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Bridge to Art Museum = Ferris Wheel? |
You just know that people are going to party on the bridge.
Seriously though, Grant Park is for all people to enjoy and have fun. The residents who live nearby cannot pretend that it is their park to fence off like a backyard and dictate the park's future. |
It is a public park. Sorry folks who moved into the area around Grant Park. Perhaps you should have noted that vast open space and looked into it. It is called a public park. Not your back yard. So move out to Schaumburg.
Harbor Point...isn't that located north and east of the proposed bridge? So how in the hell will it block his view of the lake? AT least he didn't use the tired "aren't you afraid it will attract terrorist" speil we keep hearing at highrise meetings. |
[QUOTE=BVictor1]** Removed for copyright infringement **
-Dylan Leblanc[QUOTE] The city of Chicago was paying millions a year to keep it open. The last agreement (would have kept it open 25 more years) had the State of Illinois picking up the $4 million a year annual tab. So the tax payers would have paid $12 million by now if we would have kept this airport open. Daley has now saved the state of Illinois $4 million so far and it will ultimately save the state of Illionios over $100 Million......Thank you KING RICHARD!!!!:tup: |
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^He actually said that? How are these people allowed to speak? Shouldn't they feel stupid themselves by saying such things in front of their neighbors?
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http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=21280
City proposes $550M LaSalle Street revival July 11, 2006 By Greg Hinz Chicago's financial district suffers from 'deterioration' and 'obsolescence' (Crain’s) — City Hall Tuesday unveiled a half-billion-dollar plan to subsidize the rebirth of a huge swath of the Loop financial district, saying that Chicago’s traditional financial heart suffers from “deterioration” and “obsolescence.” After months of rumors, the Daley Administration formally proposed to designate a 40-block section centering on LaSalle Street south of the river as a tax increment financing (TIF) district. The city did not immediately spell out who would get money or in what amounts. But under an overview proposal submitted to the Community Development Commission, at least $550 million in property-tax receipts would be diverted from the Board of Education and other local governments over the next 23 years and instead be used to clear land, subsidize new building and redevelopment, and pay for public projects in the area, possibly a proposed Monroe Street express busway. The proposed new TIF includes most of the Loop that is not already in the Central Loop TIF district to the north and east. Included are such landmark properties as the Board of Trade Building, City Hall, the Inland Steel Building and the Rookery, as well as the Riverbend site at Lake and the river that has been eyed for new growth. Though many buildings in the area have historic charm, a lot of them “need help,” said Lori Healey, the commissioner of the city Department of Planning and Development. Only by modernizing mechanical and other systems will such buildings be able to compete with newer structures to the west and in the suburbs, she said, and building owners may not be able to afford to do that without city assistance. United Airlines reportedly has considered at least two buildings in the proposed district for its new corporate headquarters. United is considering moving downtown, out of state, or staying in suburban Elk Grove Township. The biggest budget item in the plan proposed Tuesday was $200 million for public works and related improvements. Ms. Healy said that could include a wide range of projects but said the city is particularly eyeing transit projects to fight increased downtown congestion. Another $200 million is allotted for rehabilitation of existing buildings, with $50 million for property assembly. The projects would be funded by growth of property-tax receipts within the TIF area. The city argues that much of that growth would not occur if not for the subsidies, but some civic groups have argued that it is not wise policy to strip schools of even inflationary growth in tax receipts. Ms. Healey said the city “continues to review” what to do with the Central Loop TIF district, which is due to expire after next year. That district originally was proposed as a means to help East Loop landlords modernize their buildings, but more than $100 million ended up being diverted to pay construction cost of Millenium Park. The Community Development Commission took the plan under review, but is expected to approve it later this year. http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8035/lasalletif7ic.gif |
I wouldnt say this area needs a "revival". This one of the most vibrant workday populations on earth.
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Another view on the Lasalle St. TIF district from yesterday's Sun Times
City outlines La Salle Street TIF district July 11, 2006 BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter Advertisement City officials Tuesday issued the first details, including a map, of a new downtown taxing district designed to subsidize commercial growth and public improvements, with a focus on La Salle Street. “I see this as the traditional commercial heart of the city,’’ planning Commissioner Lori Healey said of the proposed tax-increment financing district. If approved, the so-called TIF district would finance a range of projects and help owners of aging office buildings refurbish to attract more companies, she said. But leaders of key downtown business groups, representing those who might benefit from TIF funding, said they oppose the proposal because the city, not their members, would decide how to spend the proceeds. In a rare break with City Hall, the groups said the TIF should be governed by a committee representing the businesses and property owners. “We want self-governance for the stakeholders here,’’ said Bill Bornhoff, vice president and director of the Chicago Development Council, which represents downtown builders. With a similar reaction was Michael Cornicelli, director of government affairs for the Buildings Owners and Managers Association of Chicago. “We need the planning for this to be from the ground up, not the top down,” he said. “When it comes to TIFs, the city has always done things from the top down.” The amount of money at stake could be huge, judging from the city’s record with downtown TIFs. The La Salle-based TIF could generate $550 million over its statutory 23-year life, city officials estimated. Healey said she saw no need for a business committee with veto power over spending plans. “We have it in place already relatively unofficially,” she said, explaining that business lobbyists are constantly consulted on planning issues. The proposed district covers blocks primarily between Clark and Canal, Randolph south to Van Buren. A section of Wacker Drive with new office towers was kept out of the district, as were eastern parts of the Loop that already have their own TIF coverage. La Salle is considered the heart because it has old office buildings that have lost tenants to Wacker Drive. The district includes both sides of La Salle from just north of Lake to Van Buren. Sears Tower is in the district, as is City Hall itself and a section of Randolph near Wacker where developer John Buck harbors plans for a new skyscraper. His plan could be eligible for TIF assistance, but Healey said the city would emphasize help for renovations of “older buildings that face challenges in the marketplace.” Funding also could be set aside to create a park or even a school to serve downtown’s growing population, she said. TIFs do not raise taxes, but redirect them away from schools and other local governments. A baseline of tax receipts is established at the start, and every increase each year is diverted to an account that can fund private development or public works. Mayor Daley has described TIFs as his only economic development tool. The Central Loop TIF, parts of which date from 1984, generated $87.7 million for subsidies in 2004, the last year for which results have been published. Its yearly windfall was used to bail out Millennium Park. Since taking office in 1989, Daley has increased the number of TIFs from 11 to more than 140. Critics have said TIFs are overused, help development that would have occurred anyway, cheat schools and give City Hall a money pot with little accountability. Plans for what would be called the La Salle Central TIF were introduced Tuesday to the Community Development Commission, which set a public hearing Sept. 12. The commission will then forward its recommendation on the TIF to the City Council, which has the final call. Healey said the effectiveness of TIFs is proven, and she expects no modifications from the public input. Bornhoff said the city is acting as if it has all the answers, but he said his criticism was directed at the bureaucrats and not Daley. “We want to execute something that’s meaningful in the spirit of what he’s trying to do,” Bornhoff said. droeder@suntimes.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If this new TIF district will help Buck get his new tower off the ground then its worth it IMO |
I am not in favor of this TIF. Isn't business suppose to be free enterprise? Shouldn't the land lords have been updating the buildings all along? Why give these property owners welfare? Let them deal with the market. Eventually someone will come along and buy the buildings that the land lords have let go to waste and turn them into something like they are planning with 208 S. LaSalle.
