CHICAGO: boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v4

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by brian_b

I took a taxi to the auto show the other day and as we sat at the corner of 25th and MLK waiting to turn north I looked over and saw that there is a large townhouse development being put up right there, on the west side of MLK. I can't for the life of me remember the name or website, but anyone in the area can find out as the signs are quite large.

I believe that the development is called East Gate Village or something to that effect.

[honte]

^ Yeah, spyguy (I think it was) noted that there are a couple of small towers in that development.

Basically, I think this area is going to be full before McCormick is ready to expand again. And personally, moving into the greenspace of Michael Reese Hospital would not be something I would approve of, even if the Olympic Village towers create a lot of open space along the lakefront. They might have to move into a more vertical format some time soon anyway - a lot of convention-goers complain about the long walks as it is. So, Perhaps VivaL is right, that they would tear down the Bruce Graham building and build a larger, maybe multi-story building there. (The interior kind of —, but I would really miss the exterior.)

[brian_b]

I agree that the McCormick Place complex is about as large (in terms of land area) as you really want and that any future expansion should be vertical. I can only imagine the costs of building vertically though - they need a huge wide open space and the floor has to support incredible weight. But if anyone is going to build such a thing, it would be Chicago.

[Alliance]

It would be a great shot for some innovation. Large open showhalls and height don't mix. However, I'd question building a building that large and "tall" along the lakefront. It would also make it a trick to make it nice development, (maybe something to compliment Olympic Village?, which I was not completely thrilled with the redesign).

How would you guys feel about a large park on top of an expanded McCormick Place?

[Pandemonious]

There is a really cool convention center being designed in China by SOM. I forget the name of the city at the moment, but it is a huge waterfront convention/exhibition facility that has an enormous park on top of it, and along the water the facade has a series of rippling pathways to move up to the park and the waterfront below. Something like that would be pretty awesome.

[Chicago2020]

I would support large parks on top of the entire McCormick Place complex, including the Lakeside center. But if they continue to expand McCormick place then they have to get rid of the Lakeside Center.

[spyguy]

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=23869

Developer group sues partner in Loop conversion

Feb. 14, 2007
By Alby Gallun

Two investors who plan to convert a vintage Loop office building into apartments are feuding as they face a key loan deadline for the redevelopment.

A group led by Chicago real estate investors Charles Everhardt and Lawrence Nesis has filed a lawsuit alleging that its co-developer on the project at 188 W. Randolph St., an affiliate of Michigan-based developer Village Green Cos., has refused to pay the group about $800,000 in costs as required under an agreement between the partners.

The two groups already are discussing how to end their relationship, with the Michigan investors possibly buying out their Chicago partners.

The parties teamed up in July 2005, when they bought the 45-story tower out of bankruptcy court for about $10 million. Infamous for its crumbling terra cotta facade, the 78-year-old Gothic high-rise would become a 297-unit apartment building called Randolph Tower City Apartments under a plan approved by the City Council last year. The city also agreed to provide $8 million in tax-increment financing to help pay for the redevelopment.

Yet the developers will need to secure new financing and resolve their differences to get the project going. An $11-million loan on the property from Bank of America N.A. matures April 1, and the developers will need a much larger loan to finance the redevelopment, which Mr. Everhardt estimates will cost between $70 million and $85 million.

The investor group led by Mr. Everhardt owns a 50% stake in the project, with an entity led by Village Green CEO Jonathan Holtzman owning the rest and serving as manager of the development. Mr. Everhardt’s group sued to collect more than $800,000 in pre-closing costs it incurred that Mr. Holtzman’s group has refused to pay, according to the complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

Mr. Holtzman’s “misconduct . . . is designed to force a buyout of (the Everhardt group’s) interest in the Property at an artificially low price,” the complaint says. When Messrs. Everhardt and Nesis complained to Mr. Holtzman, they “received threats of membership dilution, buyout at artificially low market prices and threats of political-based retaliation.”

Mr. Holtzman declines to discuss the specific allegations in the complaint, saying his partnership agreement with Messrs. Everhardt and Nesis “describes how disputes are handled.

