http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local...6209.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed
New plan for site of landmark
City officials back bid to raze building, then restore facade
By Johnathon E. Briggs
Tribune staff reporter
March 6, 2007
Chicago planning officials are throwing their support behind a new proposal to dismantle a landmark building on the Magnificent Mile and rebuild it as part of a luxury condo development.
Prism Development Co. is expected to present a revised plan at a special meeting Thursday of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks for removing the limestone facade of the 1920s Farwell Building at 664 N. Michigan Ave., former site of the Terra Museum of American Art.
Prism would then demolish the 11-story building, erect a new structure and reapply the facade.
Unlike its first proposal, which the commission rejected in January by a narrow margin, Prism now proposes using four floors of the Farwell Building for parking, rather than six.
There would be retail space on the first and second floors, office space on floors three to five and residential parking on floors six through nine.
By raising parking from the third floor to the sixth floor, parked or moving vehicles would not be visible from the public way, said Maureen Mullady, spokeswoman for the development project.
But the changes have done little to appease critics of the plan, who have said it would turn the beaux-arts/art deco building into a multilevel parking garage for the condo tower.
Preservationists are also miffed that Prism is getting a second review and contend that the substance of the new plan is the same as the old one.
"It's phrased as a `revised proposal,' but that so-called revision is simply a pretext," Chicago architecture writer Lynn Becker wrote on his blog. "The substance of the proposal remains identical: the dismantlement, demolition, repair and reconstruction of the Farwell."
Preservationists contend that allowing the rebuilding would make a mockery of Chicago's landmarks ordinance, which calls for historic buildings to be preserved in their entirety. They fear approval of the plan would set a terrible precedent.
City officials argue that it is an economically viable way-- maybe the only one--to save the aging Farwell, designed by architect Philip Maher.
"I think the proposal is definitely improved," said Brian Goeken, deputy commissioner of the Planning Department's landmarks division. "We honestly don't see what is the other solution here."
The reuse is part of a project that includes an adjacent 40-story development designed by Chicago architect Lucien Lagrange that would encroach onto 33 percent of Farwell's original footprint. The development would have office and retail space, parking and 86 luxury condos dubbed the Ritz-Carlton Residences.
In January, the original proposal failed to garner the necessary majority of votes from the Landmarks Commission to move forward to the City Council, which would ultimately approve the project.
Of the eight commissioners in attendance, four were in favor, three opposed and one abstained. A ninth commissioner, John Baird, was absent.
This time around, some preservationists view Baird and the commissioner who abstained, Ernest Wong, as potential swing votes.
Commissioner Lisa Willis said at the time that she could not support the plan because not enough of the building's facade would be saved.
Developers still propose to take down the building's facade and reassemble it on an entirely new frame, but Mullady said the new proposal aims to save the maximum amount of facade as well as the mansard roof.
Still, Michael Moran, vice president of Preservation Chicago, said he is angered the proposal is being considered at all.
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I guess they are re-branding, I have a feeling their rates will increase.
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