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It depends on what other cities are doing to promote business development within their city core. If other big cities are using certain types of financing to entice businesses etc to relocate or stay then Chicago has to play ball to keep in the game.
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I disagree. The core in Chicago is big enough and has TIFFs. Get the private sector too addicted to TIFFs then there will be NO incentive for them to continually reinvest into their properties. The land lords made money....pocketed it.....and the building got run down. Office tenants are moving into the newer buildings. The exact reason some of us see continued growth of Class A buildings. There is a market for them. Just think if all the landlords along LaSalle would have invested in their own property then there might not be such a thirst for class A buildings.
Would rather have a TIFF on to build a west El Loop down Clinton between Lake and Harris. Reward the land owners who invested in their properties and created the new west side. And in no way should we subsidize bad business decisions. |
I support the TIF only if it is used for public infrastructure improvements (Monroe st. rapid transit! West Loop Subway! :) ), but NOT to private interests or developers.
The notion in the sun-times article that business groups should oversee the dispersement of public money is ludicrous. |
I agree, the Clinton St subway is a must. However, I talked to a friend in CDOT about this, and he said it is many years away. :(
Keep your eye on Carroll Ave though.:tup: |
Historic preservation
I have long noticed that there are some nice looking historic buildings near the Jefferson Place/Jefferson Tower buildings recently constructed in the west loop. Please view these links:
This one to the left: http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=292884 The two buildings to the right: http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=281069 And here below, right across, a very nice building with one of those water towers on the roof: http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=434995 The Jefferson buildings themselves are crap, but this intersection has potential to be kind of interesting--older historic buildings mixed in with the modernism of the new CTA headquarters, plus some highrise condos and retail, all along the L tracks. But it all gets ruined if too many of these historic buildings are lost. Does anybody know if there are efforts underway to protect these structures? |
VivaLfuego, LA21st,
Have either of you guys heard any recent buzz that you can share about the Taylor Street Extension viaduct and bridge? |
I will check CDOT's construction spreadsheet for start and finish dates.
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United HQ heading for Chicago
Officials expected to announce move to 77 W. Wacker this weekend (Crain’s) — Chicago has emerged as the all-but-certain location for United Airlines’ new headquarters, sources close to the matter reported late Thursday, with the carrier likely to move 350 top staffers to a high-rise at 77 W. Wacker Dr. overlooking the Chicago River. Sources said that an announcement that “Chicago’s hometown carrier” is staying home may come by the end of the weekend. The announcement would follow what are described as serious talks during the week between United and the owners of the 77 W. Wacker, where R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. formerly was based. United, which currently is based in suburban Elk Grove Township, has 16,000 employees in the Chicago area, more than in any other metropolitan region. But the firm has made clear its decision would be based on its own financial situation, and the city and state reportedly have responded with an incentive package worth more than $20 million to United, which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year. The proposed perks include tax increment financing, job training credits and possible relief from city and state jet fuel taxes that would also be extended to other airlines that purchase significant amounts of fuel in Illinois. Related Article Topics | Related Industry News Also on the table: whether United still has exclusive rights to its gates at O’Hare after defaulting on bonds used to finance the facility while it was operating under Chapter 11 protection. The airline is still litigating that matter with the city in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. San Francisco and Denver were also vying for United’s headquarters. “We still continue to discuss our options with officials in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco,” a United spokeswoman, who declined to provide details on the talks, said earlier Thursday. Chicago and Illinois officials also have declined to discuss the items under negotiation. While Denver economic development officials were prepared to make a rich offer to United, they were never asked to do so, says Tom Clark, executive vice-president for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. “We have not heard anything from United,” he says. “We don’t expect to hear anything from United.” United officials are focusing on 77 W. Wacker Dr. after visiting several downtown office towers. Among the skyscrapers they also considered: 190 S. LaSalle, which formerly housed Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP 115 S. LaSalle St., the Harris Bank complex 200 W. Madison St., space formerly occupied by Hyatt Corp. |
Awesome!!! I sure as hell hope that Daley has the elite number crunches when figuring out all these corporate incentive stuff. It will be nice getting another high profile major into downtown though.
