CHICAGO: boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v4

[i_am_hydrogen]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

I think you mean the north tower is almost topped out and they will be moving on to the south tower soon.

Right. That's what I meant.

[chicubs111]

Whats going on with avenue east?...why is it taking so long for them to put up the glass?...and whats with that protective coating type stuff...I know that peals off but is there something special about the glass there putting up?

[Dan in Chicago]

I nailed the height for Trio today: 235'-4". The staff at the sales center was very helpful.

MoMo and 30 West Erie are topped out.

All these new construction starts are bad news for me. I have already been struggling to keep up with the monthly updates on Emporis, and now there are 59 sites to visit every month! Steely, forgive me for using this page for recruiting purposes but there are a number of folks here who are taking great construction pictures anyway -- any of you who are interested in becoming Emporis photographers can contact me. It's a lot of fun in many ways, your work will be around indefinitely, and you'll get to browse the site in extranet mode with many features unavailable to the public. Shoot me a PM if interested.

[spyguy]

Two things:

1) All this construction reminds me that the boom calendar is out of date. Can someone fix that?

2) Adrian Smith will be on "Hello Beautiful" tomorrow so check that out. In a sneak preview, Edward Lifson says that Smith+Gill has a few projects in the works for Chicago, including:

one for a project near Bertrand Goldberg's River City, it would bring the river into the courtyards of the building and create new marinas with public access! It'd be a very "green" project with wind turbines and the like.

Another possible project in Chicago would also be a tower on the river.

[Sir Isaac Newton]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Two things:

1) All this construction reminds me that the boom calendar is out of date. Can someone fix that?

2) Adrian Smith will be on "Hello Beautiful" tomorrow so check that out. In a sneak preview, Edward Lifson says that Smith+Gill has a few projects in the works for Chicago, including:

That sounds awesome!

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Dan in Chicago

All these new construction starts are bad news for me. I have already been struggling to keep up with the monthly updates on Emporis, and now there are 59 sites to visit every month! Steely, forgive me for using this page for recruiting purposes but there are a number of folks here who are taking great construction pictures anyway -- any of you who are interested in becoming Emporis photographers can contact me. It's a lot of fun in many ways, your work will be around indefinitely, and you'll get to browse the site in extranet mode with many features unavailable to the public. Shoot me a PM if interested.

^ I see that. I was just thinking earlier how it must be tough for you guys to update Emporis considering how much the boom has erupted into a full blown nuclear explosion recently.

I can personally say that I love Emporis and appreciate all your guys time updating all of us.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by Sir Isaac Newton

That sounds awesome!

A little more info:

Both projects are in their infancy so there are no guarantees that either will happen at this point.

The first is just north of River City. It will consist of sustainable design with three towers and three lowrise sections. It will be mixed use with hotel(s), condos, rental, retail, and parking. There will be two courtyards with marinas and amenity space with landscaping and plazas. The developer is not Donald Trump

The second is near 311 South Wacker on one of two sites. Not many details except it will be a highly efficient and an energy producing building.

[Sir Isaac Newton]

Originally Posted by spyguy

A little more info:

Both projects are in their infancy so there are no guarantees that either will happen at this point.

The first is just north of River City. It will consist of sustainable design with three towers and three lowrise sections. It will be mixed use with hotel(s), condos, rental, retail, and parking. There will be two courtyards with marinas and amenity space with landscaping and plazas. The developer is not Donald Trump

The second is near 311 South Wacker on one of two sites. Not many details except it will be a highly efficient and an energy producing building.

I've always hoped for a kick-@ss development in the area just north of River City, given that it is a huge area, right on the river, and just outside of the loop. The brief description of the plans so far sounds promising.

I'm having a hard time figuring out where the other development would go. From what I can remember, there is a an open area on the east side of the river just north of Van Buren, but that area is a little bit more on the narrow side.

Hearing about these two developments is definitely good news for the transition area between the Loop and South Loop that is less developed (around Van Buren, Congress, and Harrison). With these two potential developments, recent news that there may soon be an official proposed redevelopment for the old Post Office, the fast emergence of 235 West Van Buren, plus a couple current developments under construction (Library Tower and Vetro), this could really fill in the gap between the Loop and South Loop and essentially expand our "downtown" area.

