CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Exactly. There's some interesting transformation afoot in that area:

1) SoNo
2) NewCity
3) British School building with an REI store
4) Redevelopment of the North and Clybourn station
5) Apple Store on the site occupied by the BP gas station

As for the amount of parking, I remember reading that the CTA requested a 25% reduction of the project's parking spaces. I'm not sure where that stands.

The new Whole Foods store also started construction over on Kingsbuy Street, It will be the second largest Whole Foods in North America. Two levels, with some parking on the roof if I remember correctly.

[Marcu]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop
Looks like another lame agenda this month at the Plan Commission.

The slowdown was inevitable. It has a lot more to do with the condo slowdown than the new aldermen. Hopefully, this will mean the current projects on the table (Spire, Mandarin, etc) will not face too much competition from newly announced projects.

[Chicago Shawn]

2520 North Lakeview, Proposal to amend approved PD. This adds the townhouses along Deming Place and increases the Central Tower's hieght to 468', up from 442'. That height figure is to the top of the mansard roof and does not include the rinky-dink spires on top. The tip figure is not listed. The data fields on Emporis are locked, so a senior editor will need to updae that.

Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, 12 S. Michigan/ 71 E. Madison The conversion of the old athetic club Michigan Avenue facility and annex on Madison. The proposal retains, reuses and restores both existng buildings. There is a thrid building wedged between the Venetian Gothic mid-rise and the alley behind Michigan, that links the two structures together. This building will be torn down and replaced with a 18 story hotel tower, 19 with the full-floor mecanical penthouse. The new tower has a serries of setbacks which places it outside of sightline perspective from the sidewalks on the east side of Michigan Avenue. The new tower will have three basement levels for back of house opperations and NO PARKING . The whole complex will function as one 350 room OMNI Hotel. The historic athletic club and dinning room will be converted to public spaces including a bar and resteraunt. As a bonus, I discovered from the document that the Annex building is 4'-5" taller than listed on Emporis, total height of 274'-5" to the penthouse (agian need senior editor for the change). The new tower will be 264'-0" to the penthouse top and 262'-1/2" to the top of the roof.

601 West Monroe Fifield is being a el-cheapo developer again and is proposing two squat boxes filling up half the block. 27 stories and 415'-0"at 601 West Monroe; 30 stories and 461'-0" at 625 West Monroe. My guess is this is the fail safe plan should BP not be landed as an anchor tennant for the sexy green tower that we all want to see. Will put into Emporis in due time.

Waldrof=Astoria As reported this is 1265'-0" from the hotel entrance about 1/2 way up the slope of Park Drive, midway between Upper East North Water Street (love that street name) and Illinois Street. The usuable space ends at 1200', above that is mechanical and "ornimental roof feature". Now since the main hotel entry is above natural grade on the sloped Park Drive, the actual ground level along New Street will be an additional 12'-11", so in reality this tower is 1278 feet tall. The New Street frontage will be a terra-cotta rainscreen, which does not look very inviting; just a long blank wall. There are four levels of underground parking and then two additional levels for back-of-house opperations and the Ballroom positioned between grade and Upper East North Water St. Floor count is stated as 107.

[Nowhereman1280]

Wow they are applying to PD with W=A already?!? That is quite surprising, they are really moving quickly on this then eh?

I like what I hear about the CAA rennovation, good adaptive reuse for that building!

[APPRAISER]

I was driving in from the south side from an appointment yesterday, and there area a million craines from the roosevelt collection all the way south to cermak. I guessing about 15-20 craines in all!!!!

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Marcu

The slowdown was inevitable. It has a lot more to do with the condo slowdown than the new aldermen. Hopefully, this will mean the current projects on the table (Spire, Mandarin, etc) will not face too much competition from newly announced projects.

I disagree. I've considered this as well, and it’s a tempting and easy explanation at first glance, but it doesn’t hold, as although of course a condo slowdown was inevitable, the apartment and hotel markets are as robust as they’ve been in recent memory, and there are a lot of proposals out there that seem to be moving very slow through the approval process.

Granted, the net result of a big decline in condo proposals combined with an uptick in apartment and hotel proposals would likely still be a modest drop in overall proposals, however not as dramatic a decline as we’ve seen reflected in the fairly pathetic Plan Commission agendas over the last several months…

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Anyone know what's going on with the 161 West Kinzie project? Great design plus lots of retail and it was an apartment tower so construction would have started quickly.

I’ve been asking the same question for a while now. I really want to see this one move forward soon. I know somebody on here knows what the hold-up is….Shawn perhaps???

[SamInTheLoop]

[QUOTE=Chicago Shawn;3166267

[B]601 West Monroe[/B] Fifield is being a el-cheapo developer again and is proposing two squat boxes filling up half the block. 27 stories and 415'-0"at 601 West Monroe; 30 stories and 461'-0" at 625 West Monroe. My guess is this is the fail safe plan should BP not be landed as an anchor tennant for the sexy green tower that we all want to see. Will put into Emporis in due time.