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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...esquire18.html
Once-lavish Esquire theater may be nearing end of run July 18, 2006 BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter Chicago's Esquire theater, 58 E. Oak, a once lavish movie house that dates from the 1930s, could be near the end of its run. The Esquire's owner wants to tear it down and replace it with small buildings for retail tenants. Ald. Burton Natarus, whose 42nd Ward includes the Esquire, said he's been shown plans that call for buildings no taller than four stories. He said he supports the project because the new construction would attract quality stores into buildings similar to those that exist on Oak Street. "Certainly, we have to look at our options for the property,'' said the owner, Mark Hunt of M Development LLC. "But nothing is definitive and there are no timetables for starting construction.'' Can't compete with megaplex Hunt declined further comment. A source familiar with the project said that under one scenario, the theater would be closed in about 18 months. The source said the new construction would total more than 100,000 square feet and that Hunt is aggressively marketing the space to stores that want an Oak Street address. The street has carved an identity near Michigan Avenue as a locale for luxury and specialty retailers who can pay top-dollar rents, sometimes hitting $300 a square foot for street frontage. Rents decline above the first floor, and it's possible Hunt's project could include a restaurant, medical offices or other uses on the upper levels. Showing movies, in the meantime, has been a tough business for the Esquire. The property has deteriorated under a succession of management firms. The current one is the AMC chain, which has a financial incentive to direct the most popular films to bigger and newer theaters downtown that it also controls. "Movies are just a killer at the Esquire," the source said. "It's impossible to compete with the River East,'' a 21-screen AMC megaplex at Illinois and Columbus. The Esquire began as a single, 1,400-seat auditorium and was converted to a six-screen theater in 1988. The City Council in 1994 rejected landmark status for the theater, saying that the earlier renovation destroyed much of its architectural heritage. Natarus said Hunt would not need a zoning change for his project, but would need to bring it before the Chicago Plan Commission under terms of the city's Lakefront Protection Ordinance. |
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I can say that all 4 are occupied, but of the 4 I would be most worried about #1. It is not in very good condition and the sidewalk in front of it is garbage, though every few months someone comes by and replaces the boards that cover up the dangerous holes in the sidewalk. I'm guessing there's a plan in the works... #4 is in excellent condition, and must have been restored within the last 5-10 years. Whoever did it spent a lot of money on it too. From the outside it really looks great. #2 and #3. The Jefferson Tower designers took great pain to make their parking garage entrance blend in well with these two buildings. It stands to reason that they thought those buildings would be there for a long time to come. EDIT - More on #1. This building has a full size lot that stretches all the way to Des Plaines, where this is an entrance to their private parking lot. Cars are double parked during the weekdays, so I would guess the building is fairly busy. On the Des Plaines side there is a newish painted iron fence around the lot. A few months ago, a car jumped the curb and took out a section of the fence. It still hasn't been replaced. Just some yellow caution tape strung between the empty fenceposts. The owner of this lot is definitely not eager to keep it looking nice. |
^ Very informative, thanks.
That's too bad about building number 1, since it's actually kind of nice. |
Are there any renderings for that new pedestrian bridge at the Art Institute??
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http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/b...ICnewwing2.jpg |
Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones wrote a great article on Chicago Theatre scene. It seems the Loop Theatre district has finally earned an open run, big production. Clearly this is a powerful sign that the 20 year long investment in Loop infrastructure is paying off.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/featur...hi-leisure-utl How 'Wicked' run has broken Chicago's curse By Chris Jones Tribune theater critic Published August 13, 2006 The announcement came in Los Angeles, but it actually was a vote of confidence in Chicago. And it means that the Chicago production of "Wicked" -- the show that has revolutionized the perceptions of Broadway in the Loop -- is staying put at the Oriental Theatre. For many more months. Maybe for several more years. On July 17, the producers of "Wicked" announced that a new production of their hit musical would open next spring at the Pantages Theatre in L.A. That was unsurprising -- "Wicked" has grossed more than $350 million to date in New York, Chicago and on tour, and a new company designed specifically for the nation's second-largest city was an obvious step to take. But there was a big surprise that day for many people who follow the vicissitudes of Broadway shows. Los Angeles wasn't getting the Chicago production. Even though that had been the plan all along. In New York, the thinking about Chicago has changed. Drastically. "Finally the curse has been lifted," says Roche Schulfer, the executive director of the Goodman Theatre. "Now producers look at Chicago, and they see a huge city, and they see money. Really, this is a very big moment in the history of the Chicago theater." In a study released last month and based on an extensive survey of theater-goers, the League of American Theatres and Producers found that "theater-motivated individuals" in large cities such as Chicago spend an average of about $92 per person on dining, hotels, parking, shopping and the like on the nights they are going to a Broadway-style show. Using those figures, that would mean an additional year of "Wicked" is worth more than $86 million to the North Loop businesses that surround the theater. When the Chicago company of "Wicked" was first announced in the Tribune on March 22, 2005, it was billed as an indefinite run. But in the touring Broadway business -- where costs and risks are high and theaters can get locked up months or even years in advance -- producers always need a more specific plan, even if they don't always care to reveal it. In the case of "Wicked," producer David Stone actually was anticipating a Chicago run at the Oriental Theatre of 12-18 months -- and that was in his best-case scenario. That meant the show would be able to move to L.A. in early 2007, opening up another huge market and saving the multimillion dollar costs of developing a whole other company from scratch. "Eighteen months was our original goal in Chicago," Stone admits, "and our initial plans then involved taking the show to L.A. But the show is doing so well in Chicago, we realized it would be stupid to leave." So what's the secret plan now? "We don't have a specific goal anymore," insists Stone, who produces "Wicked" in partnership with Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group and Jon B. Platt. "Our thinking now about Chicago is all about how you stay somewhere permanently. And that requires a whole other way of talking to your potential audience." Permanence and theater aren't easy bedfellows, of course. But there has been speculation in New York -- where the sold-out show carries a box-office advance of some $32 million -- that "Wicked" could easily run another 10 years. In Chicago, where the advance is still a healthy $13 million despite much shorter booking periods, the run could easily last another two or three years -- if not more. Ever since the show began its Chicago run, it has sold almost all the available tickets at the Oriental Theatre at full price. The weekly gross this summer has been about $1.2 million, week in and week out."Wicked" puts a new block of tickets on sale to the public Sunday, covering performances through February. Sales are expected to be brisk. Clearly, this is good news for city boosters. Broadway in Chicago estimates that one-quarter of the tickets to the show now are sold to patrons outside the Chicago area. Leads to hotel stay "Because we draw so heavily on the Midwest region, we always need a compelling reason for someone to come to Chicago again," says Dorothy Coyle, Chicago's Director of Tourism. "This show gets people to make plans. And since it's an evening event, that naturally leads to a hotel stay. Which brings the city revenue from the hotel tax." You could also argue that the new commitment by "Wicked" provides substantial vindication for Mayor Richard M. Daley's promotion of the incremental use of public funds to create the Loop theater district -- which initially was criticized for inactivity. "The show is now the anchor tenant," says Schulfer. "And that makes a very big difference to the whole thing." In many ways, "Wicked" is the culmination of a renaissance that began with the hit Chicago tryout of "The Producers" in 2000 and has continued, with some notable stutters, ever since. Given the plans already in place for the next several years, it's hard to imagine another time in the near future when Loop theaters are sitting empty for significant periods of time. The initial idea to create a sit-down "Wicked" company for Chicago -- a concept that has proved very profitable for many people -- belonged to James M. Nederlander, the patriarch of the theater-owning family that owns many Broadway theaters, along with half of the Broadway in Chicago presenting and real-estate partnership. Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment) is Nederlander's partner in Chicago. "I've always said Chicago was a run town," Nederlander said from his New York office. "I remember when the Shuberts had seven theaters there. Then they gave up on the place. I always though that was a mistake." It was Nederlander who persuaded Stone to create the Chicago company and let it stay. "That show is a big hit," Nedlander says, "Why not?" History contained several reasons why not. Not for decades Exactly why Chicago -- despite its size -- had decades of trouble establishing itself as a place that would support long-running Broadway shows is a matter of speculation. Oft-cited reasons include everything from simple neglect by New York producers to the large number of competing non-profit theaters to anti-Chicago naysayers in New York. Some cite the many years lacking a cohesive local management of the Broadway-style theaters in the Loop, and others suggest that the exacting standards of former Tribune critic Claudia Cassidy had a chilling effect on shows at a crucial time when the commercial theater was shrinking and changing. Whatever the history and the reasons, "Wicked" (which, interestingly enough, got mixed reviews in Chicago) clearly has swept them all away for the foreseeable future. The success of "Wicked" (which is a national rather than a Chicago phenomenon) cannot be easily duplicated, of course. But "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," another Broadway show with a dedicated Chicago company, has already recouped its initial (and modest) $1 million costs and now looks set to play the Drury Lane Water Tower Theatre through the end of 2007, if not beyond. "Spelling Bee" also is produced by Stone, but other producers now seem ready to come to Chicago to test the Nederlander theory. In the spring, Scott Sanders' production of "The Color Purple" will begin a Chicago run at the Cadillac Palace with Oprah Winfrey's name above the title. If sales are relatively modest, it will decamp for another city after a few months. If tickets sell at "Wicked" levels (which could happen), Sanders says he will create another company and leave "The Color Purple" in Chicago, alongside its "Wicked" twin. |
Bravo to Daley...
...now just answer me a few questions about TIFs |
Glad to see he's not holding back. That's the mayor we all love :D
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...i-business-hed
Loop lights up with a retail wick Rebounding from decades of decline, the Loop has dusted itself off and is undergoing a renaissance as a magnet for tourists, shoppers and other spenders--and taxpayers--drawn to stores, theaters, rest By Sandra Jones Tribune staff reporter Published August 20, 2006 At 7 p.m. on a recent weekday the crowd was so thick outside the Oriental Theater in the Loop for the show "Wicked" that passersby had to walk single file near the edge of the sidewalk just to get by. Around the corner, diners waited outside for 30 minutes for tables at Petterino's, a steakhouse in a corner building that stood vacant only six years ago. And two blocks away, dozens of shoppers leafed through handbags and sundresses at Nordstrom Rack and H&M on State Street, where stores are now lit up long after office workers have gone home. Not long ago the Loop was a ghost town after 6 p.m. on a weeknight. Restaurateurs and bar owners wouldn't go near it, following instead the trail of night-lifers to trendy neighborhoods to the north and west. Not anymore. Real estate experts confirm what has become increasingly apparent: There is a bona fide retail renaissance taking shape in the Loop, one of Chicago's oldest and best-known destinations but one that was long ago left behind as other areas, especially north of the Chicago River, flourished with restaurants and shopping. Thanks in large part to a $60-million investment to revive the theater district and $475 million spent to build Millennium Park, a record number of retailers and restaurants are moving into the Loop looking to benefit from the influx of tourists, residents and students who hang out downtown long after offices have closed. "It's definitely paid off," said Allen Joffe, principal broker at Chicago-based Baum Realty Group Inc., a real estate firm tracking the Loop's retail revival. The Loop retail market posted a banner year in 2005, with 89 new leases signed, topping the previous record in 2004 of 60, according to an annual study from Baum Realty. That's almost triple the 34 leases signed in 2003, Joffe said. What's more, the gross average asking rent rose 10.3 percent, to $58.52 per square foot a year in 2005, from $53.04 in 2004. The 2005 rate was the highest since the firm began tracking rents eight years ago. Not surprisingly, almost half of the new leases signed in 2005 were for food service, with 20 fast-food outlets, 13 coffee shops and seven full-service restaurants. But in a sign of the longstanding belief that the revival is here to stay, another 27 deals were