CHICAGO | General Developments

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by harryc

ooooh Secant Wall - does this project have a significant underground component ?

Yeah I believe there is a level or two of underground parking.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Drove by the Mega Mall last night and they've started ripping down the North corner of the building. The roof has been ripped off a few segments further south too, I assume that was steel truss and pulled out for scrap. Didn't look like they were salavaging the nice terra cotta which is a shame. I might try to swing by tonight and score an urn or some nice chunk of it for my yard. Woulda took a picture, but it was dark out.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by harryc

ooooh Secant Wall - does this project have a significant underground component ?

It's interesting, I always assumed they closed off lanes on the surrounding streets so they wouldn't have to go to an expensive secant pile system or do temporary shoring.

Maybe the city wouldn't let them excavate a section of the public way.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Drove by the Mega Mall last night and they've started ripping down the North corner of the building. The roof has been ripped off a few segments further south too, I assume that was steel truss and pulled out for scrap. Didn't look like they were salavaging the nice terra cotta which is a shame. I might try to swing by tonight and score an urn or some nice chunk of it for my yard. Woulda took a picture, but it was dark out.

There is a property nearby yours on Central Park Ave that could use a few chunks in its yard as well

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by SolarWind

December 27, 2016

Good grief. Those piers are not well-conceived. And the large, blank expanses of facade are curious. Maybe they have extra room between floor plates for cooking infrastructure?

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Drove by the Mega Mall last night and they've started ripping down the North corner of the building. The roof has been ripped off a few segments further south too, I assume that was steel truss and pulled out for scrap. Didn't look like they were salavaging the nice terra cotta which is a shame. I might try to swing by tonight and score an urn or some nice chunk of it for my yard. Woulda took a picture, but it was dark out.

Urban Remains has been doing salvaging. Dunno how much though.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Good grief. Those piers are not well-conceived. And the large, blank expanses of facade are curious. Maybe they have extra room between floor plates for cooking infrastructure?

I dunno, I think it's a fairly faithful reproduction of early 20th-century industrial architecture, Albert Kahn-esque. There's no facepalm design features and overall it's fairly attractive. It fills in the site nicely, holds both corners, puts the glassy lobby along Ogden, etc. They even used real modular brick instead of that idiotic jumbo utility brick.

And this is essentially an industrial building, with a large commercial kitchen in the basement, parking for trucks on the first level and administrative/office on the top floor. Looks like there's also a penthouse and roof deck that can be used for events.

[BVictor1]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...227-story.html

Chicago seeks big-idea proposals for Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville

Jeff CoenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

Once the planned location for Chicago's Olympic village and later floated as a possible home for the Obama presidential library, the onetime site of Michael Reese Hospital sat on a recent morning as just a wind-swept field on the lakefront with brown weeds poking up through a layer of fresh snow.

But attention has turned in earnest to redeveloping the nearly 50 acres of lots just south of McCormick Place. The city this fall put out a request for proposals from developers for turning vacant land that also includes nearby truck yards into a Chicago jewel.

"The objective of this RFP is redevelopment of underutilized land in a manner which adds vibrancy to Chicago's south lakefront communities, particularly Bronzeville," a city document states. "The city and MPEA (Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority) are open to a range of uses, including commercial, institutional, tourism, entertainment, sports and recreational facilities, and residential."

And Bronzeville will be watching warily. Some community leaders already worry the city might not be thinking big enough, saying they don't want to see another collection of residential high-rises that don't provide jobs or attract visitors.

VIDEO
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/...ed-development

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I dunno, I think it's a fairly faithful reproduction of early 20th-century industrial architecture, Albert Kahn-esque. There's no facepalm design features and overall it's fairly attractive. It fills in the site nicely, holds both corners, puts the glassy lobby along Ogden, etc. They even used real modular brick instead of that idiotic jumbo utility brick.

Ah yes, "No facepalm design features? Check!", one of the six technical requirements in the AIA guidelines for reproducing early twentieth-century industrial architecture.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Ah yes, "No facepalm design features? Check!", one of the six technical requirements in the AIA guidelines for reproducing early twentieth-century industrial architecture.

It's a sleepy intersection at the wrong end of Fulton Market. Until recently, it was a parking lot filled with ComEd trucks. My expectations are indeed pretty low at this site, so this building is a pleasant surprise.

But seriously, is the architecture all that different from this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8492...7i13312!8i6656

Or this?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9432...7i13312!8i6656

[denizen467]

^ Your phrasing of the modest standard when expectations are low was rather poetic. After all, sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and say, try not to suck.

On the other hand, "wrong end," now that's harsh...

Happy New Year

[Steely Dan]

over the weekend, i saw what looked like a caisson rig at a cleared site on the west side of western just north of peterson. it was dark and i was driving so i coudn't make much of it.

any ideas on what it could be?

that's a brutally ugly and strip-mally stretch of western, hopefully it's something halfway decent.

[killaviews]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

over the weekend, i saw what looked like a caisson rig at a cleared site on the west side of western just north of peterson. it was dark and i was driving so i coudn't make much of it.

any ideas on what it could be?

that's a brutally ugly and strip-mally stretch of western, hopefully it's something halfway decent.

Toyota Dealership? Northside Toyota
http://www.rejournals.com/2016/12/23...ip-in-chicago/

[Steely Dan]

^ thanks. that's it.

that strip is an unfortunate auto-sewer anyway so i guess i shouldn't be surprised by a dealership.

at least it's an urbanish vertical dealership instead of the typical parking lot moonscape land-monster dealership.

[killaviews]

More exciting opportunity at the location the dealership is leaving- Broadway and Hollywood. The CTA is taking it for reconstruction of the Bryn Mawr Redline. Hopefully it will be turned into TOD after that.

[denizen467]

^ CTA is taking Toyota's corner lot, or their mid-block parcel, or both? Will they also take either of the Public Storage buildings? Would love to see all of that levelled and replaced afterwards with t.o.d.

(Is the giant shed on the north side of Hollywood also part of Northside Toyota?)

[killaviews]

I think the plan was for the CTA to take all of Toyota's properties and the storage on the east side on Broadway. Northside Toyota has a for sale sign on the building at thee Southwest corner of Broadway and Hollywood.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ thanks. that's it.

that strip is an unfortunate auto-sewer anyway so i guess i shouldn't be surprised by a dealership.

at least it's an urbanish vertical dealership instead of the typical parking lot moonscape land-monster dealership.

Western's been one of several major car-dealership centers for decades - it's even referenced as such in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross!

[Jim in Chicago]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Good news is this development is small enough that it will be easily gobbled up by a developer looking to build a big ass tower in 20-30 years once all the Riverline vacant land is mopped up and this area is the next Streeterville/LSE. That will be a thrilling day to see when the demo claw takes its first bite out of this trash. In the meantime that 5' tall clean white concrete block base will make an excellent canvas for the local street rats to tag with half assed 10' long tags which will no doubt be sandblasted off leaving an event larger version of the tag etched into the concrete.

Aren't they Condos? That will make it harder for a future developer to buy the building. I know it can be done, but there are extra hurdles.

And, yes, I can't find a single good thing to say about this building.

[the urban politician]

^ Condo buildings can and do get bought out by single investors. And in prime real estate like this, it will happen some day.

Now if only somebody will buy out parcels of Dearborn Park. I'd love to see the bulldozers out in those properties......perhaps when I'm an old man?