Positive Achievement

New business has also been developed through the city's auspicious in both the African marketplace and the Harold Washington Cultural Center. An art gallery, bar and grill, coffee shop, and bookstore all have helped increase foot traffic and retail in the area. (Armour, 2005)

47^th St., the social and commercial hub of the Black Metropolis at its height, has started to show signs of a resurgence. Businesses now line the street from Michigan Ave. to Cottage Grove Ave., and with more planned, the future of commerce along the strip will surely bring in more commercial activity. The intersection has been altered with new landscaping, statues, improved roads, replaced streetlights, fresh sidewalks, and other minor structural improvements. A few blocks away near the recently overhauled CTA station, established businesses continue to serve the local clientele as new street signs announce that they now live in the Blues District. Physical appearance has been altered by new retail and political projects, but housing is changing too. The Grand Boulevard area has become an area of rising rents and escalating housing costs. A more detailed look at the change in housing is forthcoming.