for specialty stores, including six for apparel. More tax money The renewal is likely to result in an influx of new tax revenue from one of the biggest money pits in the city. Several mayoral administrations have spent tens of millions of dollars trying to lure retailers back downtown with little or no success. Attracting more restaurants and national retailers to the Loop not only boosts the city's image but also helps pay for city services at a time when operating budget shortfalls are a common occurrence. Chicago restaurant sales in particular represent more than 20 percent of the sales tax revenue the city collects each year, making restaurants the fastest-growing retail category in the city, said John C. Melaniphy, founder and president of Melaniphy & Associates Inc., a Chicago-based retail consulting firm. The streets that experienced the most activity were Michigan Avenue, State Street, Madison Street and Randolph Street, Baum said. Retailers had avoided the Loop for decades, particularly State Street, the city's first major shopping district. The street lost cachet to North Michigan Avenue in the 1970s and then chased away traffic when it was closed to autos from 1979 to 1996 in an ill-conceived attempt to create a pedestrian-friendly outdoor shopping mall. As recently as 2004, retail vacancies for specialty stores on State Street surpassed 20 percent, according to Northern Realty Group Ltd. That figure dropped to 4.6 percent last fall. Claudia Martin, who moved to an office building turned condo in the heart of the Loop five years ago, has watched the transformation from her living room. "We used to joke you could lie down in the street on a Saturday afternoon and no one would run over you," said Martin. Now, fast-food lunch spots are staying open later and on the weekends. Tanning salons and dry cleaners are hanging up shingles. And fashionable restaurants and shops are starting to move in. Among the new tenants in 2005: Morton's The Steakhouse, Kamehachi, Hannah's Bretzel, Cereality, Ace Hardware, Barnes & Noble, Claire's Accessories and Ann Taylor Loft. The neighborhood even got its first trendy boutique, an accessories and handbag shop called Nakamol on South Michigan Avenue that would fit just as well in Bucktown or Lincoln Park. The pace remains strong for 2006. Restaurants including California Pizza Kitchen, McCormick & Schmick's and Elephant & Castle are adding to the nightlife. And apparel retailers such as Annie Sez, Urban Outfitters and Chernin's shoe store are filling in State Street. Kevin and Alan Shikami, the brothers who run the chic Kevin restaurant in River North, plan to open a second restaurant later this year, this one in the Loop. The Asian restaurant, to be called Shikago, will serve lunch and dinner and host wine tastings. Alan Shikami said he hopes the upscale outpost will help change the way people look at the Loop. "I've always thought the Loop was a peculiar and unfortunately underutilized area," Shikami said via e-mail. "I always wondered why it could not resemble Manhattan. Why did the Loop have to be so focused on business and devoid of other life?" Much of the Loop's rebirth can be traced to Millennium Park's opening two years ago. Held up as a model use of urban public space, the free concerts, stunning architecture and gardens attract an estimated 3 million visitors a year. Priceline.com named Millennium Park the most requested travel destination this summer, according to a study of the top 50 summer travel destinations, released in June. "The transformation is phenomenal," said Chris Holtebeck, a tourist from Appleton, Wis., who has watched Chicago change. "There's just so much to see. And I feel safe." Some parents feel the same way. It's not unusual to find Kregg Kaducha pushing a stroller around the Loop after 8 p.m., something he wouldn't have considered before the redevelopment took place. His sons, ages 2 and 5, run up and down the terraced stairs at the newly opened Wabash Plaza along the Chicago river and gaze at skyscrapers. "It's cheap entertainment," said Kaducha. "I hope the development continues. It encourages more people to come around here." $100 per square foot As part of the upturn, real estate agents say they are seeing landlords for the first time asking for retail rents of $100 per square foot, a price typically reserved for outposts in River North. Rents in some spots south of the river have doubled since Millennium Park opened, said David Stone, founder of Chicago-based Stone Real Estate Corp. and a veteran broker for downtown retail real estate. "It's in quite high demand," said Stone. That's not to say there aren't still dead zones. The Loop office market, for example, is a mixed bag. While the West Loop is one of the hot spots for new office space, there are some office buildings in the Central Loop that have as much as 40 percent to 60 percent of their space available. And State Street still has a gaping hole across from Marshall Field's, where the long-troubled Block 37 project is moving ahead in fits and starts. Developer Mills Corp., plagued by financial setbacks, reduced the retail space, yet to be constructed, at 108 N. State St. to 265,000 square feet from more than 400,000 square feet originally projected. The Loop retail market's overall retail vacancy rate rose 1.12 percentage points in 2005 to 17.8 percent, according to Baum. The higher vacancy rate reflects in large part new projects that have yet to be leased, such as the Heritage at Millennium Park and the MetraMarket food court and retail center in the West Loop near the train tracks, Joffe said. The Baum report covers the roughly 106-square-block Loop retail market bounded by Wacker Drive, Michigan Avenue, Van Buren Street and the Kennedy Expressway. As an indication of how ready the Loop is to show off its new after-work persona, the Chicago Loop Alliance, an organization of Loop businesses, is working with the city to host the first dusk-to-dawn party on May 7 modeled after the popular "White Night" festivals in Paris and Rome. Stores, restaurants, museums and the park will stay open into the wee hours of the morning. "There's been such tremendous growth here," said Ty Tabing, executive director of the alliance and former assistant commissioner at the city's planning department. "The objective is to highlight the Loop as much more than a place to go to work every day." The alliance is preparing its own study, due out by Labor Day, to measure the economic growth of the Loop in the wake of Millennium Park. The Loop's residential population soared 50 percent from 2000 to 2006 to more than 13,000 people, according to Tabing. And residents have plenty of money to spend. The average household income is about $120,000. "I really think the Loop has an incredible potential to be a true Chicago-style neighborhood," said Doug Zell, founder and CEO of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea Inc. Zell opened his second coffeehouse in the Loop on Randolph Street across from Millennium Park in April. "You've got people living there. You've got people working there. It's just getting started." |
It really is amazing what has happened there. Michigan Ave (south of the river) on the weekends feels like rush hour in many other cities. A few more years, it might rival North Michigan Ave for pedestrian traffic, and everyone knows how busy that is. Weekday rush hour ALREADY does rival it. More and more people are coming to the Loop after 5.
