments)