CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by spyguy

April 19 Plan Commission Agenda

A proposed Waterway Business Residential Planned Development Application submitted
by Chicago P.O. Associates, LLC for the property generally located at 401-439 West Van
Buren Street. The application allows for the construction of 300 residential units, 240 hotel
keys, approximately 455,000 square feet of office space and 400 parking spaces. This
building is identified as potentially significant in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey.
(2nd Ward)

This is the Post Office, right?

[Chi_Coruscant]

Originally Posted by spyguy

April 19 Plan Commission Agenda
A proposed Business Planned Development submitted by JBC/155 Development LLC for the property generally located at 155 North Wacker Drive. The applicant proposes to construct a 660-foot office tower to contain approximately 1,100,000 square feet of office space, ground floor retail and 177 below-grade parking spaces. (42nd Ward)

Forgive me for being ignorant but I have a question: is 660ft measured at CCD or Upper Wacker Drive?

[Dan in Chicago]

^ Should be CCD, but it's probably inexact anyway. Our best source has the building at 635'-1" from street level, although no one has said whether that's Wacker, Franklin, or the mid-point. We'll get more details later.

Steely, a very good source has informed me that the Intercontinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel will be 147' tall. Construction began in December 2006.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by spyguy

April 19 Plan Commission Agenda
A proposed Waterway Business Residential Planned Development Application submitted by Chicago P.O. Associates, LLC for the property generally located at 401-439 West Van Buren Street

^ Yes, based on the address this must be the old post office.

Does anyone know what the definition of a "Waterway Business Residential Planned Development" is ?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Dan in Chicago

Steely, a very good source has informed me that the Intercontinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel will be 147' tall. Construction began in December 2006.

sounds good. do you have an emporis # for this one, i'd like to add it to page 1.

Originally Posted by altfelix

Shouldn't the Blue Chip in Michigan City be moved to U/C, and shouldn't it be listed as a hotel, not residential?

it should definitely be listed as "hotel". "residential" is the default category and i simply forgot to change it.

as for construction, i wasn't aware that this one had officially begun. can anyone confirm or deny?

[altfelix]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

sounds good. do you have an emporis # for this one, i'd like to add it to page 1.

296640

it should definitely be listed as "hotel". "residential" is the default category and i simply forgot to change it.

as for construction, i wasn't aware that this one had officially begun. can anyone confirm or deny?

Foundation piles were to be driven on March 25th, but that date was obtained from folks on site on March 22nd. I suppose it may not have happened, but I understand that everything was good to go.

[Norsider]

Originally Posted by vxt22

Additionally, as I believe was echoed in the radio program last night, by and large the buildings rising now are of far less quality than those of yesteryear. Sure the Farwell is an exception, but much of the remaining old architecture in the cbd is of a very high denominator.

In my opinion, though as it's been said we're getting higher quality than a lot of cities, even in our boom many of the buildings look expensive but cut corners and are actually really cheap. Would you ever see a building of the quality of the Reliance Building this decade or next? I don't think so. Granted that's an extreme example, but the point is made.

Setting aside this mysterious "high denominator," what exactly are you referring to when you say "far less quality?" Certainly it couldn't be the HVAC systems, IAQ, Fire Life Safety systems or energy efficiency seeing as these things are VASTLY superior in modern structures. Certainly you can't be pining for a return to those cozy old style lobbies and grand staircases that just happen to be totally inaccessible for people in wheelchairs.

And as to your comment "look expensive but cut corners and are actually really cheap," exactly what information are you basing this on? Are you trying to imply that modern building codes encourage "corner-cutting" or are you implying that the developers of yesteryear were just irrational spendthrifts?

It may be wise to remember the rules of art. Poetry must deal with words, paintings must deal with colors, music must deal with sounds. Likewise, Architecture has its own rules to deal with: GRAVITY and PEOPLE and ECONOMICS. You can't just talk about architecture as if it exists in a vacuum where you just tsk tsk all the philistines out there who "don't get it."

Ever wonder why there are no "starving architects?"

[Tom In Chicago]

Foundation work appears to be well underway at One Museum Park West. . . did I miss something or has noone been over there lately?

[Sir Isaac Newton]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Foundation work appears to be well underway at One Museum Park West. . . did I miss something or has noone been over there lately?

I don't think anyone has mentioned this on here, but I think that Loopy mentioned this on the SSC site...

[Sir Isaac Newton]

Not sure if anyone had mentioned this, yet...

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24541

American Invsco to do conversion at 200 N. Dearborn
As it wraps up the conversion of one Loop apartment tower into condominiums, American Invsco is getting ready to launch another conversion just two blocks away.
The Chicago-based developer has signed a contract to buy the 46-story apartment building at 200 N. Dearborn St. and plans to start turning its 309 units into condos later this year, says Arnold Schepel, vice-president of advertising and marketing at the firm.


200 N. Dearborn St.
It would be the first downtown conversion in 2007 amid a cooling condo market and hot rental market, which have combined to make owning apartments more attractive than converting them.

American Invsco is buying the property from real estate investor Elzie Higginbottom and John Baird, chairman of Baird & Warner, the residential brokerage, who teamed up to build the high-rise in 1989. Messrs. Schepel, Higginbottom and Baird decline to disclose the price.

One apartment expert estimated the property was worth roughly $200,000 a unit, or $62 million.