“Anybody can allege what they want in a lawsuit,” he says. “The issues are addressed in the partnership agreement, and we are proceeding to buy them out under the partnership agreement.”

Mr. Everhardt confirms that he has discussed a buyout with Mr. Holtzman. He also says he could work out a resolution with Mr. Holtzman and stay in the project or try to cut a deal to take over as its manager.

Village Green is also in a dispute with its general contractor over another office-to-apartment conversion the developer recently completed at Wabash Avenue and Lake Street.

Mr. Holtzman plans to begin work on the Randolph Street project in late spring or early summer, though he must still secure a construction loan.

“We have a number of institutions that are very interested in financing this development,” he says, declining to be more specific.

In addition to the Randolph Tower, Messrs. Everhardt and Nesis are redeveloping an office building at 417 S. Dearborn St. into condos and converting an apartment building at 1140 N. LaSalle St. into condos. They are also involved in a condo project on the former site of the Rainbo Gardens Roller Rink in Uptown.

[wrab]

(Duplicate post - moderator, please edit)

[wrab]

Originally Posted by Chicago2020

I would support large parks on top of the entire McCormick Place complex, including the Lakeside center.....

What a fantastic idea - giving it back to the whole of Chicago. While we're at it, could we please also lose or redesign the umbilical cord of a bridgeway that connects the original SOM facilty over LSD to its newer brethren? The original convention center is such a beautiful, serene structure and the skywalk crashes into it with all the grace of a beached manatee.

[spyguy]

http://www.suntimes.com/business/roeder/255704,CST-FIN-roeder14.article

FAREWELL FARWELL?

Scaffolding popped up last week around the Farwell Building, 664 N. Michigan. It is there to keep pedestrians from being hit by falling facade pieces, said Dave Bayless, spokesman for the owner, the Terra Museum of American Art.

You might remember the Farwell, a 1927 building that got an unexpected reprieve last month when the city landmarks commission said developers couldn't hollow it out to make it part of a condo project. The decision threw the project by Prism Development Co. into confusion. Without the Farwell part, Prism would have to drastically alter its plans next door for condos it is marketing under the Ritz-Carlton name.

If you know the way the game is played in Chicago, you might side with Michael Moran, vice president of the group Preservation Chicago, and call this a "scaffolding scam." Moran wrote: "This is a typical ploy to get a building demolished. 'See, it's decrepit,' owners claim. 'I even had to put scaffolding around it. Now don't you see why I have to demolish it?' "

Bayless replied, "The singular objective is safety and operating out of an abundance of caution." He said the museum was reacting to engineering reports. Prism has yet to say what it will do or propose next.

[BVictor1]

There are no high-rises on the agenda this month. I wonder if the elections have anything to do with that?

[otis1]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but i have it on a very good source that in the summer of 2007 there will be more active City of Chicago tower crane permits in use than ever before .

[denizen467]

^ McCormick North already seems hemmed in as it is (and I think expanding it east to straddle LSD is not an option) so if they were to go so far as to tear it down, their only choice would be to add maybe 2 stories to it to make it worth it. That sure would be an amazing feat, but it still seems unlikely that they would cut their capacity for a period of 3-4 years when Chicago is fighting trade show defections to LV/Orlando. Also, McCormick North combines with McCormick South to create the nation's (world's?) biggest exhibition floor, and they'd have to tolerate the loss of that for 3-4 years.

This would unfortunately suggest that programmatically Lakeside Center would be the first to go if anything were torn down. (On the other hand, I wonder whether they would really build anything larger, or anything taller, on that site either.)

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

There are no high-rises on the agenda this month. I wonder if the elections have anything to do with that?

That was my thought exactly. The next couple months might be slow as well, depending if we get run-offs in our favorite wards...fcuk aldermanic privelage - more power in the dpd!

[Loopy]

Originally Posted by spyguy

http://www.suntimes.com/business/roeder/255704,CST-FIN-roeder14.article

FAREWELL FARWELL?