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The place that has changed most dramatically in the Loop is the intersections along Roosevelt, between State and Michigan Ave. What a great urban environment that has turned into; elevated trains, sidewalk level shopping, heavy pedestrian usage, college students, commuters, tourists going to the Museum Campus. It looks terrific!
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^*sick feeling in stomach (again)
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City Place Apartments.....oh my God! A total architectural abomination.
I'm surprised Kamin didn't note the Michigan Av. Marriott. What a loser! |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...i-business-hed
Architecture firm looks for `next steward' Graham Anderson is put on the block By Susan Diesenhouse Tribune staff reporter Published August 29, 2006 A Chicago architectural firm that traces its roots back to planning visionary Daniel Burnham is for sale and seems destined to disappear in its current form. "I'm looking for the next steward to carry on the history of this amazing firm," Robert E. Surman, the 44-year-old president and owner of Graham Anderson Probst & White Corp., said Monday. Generations ago various permutations of this partnership designed masterpieces such as the Wrigley Building, Shedd Aquarium, Merchandise Mart, the Civic Opera, the Post Office building and Union Station. But in the last few decades the firm's staff has been reduced significantly and its projects have become less grandiose. Still, Surman hopes to find another firm or person, he said, "who will take an aggressive approach to high-quality architecture" and preserve the firm's extensive historic archive of blueprints, drawings and photographs, including a copy of the 1909 Chicago Plan designed and signed by Burnham. Sometime this fall Surman, whose father, William, led the storied design and planning firm from the late 1960s through the mid-1990s, plans to become a vice president for architecture and development at HomeMade Pizza Co. on the North Side. With some of America's most notable beaux-arts and art deco creations in its portfolio, "they are one of the iconic firms in the American [architecture] cosmos," Robert Ivy, editor in chief of Architectural Record, said of Graham Anderson Probst & White. "In the early 20th Century they were capable of making buildings of great clarity and power like Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum and Union Station in Chicago and D.C.," Ivy added. "They combine neo-classical design with a heroic scale that few have matched in the intervening years." But by the 1970s the firm that once could boast more than 200 designers, draftsmen and engineers had scaled down. Since then it has consisted of about a dozen people, and in a 2004 publication that profiled Illinois architectural firms it is listed as having seven architectural professionals on staff. Surman and his father prided themselves on the high quality of their work. But the firm's recent standout projects, such as the 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use building at 2 East Erie St., first occupied in 2002, are few and their pipeline of future projects seems slim. The firm has a roster of corporate clients for whom it regularly works, but Surman explained that "like many service businesses, these relationships may continue with the firm or with the other employees who may move on." As a result, he said, if the firm is sold it will probably fetch considerably less than $1 million. "No one buys a portfolio," explained Paul Nakazawa, an international consultant who teaches architecture at Harvard University. "In any profession it's the people who make the firm, and if they aren't there the value isn't really there," he said. To assess the value of a design firm a potential buyer will consider several factors, and if it likes what it sees it will pay some multiple of earnings for it, said Scott Simpson, president and chief executive of Stubbins Associates in Cambridge, Mass. A buyer will calculate the average annual gross fee per professional and the firm's gross profit, and perhaps add some premium. "A buyer looks at the portfolio, clients, reputation, work in progress and future work," Simpson said. "They must be able to make back their investment and retain the firm's intellectual capital," he said. That Surman is planning to leave soon could influence a sale outcome, said architect Daniel Coffey, head of Daniel P. Coffey & Associates Ltd. in Chicago. "When a person just leaves, typically that diminishes a firm's value," he said. But the firm's footprint has been fading, he added, and "you don't hear much about their projects." Graham Anderson Probst & White has been doing corporate interiors and other work for public agencies and companies such as Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. and Chicago-based Unitrin Inc., but Surman said it has not engaged in international commissions, a major source of billings for U.S design firms. In the first few decades of the 20th Century, earlier incarnations of the firm were at the heart of a Golden Age of American architecture, said Sally Chappell, author of a book on the firm, "Transforming Tradition: Architecture and Planning of Graham Anderson Probst & White." "They were one of the largest firms in the great building period of American architecture, during the teens and 1920s," she said. All of the partners who formed the firm in 1917 had worked for Daniel Burnham. They developed a reputation for reinterpreting classical and European design motifs to create monumental structures that inspired awe but also enhanced the efficient functioning of cities such as Chicago, New York and Washington. For instance, Chappell said, Union Station in Chicago was designed to be a statement of civic grandeur but also to ease traffic that approached from the river, highways and city streets. "They designed special ramps for taxis to drop off passengers without delaying traffic on the streets," she said. Meanwhile, under the colonnade, train "passengers could be out of the weather while they waited." Surman is well aware of the firm's heritage that he hopes can be preserved. "They took classical and European architectural styles and applied them to a variety of building types such as banks, offices and museums," he said "That made them unique." ---------- sdiesenhouse@tribune.com Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune |
^ Looks good, I remember seeing that article before. Just curious--does anyone know what this park is replacing?
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At the moment the site is a vacant lot at a very busy intersection. I'm happy to see the park going in but wish it was a little larger. It's across the street from the Harold Washinton Cultural Center, a theater/concert hall with a 1,000 person seating capacity. Great to have this historic intersection become such a civic minded/community enriching focal point.
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Good For Mayor Daley. That is why Chicago is so great because it has a Mayor who puts reason above politics. This ordinance would accomplish none of its supposed objectives, all the while steering tax dollars, jobs, and cosumers to nearby suburbs at the expense of the city. If you dont like working for the amount these stores pay, get an education and work some other place.
Cheers, Derek |
Floating maritime museum may dock downtown
not a big development but could serve as a nice little downtown tourist attraction.....
