City In Review: Chicago

Ohare · Then vs Now

Ohare: 2025-05 vs 2026-05

A side-by-side look at how Ohare shifted between two periods.

2025-05 2026-05 Change
Building permits 20 0 -100%
Construction value ($) $72,543,235 $0 -100%
New business licenses 7 1 -86%
Business closings (proxy) 0 0
311 service requests 39,365 0 -100%
Reported crimes 165 0 -100%
Violent crimes 29 0 -100%
Failed food inspections 1 0 -100%

2025-05

O'Hare permit value rockets to $72.5M

A single month saw permit value in O'Hare jump 3,200% to $72.5 million, up from $2.2 million in April. The 20 permits included 14 express filings and five elevator-equipment jobs. Service requests climbed 16% to 39,365, with aircraft noise complaints accounting for 39,121 of them. Crime ticked up 25% to 165 incidents, including 29 violent offenses. No new businesses opened or closed.

2026-05

Metropolis Coffee gets a license; O'Hare data otherwise blank

Metropolis Coffee Company T-5 picked up a consumption-on-premises license in May. Everything else in the official record came back zero—no permits, no 311 requests, no reported crime. That's a hard drop from April's 9 permits ($5.7 million), 29 new licenses, and roughly 16,000 service requests. The numbers suggest incomplete reporting or a data gap rather than a genuinely silent month.

New businesses — 2025-05

  • SWISSPORT USA INC. (Limited Business License)
  • JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORPORATION (Limited Business License)
  • SWISSPORT USA (Retail Food Establishment)
  • Garrett Popcorn Shops (Retail Food Establishment)
  • SWISSPORT USA (Consumption on Premises - Incidental Activity)
  • THE DEARBORN (Consumption on Premises - Incidental Activity)
  • THE DEARBORN (Retail Food Establishment)

New businesses — 2026-05

  • METROPOLIS COFFEE COMPANY T-5 (Consumption on Premises - Incidental Activity)