Scaffolding popped up last week around the Farwell Building, 664 N. Michigan. It is there to keep pedestrians from being hit by falling facade pieces, said Dave Bayless, spokesman for the owner, the Terra Museum of American Art.

You might remember the Farwell, a 1927 building that got an unexpected reprieve last month when the city landmarks commission said developers couldn't hollow it out to make it part of a condo project. The decision threw the project by Prism Development Co. into confusion. Without the Farwell part, Prism would have to drastically alter its plans next door for condos it is marketing under the Ritz-Carlton name.

If you know the way the game is played in Chicago, you might side with Michael Moran, vice president of the group Preservation Chicago, and call this a "scaffolding scam." Moran wrote: "This is a typical ploy to get a building demolished. 'See, it's decrepit,' owners claim. 'I even had to put scaffolding around it. Now don't you see why I have to demolish it?' "

Bayless replied, "The singular objective is safety and operating out of an abundance of caution." He said the museum was reacting to engineering reports. Prism has yet to say what it will do or propose next.

Perhaps Preservation Chicago could give some guidance to the owners of disintegrating buildings; instead of simply passing judgement on their intentions.

The owners of the Farwell are erecting a sidewalk canopy for the simple reason that their engineers have identified "dangerous and hazardous" conditions in their analysis of the structure.

All other issue are open to debate. Preservation Chicago could acheive some real credibility by addressing the facts in this report, rather than simply engaging in public hysterics.

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

If memory serves, Buck has his sights on this land for an eventual twin office tower to 155 N. Wacker. The site of the Walgreens would be a plaza, while a large office tower would rise on the site of the current garage and surface lot (and that shack that serves some of the best General Tso's Chicken in the city)

Thanks for the tip, and I concur the chicken was great!


Re: McCormic Place,
I would love to see a cool structual innovation used to span the Stevenson, and build the next phase over the expressway. The new truck ramp could service the air-rights structure. Extending it westward, over Michigan and take it to the Green Line, where it could tie into a new station.

[Alliance]

Originally Posted by Lukecuj

Last updated: February 15, 2007 11:02am
CapitalSource Loans $49M for Local Projects
By Gina Kenny

Staybridge SuitesCHICAGO-CapitalSource is loaning more than $49.4 million and has committed $37.5 million for two projects in the Chicagoland area. The company is providing a loan for $43.1 million to Miglin Properties and Dellisart Lodging for the construction of a 206-room hotel and 82-car parking garage in Chicago, and a loan of $6.3 million to Monroe Investment Partners for the acquisition of 30 acres of land for a retail development in Cicero, IL.
In the Miglin-Dellisart financing deal, the loan amount is for 80% of the entire cost of the hotel project, says Chris Kelly, managing director for CapitalSource. A Staybridge Suites hotel will be constructed at the southeast corner of LaSalle Drive and Huron Street in the Chicago’s River North neighborhood, Kelly says.



The 18-story building will have 206 rooms for an extended-stay hotel and 8,000 sf of retail space. An 82-car parking garage will also be built on the site. The groundbreaking should be held within a couple of weeks and the project is expected to take about 18 months. The developers do not yet know what type of retail will be in the development or what the average lease rate will be, Kelly says.

“We are excited with the prospects of the future demand for hospitality in Chicago and the relatively limited amount of new product that has been planned or proposed,” he says. In addition, CapitalSource felt the loan was a good investment because there are not a lot of extended-stay, all-suite hotels in Chicago, and Intercontinental Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel franchises.

This is a very nice building. It be interesting to see how you'd take a similar design and make it taller.

[BorisMolotov]

Hello all, I was just at the auto show with my school, and coming home, I noticed that OMP has shot up like a rocket, I was in to much awe to count the number of stories, but at least 15 or 16 minimum. Also, they were actively moving dirt at OMP West, so I guess you could say there is active Site Prep. Also, I noticed a core sticking about 5 or 6 stories up in the general vicinity (1400 or 1600 Museum Park???) but it was definitely on Michigan Ave. Sorry the windows of the bus were foggy and I couldn't see this one very well, or what street number. Also the frame for the Columbian roof was being installed.