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/7...ship30.article Floating maritime museum may dock downtown September 30, 2006 BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter Ahoy, Chicago: A new floating museum aboard a former Coast Guard ship is coming to the city, with plans to eventually moor downtown. The 180-foot-long, 74-foot-tall cutter, built in 1944, will be moved in mid-October from Indiana to the Far South Side, where it will dock for the winter at an old U.S. Steel boat slip, Gov. Blagojevich announced Friday. Obtained at no cost to the state as federal government surplus, the USCGC Acacia is "essentially a complete time capsule," said Marty Hecker, an official with the nonprofit group that will oversee the craft. "She's in excellent shape," said Hecker, vice president of the American Academy of Industry, the group that plans to open it in 2007 as a museum of maritime and military history. Blagojevich envisions the ship as a downtown tourist attraction. The city has discussed docking the red-and-black boat on the Chicago River or at Northerly Island, the former home of Meigs Field, Hecker said. Or, the craft could end up anchoring the 17-acre site of the former steel plant at 87th and the lake, now being converted into park land by the Chicago Park District, Hecker said. Similar vessels in other cities have been used as places for youth groups such as the Boy Scouts to "camp" overnight -- a role Hecker envisions for the Acacia. More than 6,000 crew members served on the Acacia during its 62 years of service. Used primarily on the Great Lakes as a rescue and maintenance vessel and for ice breaking, it never saw combat. Another group, the Chicago Maritime Society, has also expressed interest in a museum at Northerly Island. Board member David Metzger said Friday his group still wants to open a permanent museum. aherrmann@suntimes.com |
Just wondering if anyone here attended the Friends of Downtown forum this week on the future of Wabash? I had intended to go but couldn't make it...
If so, would love to hear if anything interesting was mentioned or discussed... |
Marvel 33 has placed a link to his website (newcityskyline) on the boom rundown, giving a very-well written summary of the future of wabash and what was discussed at the Friends of Downtown Forum
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Chicago Loop Universities
http://www.chicagotribune.com/featur...ck=1&cset=true
Chicago Tribune article in todays TEMPO section. Loop U. Packed with students, dorm rooms and educational facilities, the 1.65-square-mile area bounded by the Chicago River, Wacker Drive, Roosevelt Road and the Lakefront is THE LARGEST COLLEGE TOWN IN ILLIN By Patrice M. Jones Tribune staff reporter Published October 17, 2006 In a patch of perfect lawn across the street from Buckingham Fountain, Mike Perry and two other Roosevelt University students took a break from classes downtown recently to enjoy a game of Frisbee in Grant Park. There was the Sears Tower gleaming in the distance in the afternoon sun to one side of them; the iconic fountain and the lakefront on the other. "Where else could you find a campus quad better than Grant Park?" said Jesse Hernandez, 19, who met Perry only a few weeks ago when the two started the fall semester living in the massive downtown dormitory called University Center that houses students from Roosevelt, Columbia College Chicago and DePaul University. "You can't beat it," he said. You can find the backpack- and iPod-wearing set hanging out in droves near University Center, the high-rise that opened two years ago at 525 S. State St. The lobby and sidewalk outside the "UC" are informal gathering spots where South Loop dwellers share ideas about the best places to eat, find a book or bar hop. College students also are invading Grant Park for the free concerts and festivals, and trolling downtown for other entertainment. Last year, an economic analysis confirmed the trend, dubbing a 1.65-square-mile area bounded by the Chicago River, Wacker Drive, Roosevelt Road and the lakefront, the "largest college town in Illinois." It boasted 52,000 students and more than 20 institutions of higher education occupying more than double the space of the Sears Tower. The economic study was conducted by the Regional Economic Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was sponsored by the Greater State Street Council and the Central Michigan Avenue Association, which merged last year and is now called the Chicago Loop Alliance. The study -- meant to track the growth of Loop facilities devoted to higher education -- also found that the number of residential beds offered by academic institutions in the Loop numbered almost 4,000. That number is not huge in comparison with some other institutions. The University of Illinois at Chicago alone, for example, has 3,100 student beds. But the figure was an unexpected bright spot for campuses downtown that had been long known largely as commuter schools. "We were pretty surprised by the numbers," said Ty Tabing, executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance. "We planned to look at higher education as sort of a new recruiting tool for businesses interested in the area, but when we started doing the research, we found out a number of universities were experiencing tremendous growth and adding facilities at a rate we hadn't expected." The higher education study found some additional interesting facts: Loop colleges and universities collectively represent one of Chicago's top 25 employers with over 12,000 workers; college students spend more than $25 million annually at area businesses in the Loop; and seven institutions alone hosted events in one year that attracted a half-million people. Big plans Ten institutions alone also spent $159 million in facility construction and improvements over a five-year period and collectively the Loop's schools plan to spend almost $340 million in capital projects by the end of the decade. The higher education study now is more than a year old, and the downtown growth continues. Farther north, Loyola University Chicago -- though not part of the Loop study -- cut a giant red ribbon on its new $51 million, 25-story high-rise downtown student residence last month featuring furnished apartments at 26 E. Pearson St. near Water Tower Place. The facility, which includes 627 beds, has been a big draw for students such as Thomas Marcuccilli of Fort Wayne, Ind. "Growing up in a small town in Indiana, this is the kind of place where I could go to on vacation, and right now, it's right outside my door," said the gregarious junior. "People come to visit, and I can walk them straight out into the shops on North Michigan Avenue." University officials say the reason for the growth is multifaceted: it is a collision of positives that have come from the growing allure of Chicago's downtown that has shed much its gritty image and now boasts Millennium Park, museums, and a thriving arts and theater scene. At the same time, schools such as Columbia College and Roosevelt University with a longtime downtown presence increasingly have been transforming themselves from commuter to residential campuses -- attracting younger students and recruiting nationally and internationally. They also have been using their urban backdrop as a key selling point. "Students come to downtown Chicago for the museums, the galleries, the bookstores, the performances -- all of it gets wrapped up into the experience of being at Columbia," said Mark Kelly, vice president for student affairs at Columbia College. Columbia transformation Columbia probably has had the biggest transformation. Columbia had about 15 percent of its freshmen living on campus three years ago; now that figure is about 58 