CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5 - Page 73

ardecila · #**1441** Posted **Jun 8, 2007, 5:53 PM**

The Fulton district is empty gravel lots that Chicago & NorthWestern vacated when they ripped out their yard. The whole thing is pretty much owned or optioned now by Fifield for residential towers, garages, and parks. I don't think Pickens-Kane is going anywhere anytime soon, though.

Oh, and we wouldn't be having a warehouse shortage if businesses didn't insist on space-hogging, ugly huge single-story buildings with ten thousand truck bays. Put that shit out in Bolingbrook.

VivaLFuego · #**1442** Posted **Jun 8, 2007, 7:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

The Fulton district is empty gravel lots that Chicago & NorthWestern vacated when they ripped out their yard. The whole thing is pretty much owned or optioned now by Fifield for residential towers, garages, and parks. I don't think Pickens-Kane is going anywhere anytime soon, though.

Oh, and we wouldn't be having a warehouse shortage if businesses didn't insist on space-hogging, ugly huge single-story buildings with ten thousand truck bays. Put that shit out in Bolingbrook.

Fifield only controls the plots east of the expressway, to the west almost all the way to Ashland, along Fulton, Lake, and Randolph, it's still primarily industrial, wholesale, and a little of the requisite trendy loft/nightclub/restaurant action.

jcchii · #**1443** Posted **Jun 8, 2007, 7:08 PM**

still a working gas station right on congress too, of course

Marcu · #**1444** Posted **Jun 8, 2007, 7:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Fifield only controls the plots east of the expressway, to the west almost all the way to Ashland, along Fulton, Lake, and Randolph, it's still primarily industrial, wholesale, and a little of the requisite trendy loft/nightclub/restaurant action.

Yes. The warehouses go out for quite some time on Fulton and Lake with a periodic nightclub here and there.

And it is simply impractical to have large scale multi-story warehouses. The truck hubs are there for a reason and are necessary for modern day volume-driven wholesaling. Sure they can move out to Bolingbrook, but then the Chicago restaurants will not be timely supplied with food and city will lose tax revenue. Even New York City, with its high land values, has single story warehouses throughout.

Chicago Shawn · #**1445** Posted **Jun 8, 2007, 8:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Huh? Are you thinking that someone building a 35-story highrise would ordinarily have trouble excavating a 20-foot-deep basement? To eliminate a parking podium, they'd have to go seven or eight levels deep, which presents a serious dewatering problem, what with that pesky lake having originally been only 400 feet away.

Besides, that gas station is new enough that double-hull tanks were required, to prevent any soil contamination.

Uh, no. Its just expensive to build underground here. With excvavation of the tank and any contaminated soil required, part of the job is already done. And a 35 story building will not need to go that far below grade, esp. given the proximity to transit at this site, a .5 parking ratio will suit it just fine.

SolarWind · #**1446** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 12:25 AM**

June 8, 2007

Allure at K Station

Alliance · #**1447** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 3:44 AM**

I know this building is a good development...there's too much concrete there for me though...

DePaul Bunyan · #**1448** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 6:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alliance

I know this building is a good development...there's too much concrete there for me though...

I thought they were covering the lower floors with limestone or some other material. Of course, I could be getting this mixed up with another project, considering the gaggle of buildings going up this year.

APPRAISER · #**1449** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 6:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alliance

I know this building is a good development...there's too much concrete there for me though...

I agree!! It's starting to look like Vision on State!!! Just taller!!

ardecila · #**1450** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 6:41 AM**

No... 50 East Chestnut gets limestone for the first couple of floors. This building is 100% painted concrete.

chicubs111 · #**1451** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 12:16 PM**

City aboard plan to give Union Station tax break
DEVELOPMENT | $58 million TIF would boost $460 million renovation of landmark, source says

June 9, 2007
BY DAVID ROEDER [email protected]
A $460 million expansion of Chicago's landmark Union Station is expected to receive a boost next week with an agreement by city officials to give the project a $58 million tax subsidy, a source said Friday.
The source also said Hilton Hotels Corp. is in the late stages of negotiating a contract to run a hotel on the property. The renovation of Union Station, 210 S. Canal, calls for an 18-story addition to its existing eight stories, a plan said to be true to the original idea of architect Daniel Burnham.

Amtrak, the federal passenger railroad, owns Union Station and has signed a redevelopment deal with a partnership that includes executives of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Residences and office space are part of the redesign, with the American Medical Association negotiating a lease there.

Approval of the subsidy could come during a meeting Tuesday of the Community Development Commission, which advises the City Council on subsidies for private development. A spokeswoman for the city's Planning Department said Friday she was unaware that a subsidy agreement had been reached.