[ardecila]

Call me crazy, but I think we should extend Wacker down to Chinatown while the land is still available. This was part of the original plan.

Anyway.. I wonder if the design is similar to the fantasy Franklin Point project posted a few months ago. Those were kickass, except for the uninspired parking podiums. They were also a set of 3 towers with a couple lowrises thrown in, like the Childs proposal.

[Chi_Coruscant]

There was a full-page ad on page 8 in Tribune's Real Estate section. Unfortunately, the color print is blurred. Because of that, I can give out the partial info:

Catalyst @ Wash/Des Plaines
123 N. Des Plaines

The rendering shows the tower will have 17 stories of residential units on top of four level of parking podium. This site is to be developed by UR2.

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Two things:

1) All this construction reminds me that the boom calendar is out of date. Can someone fix that?

2) Adrian Smith will be on "Hello Beautiful" tomorrow so check that out. In a sneak preview, Edward Lifson says that Smith+Gill has a few projects in the works for Chicago, including:

Do you know what time and channel this program comes on?

[honte]

This is really great news about Smith and Gill's commissions in Chicago. I wonder if being "released" from SOM will allow them to tackle a wider variety of jobs? It also appears that the work locally is picking up pace; perhaps some clients were turned off by the SOM powerhouse, or considered them too large, or too expensive, or dated, unapproachable, whatever. I've always been an SOM fan, but I know their reputation faltered a bit, and they haven't 100% recovered from that.

[honte]

Originally Posted by Chi_Coruscant

There was a full-page ad on page 8 in Tribune's Real Estate section. Unfortunately, the color print is blurred. Because of that, I can give out the partial info:

Catalyst @ Wash/Des Plaines
123 N. Des Plaines

The rendering shows the tower will have 17 stories of residential units on top of four level of parking podium. This site is to be developed by UR2.

Just great. Another complete waste of good land in the West Loop. 17 stories? Why bother?

I think a couple of smallish historic buildings will be coming down for this one.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Do you know what time and channel this program comes on?

It's come on at 10 AM but you can also just download or stream it online
http://chicagopublicradio.org/Program_HB.aspx

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by spyguy

It's come on at 10 AM but you can also just download or stream it online
http://chicagopublicradio.org/Program_HB.aspx

Thanks, got it on now.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by honte

Just great. Another complete waste of good land in the West Loop. 17 stories? Why bother?

I think a couple of smallish historic buildings will be coming down for this one.

^ Actually, it will be 21 stories (17 stories over a 4 level podium)

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Chi_Coruscant

There was a full-page ad on page 8 in Tribune's Real Estate section. Unfortunately, the color print is blurred. Because of that, I can give out the partial info:

Catalyst @ Wash/Des Plaines
123 N. Des Plaines

The rendering shows the tower will have 17 stories of residential units on top of four level of parking podium. This site is to be developed by UR2.

^ Chi, can you at least describe the quality of the architecture (good, bad, retro, modern, glass & steel, etc)? Also, is it rental or condo?

[honte]

Originally Posted by spyguy

It's come on at 10 AM but you can also just download or stream it online
http://chicagopublicradio.org/Program_HB.aspx

Spyguy, thanks a lot for the link! I really appreciate it.

What an annoying interview... constant interrupting of Smith, and hardly any questions over the course of an hour due to other programming. I don't feel like we learned much at all. Too bad.

I like much of what Smith said, but I disagree wholeheartly that the lack of inspiring buildings built here over the last several years has to do with the fact that we don't have New York-sized budgets. I think that's a dangerous cop-out that seems to suggest that only the richest parts of the world deserve great architecture.

Also, just to add to Spyguy's discussion about future Smith projects in Chicago, and for those who don't want to download or listen to the whole interview, the sites of the tower proposed near 311 S. Wacker are literally the sites just north or south of that building, 301 (the park) or 321 (the parking lot). These of course were where the 311 twins were supposed to go.

[spyguy]

Well here's the website

http://www.chicagocatalyst.com/



Kind of funky

[Chi_Coruscant]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Well here's the website

http://www.chicagocatalyst.com/



Kind of funky

Thanks, spyguy! TUP, that's the one. The residential portion ain't that bad but the parking podium is awful.