percent. In addition, Columbia plans to add another 434 beds next fall, Kelly said. The university also has seen its enrollment jump about 16 percent since 2003 to 11,500 students.continue >> Still, students say there is room for improvement -- in a survey accompanying last year's Loop study, students reported there was a need for more affordable restaurants and parking, and the majority female students expressed concerns about walking alone in the Loop at night. - - - Life in the Loop. Students who study and live in downtown Chicago note a variety of reasons for loving their environs. Here is what some of them had to say: MIKE PERRY, a junior at Roosevelt University from Glen Ellyn, mentioned some distinct advantages to living downtown -- like dancing under the stars: "Within my first couple of weeks here, there was a Latin night in Grant Park. I went with some friends and we just walked over there. There was a free, hourlong instruction period for tango and salsa. . . . Definitely, an icebreaker. Later, they were rotating partners, so I danced with a few ladies from Chicago that I would have never met otherwise." BRITTANY NASH, a Columbia College freshman from Milwaukee, said: "I know for me, coming from Milwaukee, our downtown is small. It all shuts down at 10 o'clock. So I just have been having fun walking around and seeing so many people outside, particularly at night. I actually just love looking out the windows and seeing all the lights from the city. I guess things like that people from Chicago take for granted." GRAHAM HOPPE, a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from Indianapolis, said he thought living downtown would be an amazing chance he might never have again. He said the major downside is the Loop's need for more affordable restaurants: "Absolutely, cheaper, non-fast food would be great. We would all love that. And more community spaces where you don't feel compelled to spend money." KEVIN MERKELZ, a Columbia College senior from Rolling Meadows, said he also is focused on employment opportunities: "I find that a lot of students don't miss the frat house or sorority scene on a traditional campus. A lot of students who come to school down here are very self-motivated. I am a film and video student. Chicago is a booming market for editing and sound. So I am here to make friends, but ultimately I want to find a job and this is a good place to find internships. It is the best place to be -- not out in some cornfield in southern Illinois." CHIOMA NWAKIBU, a DePaul University junior from Gaithersburg, Md., actually does a reverse commute, traveling from downtown to most of her classes at DePaul's Lincoln Park campus -- just because she likes living downtown. "My sister lives on a traditional college campus and she has had problems finding a job. Down here, there are just so many places downtown to work, do internships and so many other opportunities. I just feel I am a few steps ahead by living down here." --Patrice M. Jones - - - State's largest `college town' In 2005, researchers decided to look at higher education as an economic sector and study its impact on the Loop and South Loop. They were floored by what they found: The 1.65-square-mile area bounded by the Chicago River, Wacker Drive, Roosevelt Road and the lakefront is the largest college town in Illinois. They found 52,000 students and more than 20 institutions of higher education occupied nearly 7.5 million gross square feet of Loop real estate -- more than double the space of the Sears Tower. School residence facilities in the Loop offered almost 4,000 beds. Loop colleges and universities collectively represented one of Chicago's top 25 employers, with more than 12,000 workers. College students spent more than $25 million annually at area businesses in the Loop. In one year, 7 academic institutions in the Loop attracted a half-million people to their events and programs. Source: "Higher Education in the Loop and South Loop: An Impact Study" ---------- pjones@tribune.com |
^ Yeah, apparantly Columbia has a huge space crunch. They have a LOT of expansion plans on the table, which is pretty exciting.
My only problem with this article is that they've chosen a pretty arbitrary set of boundaries for this "largest college town in Illinois". I wonder how much larger the student populations would be if they included other "central area" hoods such as Streeterville, River North, and UIC. |
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-UIC: 25,000 -Northwestern (Streeterville): 2700 -Loyola (River North):1400 in Law School, Business School and Education. Other programs, enrollments unknown -Illinois Institute of Art (in the Apparel Center): 2600 -Argosy University (in the Apparel Center): 1000 -IIT (West Loop): 1325 in Law and Business schools. Urban Planning enrollment unknown -Chicago Cooking and Hospitality Institute (River North): 1050 -Erikson Institute (River North): 300 -University of Chicago (River North) 2000 TOTAL: 37,375+ In addition, the report quoted in the article also left out several schools/programs that are in the geographic area they covered, namely the MBA programs of Notre Dame, University of Illlinois (not UIC's Liataud Business School), and Keller. The Notre Dame MBA program is relatively new, so that's probably why it wasn't included. Adding in what's missing probably gets you to 39,000 or 40,000, which is like adding another college town to the Central Area. For what it's worth, I would exclude UIC from this count just because it is so physically separated from the Central Area by the expressway and so very much it's own community because of its size and distance from the Loop. Even the most generous definitions of the Central Area rarely extend west of Halsted. But even without UIC, you're still talking about an additional 10-15,000 people if you just include River North/Streeterville and the West Loop. |
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If you're asking what the enrollments are for the schools you listed just out of curiosity, I'm sure you can find them somewhere online. The old post office is too geographically challenged for higher education purposes in the Loop. It's too far from the State-Wabash-Michigan corridor where most of the schools are located. This nexus of schools first happened due to chance, but is now being actively backed by the city (e.g. public money invested in DePaul's refurbished building at State and Jackson). Even with the mad condo construction in the south Loop, there are still tons of Class B and Class C buildings in that area for the schools to expand to when they're ready. |
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The other schools in that list are probably pretty similar. |
Anyone have information on this restoration on Wabash just south of the CNA building? This thing was pitch black derelict for years. It's really looking good and I wonder if this is residential or offices?
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/DSCN2244.jpg http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/DSCN2245.jpg Emproris link of the CNA with some pic of this building http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=225364 |
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I also know that despite the high cost of living downtown, the apartment buildings in Streeterville house many students who attend Northwestern's Chicago campus. Between the law and medical schools, it's probably about 1000 students. I also know that a fair number of students who attend the Chicago-Kent Law School in the West Loop live in Presidential Towers and in the Greektown area. Beyond that, the number of students actually living downtown is a mystery to me. |
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