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by brian_b

I agree that the McCormick Place complex is about as large (in terms of land area) as you really want and that any future expansion should be vertical. I can only imagine the costs of building vertically though - they need a huge wide open space and the floor has to support incredible weight. But if anyone is going to build such a thing, it would be Chicago.

Someone already has built it, in Milwaukee.

That is definately true, McCormick place seems to be bordering on going from Economies of Scale to Diseconomies of Scale. Actually, building vertically with a large convention center doesn't seem to be so much of an issue. I don't know if any of you have been in the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee, but its two floors and straddles a road. Granted its nowhere near the size of Mccormick, but I would think that building tall in a smaller convention center would be less likely than in a large one due to the need of expansive uninterrupted floor space.

Originally Posted by Alliance

It would be a great shot for some innovation. Large open showhalls and height don't mix. However, I'd question building a building that large and "tall" along the lakefront. It would also make it a trick to make it nice development, (maybe something to compliment Olympic Village?, which I was not completely thrilled with the redesign).

How would you guys feel about a large park on top of an expanded McCormick Place?

Not really innovation like I said, they can do it, they can build anything, its just a matter of money, and if the Quaint Midwest Express Center in little old Milwaukee can afford it and has the demand, then why not the powerhouse Mccormick in one of the world's convention capitols?

YES I would like a Park on top of an expanded Mccormick place! They could even terrace it or something if it was two floors, you know, the second floor having a smaller foot print and with staircases and stuff up to the top! That is acutally a really good idea, I mean it would even provide more flexibility than other convention centers because they could close off the roof park if there were special exhibits requiring an outdoor setting or if they wanted to have a fair or farmers market or something.

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ McCormick North already seems hemmed in as it is (and I think expanding it east to straddle LSD is not an option) so if they were to go so far as to tear it down, their only choice would be to add maybe 2 stories to it to make it worth it. That sure would be an amazing feat, but it still seems unlikely that they would cut their capacity for a period of 3-4 years when Chicago is fighting trade show defections to LV/Orlando. Also, McCormick North combines with McCormick South to create the nation's (world's?) biggest exhibition floor, and they'd have to tolerate the loss of that for 3-4 years.

This would unfortunately suggest that programmatically Lakeside Center would be the first to go if anything were torn down. (On the other hand, I wonder whether they would really build anything larger, or anything taller, on that site either.)

The Midwest Express center Straddles Wells street in Milwaukee which is quite a wide road. Its five lanes one way with a parking/loading lane on each side plus probably 15 or 20 ft wide sidewalk areas. All that is one span too, no collumns in the middle since it is one way. So really, since LSD has a median (that you could put collumns in and break up the span) and no parking lanes or sidewalks, it would probably be skinnier than the Wells street span in Milwaukee. So really, I think its quite feasable that they would both add a second story that straddles LSD and connects the two parts of Mccormick, which again would increase the attraction and quality of the facility because, if it spanned LSD, the second floor would be way larger than the first.

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

Re: McCormic Place,
I would love to see a cool structual innovation used to span the Stevenson, and build the next phase over the expressway. The new truck ramp could service the air-rights structure. Extending it westward, over Michigan and take it to the Green Line, where it could tie into a new station.

I like the Green Line idea, more transit connections => more conventions.

[Sir Isaac Newton]

Originally Posted by BorisMolotov

Hello all, I was just at the auto show with my school, and coming home, I noticed that OMP has shot up like a rocket, I was in to much awe to count the number of stories, but at least 15 or 16 minimum. Also, they were actively moving dirt at OMP West, so I guess you could say there is active Site Prep. Also, I noticed a core sticking about 5 or 6 stories up in the general vicinity (1400 or 1600 Museum Park???) but it was definitely on Michigan Ave. Sorry the windows of the bus were foggy and I couldn't see this one very well, or what street number. Also the frame for the Columbian roof was being installed.

It was either 1400 Museum Park or Marquee Michigan - they are both within about a block of each other. I want to say that 1400 Museum Park is about 3-5 stories up, right now, and Marquee Michigan is about 5-7 stories up.