CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[Chitown]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

^^^The fit & finish on this one are superb.

Agreed. Beautiful.

[budman]

I have been here several times in LA, and it is pretty swank:

Trendy Mondrian hotel proposed for Gold Coast
New 200-room development would replace the Cedar Hotel
(Crain’s) — A New York hospitality company has agreed to open a trendy, Mondrian hotel in a development proposed for the Gold Coast neighborhood.

Morgans Hotel Group Co. has formed a joint venture with Chicago-based M Development Co. to build a 200-room hotel at 1118 N. State St.

The new, 250-foot building would replace the Cedar Hotel, but preserve the baroque, five-story façade of the building, which was constructed in 1924.

The new hotel, which is expected to be open in 2010, joins an increasingly crowded field of new, high-end projects, such as the Elysian Hotel and Residences, which is under construction at 11 E. Walton St. expected to open next year.

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“Everybody is looking to distinguish themselves from the others, and it’s at a price point where you want some separation,” says hotel consultant Brian Flanagan, president of Chicago-based Property Valuation Advisors Inc.

The Chicago property would be the fifth Mondrian in the upscale chain, including the original hotel in Los Angeles, another in Scottsdale, Ariz. There are projects under development in Las Vegas and Miami.

Morgans’ small portfolio of nine boutique properties also include the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, the Delano Hotel in Miami, as well as three hotels in New York.

Hotelier Ian Schrager founded a predecessor to Morgans in 1983. He resigned as chairman and CEO two years ago.

“Morgans invented the boutique hotel,” Jeffrey Shapack, a principal in M Development, said in a statement.

The company went public last year, backed by NorthStar Capital Investment Corp., which retains a nearly 32% ownership stake.

The hotel company's top two executives, Edward Scheetz and David Hamamoto, are NorthStar's co-chairmen and co-CEOs. Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group is also a large shareholder, with a 7% stake.

Morgans will have a 49% stake in the Chicago joint venture, and operate the hotel under a 20-year management contract.

[spyguy]

^I'm also happy about the announcement of the Mondrian hotel. The interior will certainly be very trendy and modern, even if that's not the case on the outside.

[VivaLFuego]

Any word on whether this new tower will still have a first floor restaurant/bar space with the great outdoor patio in front? Those are a nice feature of the Rush/Division night-time bustle and it would be a shame to lose those to sterility.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Any word on whether this new tower will still have a first floor restaurant/bar space with the great outdoor patio in front? Those are a nice feature of the Rush/Division night-time bustle and it would be a shame to lose those to sterility.

From the wires:

Mondrian Chicago is expected to have significant space for a restaurant, bar, meeting rooms and an exercise facility, and plans call for it to be uniquely set back further from the street than the adjacent buildings, in order to allow for outdoor food and beverage operations. In addition, the current masonry façade of the existing Cedar Hotel will be restored to preserve the building’s distinctive architectural features.

[Busy Bee]

^win-win

[TransitEngr]

Originally Posted by spyguy

From the wires:

Mondrian Chicago is expected to have significant space for a restaurant, bar, meeting rooms and an exercise facility, and plans call for it to be uniquely set back further from the street than the adjacent buildings, in order to allow for outdoor food and beverage operations. In addition, the current masonry façade of the existing Cedar Hotel will be restored to preserve the building’s distinctive architectural features.

Solid

A 250' tall super-trendy hotel added to the "Viagra Triangle" Area (surprisingly a common term people use to describe this area... shocked me too) while maintaining the existing outdoor space. Just wish it was taller than 250 feet.

EDIT:
Although... that's a stupid thought of mine, if it were too tall, it wouldn't be a boutique hotel and the clientel would be too hum-drum for the neighborhood.

[Alliance]

Originally Posted by TransitEngr

Solid
Just wish it was taller than 250 feet.

Yup.

[spyguy]

The next Friends of Downtown Brown Bag presentation
Thursday, June 7th at 12.15
Chicago Cultural Center
Millennium Room, 5th floor east

Projects by Lucien LaGrange

For the past 22 years, Lucien LaGrange has transformed downtown Chicago’s skyline with nearly two dozen new buildings. The architect will discuss his design for X/O, being constructed at 1712 South Prairie, and offer a look at other new projects including the Ritz-Carlton Residences, the Blackstone Hotel, and 208 South LaSalle.

