Remember around 1999, when we kept hearing about "the new economy," which supposedly had entirely different properties than the "old economy"?
Right around the same time, companies were competing to give their employees exotic perks—six-month sabbaticals, massages, beer and foosball at work.
Then the bubble burst (all at once, and nothing first), and you could suddenly get used foosball tables cheap.
A couple decades have passed since those excessive times. In many parts of the country, prosperity has returned. There's an insane building boom here in Chicago, where dozens and dozens of condo buildings are going up, with more in the works. A developer is fighting neighborhood resistance to an unneeded big condo building in the parking lot of the old Polish Roman Catholic Union. They're pulling out all the stops:
Designed by Brininstool + Lynch, the building would have a 111-space parking garage, a bike storage room and "bike kitchen" where residents can make repairs to their bikes. It also would feature an outdoor pool and deck and a green roof, according to the site plan.
It may not be this year. It may not be next year. But mark these words: That "bike kitchen" will one day be rented out as an "apartment."
Here in the United States of Alzheimer's, we just can't help ourselves.
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