American Invsco has already begun construction on a sales office and models on the 34th and 35th floors, with plans to launch sales early next month, Mr. Schepel says. He expects that current renters will buy about 20% to 25% of the building’s units.

The downtown conversion market has virtually dried up in the past year as demand for new condos has declined, making it harder for developers to pay up for apartment buildings.

At the same time, the booming apartment market has fueled gains in occupancies and rents, allowing conventional investors to bid more aggressively on properties.


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Related Article Topics | Related Industry News
“Because of the strong performance of the rental market, that has enabled a lot of the pension fund advisers and institutions to be competitive,” says Matthew Lawton, who sells apartment buildings as a senior managing director in the Chicago office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P.
After condo converters acquired 12 downtown properties comprising 3,832 apartments in 2005, American Invsco was the only converter to launch a downtown project last year, according to Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm.

That conversion, of a 293-unit building at 182 W. Lake St., is in its final phase, with about 13 units left, Mr. Schepel says.

American Invsco likes the neighborhood, which is in the midst of a development boom capped by a massive mixed-use development under way at Block 37 about a block south of the firm’s new project.

“The whole Loop area is really starting to come,” Mr. Schepel says.

American Invsco hasn’t set prices for 200 N. Dearborn. Though selling condos has gotten tougher, the soft market doesn’t worry Mr. Schepel.

“If it is priced right, I think we’ll find enough buyers,” he says.

[Loopy]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Foundation work appears to be well underway at One Museum Park West. . . did I miss something or has noone been over there lately?

They are constructing some sort of bored-pile retaining wall right now. I can only assume that the reason for doing this (as opposed to using sheet piles) is that the wall is meant to support some ancillary loads.


These our the forms used to create a cover beam for the pile wall. A trench is excavated and the forms are set in and poured.




Here is the cover beam which acts as a guide for the boring drill.



Drill casings



Stock photo of a finished, excavated bored-pile retaining wall.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Foundation work appears to be well underway at One Museum Park West. . . did I miss something or has noone been over there lately?

that is what i thought as well tom, but someone on here mentioned that all they're doing right now is retaining wall construction, not actual foundation construction. has the situation changed?

[museumparktom]

Steely

Loopy's pics and descriptions are accurate and the last photo shows a stock photo of the technique being used to create the retaining wall that I described earlier. The question is does a retaining wall constitute real foundation work or is this still site prep. There are not caisson tubes on site, no big rigs and there still is a good amount of work to be done to compete this wall. I don't believe that have even started on the Indiana stretch. It's your call. As much as I want this one to be in the U/C category I think this is still site prep work until they start going down to bedrock.

[Steely Dan]

^ now were getting into the real nitty-gritty deatils of what constitutes offical construction. i'm of the opinion that if the retaining wall is intended to be a permamnet fixture of the building itself, then this qualifies as the start of official construction. i don't think it's imperative that they must "start going down to bedrock", to make the official call. i thinks it all starts when permanent parts of the building's strucutural system (be that caissons, piles, retaining walls, etc.) are placed into the ground.

in my opinion 1MPW is already officially under construction. thoughts?

[trvlr70]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ now were getting into the real nitty-gritty of construction. i'm of the opinion that if the retaining wall is intended to be a permamnet fixture of the building itself, then this qualifies as the start of official construction. i don't think it's imperative that they must "start going down to bedrock", to make the official call. i thinks it all starts when permanent parts of the building's strucutural system (be that caissons, piles, retaining walls, etc.) are placed into the ground.

in my opinion 1MPW is already officially under construction. thoughts?

I agree....otherwise you're just splitting hairs. Okay now, so let's focus attention over to BCBS. Is is official yet?

[Bucky]

I believe that 660 N. State on the under construction list should also be reclassified as hotel, not residential.

[museumparktom]

Not even close unless we are going to start classifying laying down plywood for a staging area and hanging orange plastic barrier cloth as U/C. When there is steel delivered and they pop the top of the tower maybe.

As for OMPW

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Bucky

I believe that 660 N. State on the under construction list should also be reclassified as hotel, not residential.

good catch. as i mentioned before, the default setting for the building category is "residential", and i often forget to change that entry when i add a new building. if anyone else sees any other incorrectly labeled "residential" buildings in the page 1 list, please let me know.

[Chicago Shawn]

Hey folks,

I thought you would be interested to know that the Old Post Office on the agenda for the April Plan Commission is going to get raped. 800,000 square feet of structure will be removed along with nearly the entire west facade. You know the US POST OFFICE engraving above I-290, well kiss everything above it goodbye. The remainder of the west facade between the two towers will converted to a parking garage. And it gets worse, the old loading dock areas along Canal street will be turned into surface parking!

Come speak out against it if your pissed.


And here is the kicker, they want LEED certification even though they are sending 800,000 of floorspace to a landfill.

[Norsider]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ now were getting into the real nitty-gritty deatils of what constitutes offical construction. i'm of the opinion that if the retaining wall is intended to be a permamnet fixture of the building itself, then this qualifies as the start of official construction. i don't think it's imperative that they must "start going down to bedrock", to make the official call. i thinks it all starts when permanent parts of the building's strucutural system (be that caissons, piles, retaining walls, etc.) are placed into the ground.

in my opinion 1MPW is already officially under construction. thoughts?

I agree, Steely.

If they are constructing portions of the permanent structure of the building, I'd think by definition the building is under construction.