[ardecila]

208 South LaSalle? I sincerely hope Lucien is just refurbishing it.

By the way... how popular are these brown-bag presentations? I've never been to one.

[headcase]

Originally Posted by ardecila

208 South LaSalle? I sincerely hope Lucien is just refurbishing it.

By the way... how popular are these brown-bag presentations? I've never been to one.

They tend to be pretty well received, almost always a fun house. It basically depends on the subject.

SSDD

edit : That should say full house, I was going to change it, but with some of the clowns at these things, fun house is pretty accurate as well.

[vxt22]

No, it isn't solid. Another fucking facademy. Architects and engineers are not being creative enough in building in ways which respect the past. Buildings like this will one day be near gone in Chicago. We pride ourselves in having diverse architecture from all periods. The increase in height isn't worth the loss of often superior older buildings. Built less "cheaply," if not as modern. Is the Cedar Hotel orange? Facademy is even worse than ripping it down. It shows no respect at all for the past. It's the developer saying, "here city, I'll throw a bit of money at this facade, if you'll say 'fuck our landmark rules.'" It isn't a compromise. The developer wins.

Anyone have word on how the Athletic Association is faring?

[budman]

Originally Posted by headcase

They tend to be pretty well received, almost always a fun house. It basically depends on the subject.

SSDD

edit : That should say full house, I was going to change it, but with some of the clowns at these things, fun house is pretty accurate as well.

^Are you talking about the bird lady? The one who always goes nuts about how newly built buildings will impact birds? Larry Booth, the architect for the Jenner and Block building at 351 N. Clark, gave a very articulate, lengthy and well-reasoned answer to this freakshow, who, during every question and answer period, always raises her hand and very loudly, obnoxiously, and combatively asks "WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THE BIRDS?!?!", anticipating that the speaker will not have considered this issue. I think Booth's answer caught her by surprise. But yes, most of these brown bag lunches are very well attended. And I care about birds as much as anyone, but this lady is just totally obnoxious, and she is at every one of these lunches.

[Steely Dan]

^ birds are pretty stupid. if they're dumb enough to fly into a skyscraper and kill themselves, then good riddance, it helps keep their species' gene pool clean. kinda like how children who play in the street get killed by cars. natural selection for stupidity is a good thing. we should be building even taller buildings in hopes of eliminating all bird stupidity from the many species in our area. when a stupid bird dies before it can breed, that's good news for birds at large.

taller skyscrapers = smarter birds.

[Pandemonious]

Originally Posted by ardecila

208 South LaSalle? I sincerely hope Lucien is just refurbishing it.

By the way... how popular are these brown-bag presentations? I've never been to one.

I think they are renovating at least part of 208 S LaSalle into a Hotel, he is probably just the architect for that.

[Busy Bee]

^ birds are pretty stupid. if they're dumb enough to fly into a skyscraper and kill themselves, then good riddance, it helps keep their species' gene pool clean. kinda like how children who play in the street get killed by cars. natural selection for stupidity is a good thing. we should be building even taller buildings in hopes of eliminating all bird stupidity from the many species in our area. when a stupid bird dies before it can breed, that's good news for birds at large.

taller skyscrapers = smarter birds.

My god, are you my doppelganger?

[headcase]

Originally Posted by budman

^Are you talking about the bird lady?

She is definitely one of them. Did you read this thread before or after my post in the Spire thread?

Steely I agree completely Darwin rocks!

SSDD

[BorisMolotov]

taller skyscrapers = smarter birds.

More Streets = Smarter Humans

if they're dumb enough to fly into a skyscraper and kill themselves, then good riddance, it helps keep their species' gene pool clean. kinda like how children who play in the street get killed by cars.

Edit: My comment was based on Steely's other statement that i neglected to quote.

[Busy Bee]

^That last one is a little hard to compute.

[ardecila]

*shoves Busy Bee into the path of an oncoming car*

get it now?