The money would come from the city's tax-increment financing program, which relies on future tax revenue from redevelopment. The amount is in line with a $51 million subsidy city officials endorsed in May for a nearby project, the renovation of the old Chicago Post Office.

http://www.suntimes.com/business/420594,CST-FIN-union09.article

Eventually...Chicago · #**1452** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 2:06 PM**

That is sweet news about union station. I hope that project really happens. Every evening when i walk around that area i just sit there and think about how dead the streets are in the west loop area. Hopefully more 24-hour use buildings will move around here.

SolarWind · #**1453** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 2:47 PM**

June 8, 2007

Parkview West

MoMo

600 North Fairbanks

Marcu · #**1454** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 5:23 PM**

Thanks for the updates Solar

Quote:

Originally Posted by APPRAISER

I agree!! It's starting to look like Vision on State!!! Just taller!!

No. No new construction in this city looks as bad as Vision on State. Let's not devalue how bad Vision really is.

wrab · #**1455** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 6:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcu

.....No. No new construction in this city looks as bad as Vision on State. Let's not devalue how bad Vision really is.

^^^ Ahem...Allure...cough, cough...Marquis Michigan

Solar, thanks as always for the updates.

EDIT: Marquis Mich, not Park Mich. I Park Michigan

honte · #**1456** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 7:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicubs111

A $460 million expansion of Chicago's landmark Union Station is expected to receive a boost next week with an agreement by city officials to give the project a $58 million tax subsidy, a source said Friday.
...

The amount is in line with a $51 million subsidy city officials endorsed in May for a nearby project, the renovation of the old Chicago Post Office.

Am I missing something? Why is this rather small, 18-story development getting such a huge subsidy? The difficulties are far fewer than the Post Office, and it's a perfectly fine building already. Plus, with the hotel on tap, it seems pretty evident that the development is going to be a success.

Why is a tower atop Union Station a priority for the city anyway?

I'm sure the developer is complaining about how the city is requiring limestone facade, historic details, etc... but $58 Million? I don't get it.

BVictor1 · #**1457** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 7:12 PM**

Looks like construction on the first phase of the Parkhomes in Lake Shore East have started. Phase 1 is in the southeast corner along the walls of Outer Drive East.

the urban politician · #**1458** Posted **Jun 9, 2007, 8:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Looks like construction on the first phase of the Parkhomes in Lake Shore East have started. Phase 1 is in the southeast corner along the walls of Outer Drive East.

^ That's weird, because the renderings for them are kind of vague

Marcu · #**1459** Posted **Jun 10, 2007, 12:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrabbit

^^^ Ahem...Allure...cough, cough...Marquis Michigan

[/I]

Hey at least Allure has height. Vision is bigger horizontally then vertically.

spyguy · #**1460** Posted **Jun 10, 2007, 12:26 AM**

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=27914

Union Station tower takes step forward
Developer seeking city subsidy for an 18-story addition

A plan to build an 18-story tower atop Union Station in the West Loop is poised to clear a major hurdle Tuesday, when a city panel considers providing a multimillion-dollar subsidy to help finance the long-awaited project.

The American Medical Assn. plans to anchor the $250-million development, which would include 539,000 square feet of office space, a 350-room hotel and six floors of condominiums, at 210 S. Canal St.

The physicians' trade group, which would move from its longtime headquarters at 515 N. State St., is in the final stages of negotiating a lease for 275,000 square feet of space in the new tower, says a person familiar with the AMA's plans.

An AMA spokesman declines to comment.

A lease with the AMA, coupled with a city subsidy, would give the development a big boost 17 months after a joint venture led by Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. was picked to manage it. Officials from the Department of Planning and Development on Tuesday will ask the Chicago Community Development Commission to approve tax-increment financing for the project, though they refuse to say how much money the developer is seeking.

A Jones Lang spokeswoman also declines to comment. "We've been told we can't talk about it," by the Planning Department, she says.

In 2002, the development commission approved $18.7 million in TIF funds for a redevelopment of the station by Chicago-based Prime Group Realty Trust. Amtrak, which owns the property, dropped Prime Group as the developer about two years later. With construction costs escalating, the new TIF request could exceed the original amount.

Architect Daniel Burnham, Union Station's designer, had envisioned a tower on top of the building, but it has stood at eight stories since it was completed in 1925.

The development commission almost never rejects TIF requests. But it has come under criticism in recent years for subsidizing corporate relocations to new downtown high-rises that probably would get built without TIF money.

"It's nice to have developers do stuff," says Cook County Commissioner Michael Quigley, a TIF critic. "But I'm not sure it wouldn't happen otherwise."