Yep - this is the plan they will end up going with if they can't come up with a 300,000+ sq ft anchor tenant

[SamInTheLoop]

Anyone know where this project is in the PD approval (or I suppose technically amendment) process? I would think given the strong state of the apartment and hotel markets, (in addition to the superior location), Reschke would want to move forward as quickly as possible on this recently re-conceived project. Is Reschke himself moving slowly, or could this be a prime example of the new alderman chasing the proverbial community consensus phantom??...

[honte]

Hope he hires a real architect for this prime site... no more schlock.

_________________________

Nov. 14, 2007

Developer buys Michigan Avenue site
By Alby Gallun
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27115

(Crain’s) — South Loop condominium developer William Warman is buying a premier Michigan Avenue development site after a high-profile Miami developer dropped plans to build a 50-story condo-and-hotel tower there.

...

[Mr Downtown]

Chicago Athletic Association Hotel The new tower has a series of setbacks which places it outside of sightline perspective from the sidewalks on the east side of Michigan Avenue.

A completely irrelevant consideration for Michigan Avenue. Anyone stepping a few feet into the park will see the ugly addition looming over the CAA. And since when is it preservation to only save the front 60 feet of a building? This is bad, bad news for the Michigan Boulevard District. Now nothing protects the Gage Group or 30 North or anything else along the streetwall from being façadomized.

[cbotnyse]

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

Waldrof=Astoria As reported this is 1265'-0" from the hotel entrance about 1/2 way up the slope of Park Drive, midway between Upper East North Water Street (love that street name) and Illinois Street. The usuable space ends at 1200', above that is mechanical and "ornimental roof feature". Now since the main hotel entry is above natural grade on the sloped Park Drive, the actual ground level along New Street will be an additional 12'-11", so in reality this tower is 1278 feet tall. The New Street frontage will be a terra-cotta rainscreen, which does not look very inviting; just a long blank wall. There are four levels of underground parking and then two additional levels for back-of-house opperations and the Ballroom positioned between grade and Upper East North Water St. Floor count is stated as 107.

thread title change? thanks for the update.

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

A completely irrelevant consideration for Michigan Avenue. Anyone stepping a few feet into the park will see the ugly addition looming over the CAA. And since when is it preservation to only save the front 60 feet of a building? This is bad, bad news for the Michigan Boulevard District. Now nothing protects the Gage Group or 30 North or anything else along the streetwall from being façadomized.

And how do you know it's ugly? Have you seen the design or renderings? All it says, is that the connection to the 2 buildings will be demolished. That part of the building isn't seen by the public and probably isn't all that historically significant. Give things a chance why don't you?

Originally Posted by cbotnyse

thread title change? thanks for the update.

No, because the main entrance will be off of park drive and not New Street. It's a technicality that we must live with.

Originally Posted by honte

Hope he hires a real architect for this prime site... no more schlock.

_________________________

Nov. 14, 2007

Developer buys Michigan Avenue site
By Alby Gallun
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27115

(Crain’s) — South Loop condominium developer William Warman is buying a premier Michigan Avenue development site after a high-profile Miami developer dropped plans to build a 50-story condo-and-hotel tower there.

...

Good lord... Help us all.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ Did it actually say that he was going to attempt to design it himself anywhere in that article? That's not the sense I got. Maybe as an architect himself, he will pick the best firm and demand only the best design out of them...

[BVictor1]

11/05/07

SoNo

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

Maybe as an architect himself, he will pick the best firm and demand only the best design out of them...

He has not done so for any of his other projects. I'm sure in his mind, he is the best firm.

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

He has not done so for any of his other projects. I'm sure in his mind, he is the best firm.

Really? So he has a record of pulling this kind of BS then? Are there any links or websites with his work/projects?

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

A completely irrelevant consideration for Michigan Avenue. Anyone stepping a few feet into the park will see the ugly addition looming over the CAA.

Yes, I know. I was using it for a discription only. Besides, waking back into the park will make the addition smaller in the over all field of view. It won't "loom" over the historic structure anymore than the rear walls of the Wabash buildings "loom" over the streetwall, such as the rear of the 19 story Mallers Building, part of which across the alley. And I do belive it is a bit premature to begin judging the design quaility when no decent renders have been relesed.

And since when is it preservation to only save the front 60 feet of a building? This is bad, bad news for the Michigan Boulevard District. Now nothing protects the Gage Group or 30 North or anything else along the streetwall from being façadomized.

This really is not a facadectomy in the same sense. There is additional rear building behind the Michigan Avenue structure, and that is what will torn down. The building frontng the avenue will be preserved and reused. The historic dinning hall will become a restaurant. The annex will be preserved as a hotel as well. You can see the different roofs in a satilite photo http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=wl.There may be some nice spaces inside the rear portion, I really don't know as I have not been inside, but this is a eally nice plan that preserves the best of both buildings and converts them to an active use. The club closed is doors on August 31, 2007, and I cannot magine any other way to preserve these structures aside from converting them into a public building. A condo conversion would not work here beceause of the rear spaces with no views, and it would carve up the interiors anyway. An office conversion would do the same and may reuse the grandest spaces as a board room. The building is beynd its time, as athletic clubs like this are a dying breed. The clubs left likley absorb any demand for such facilities today. The hotel conversion will save the best spaces and the public will be able to see them. Also, he conversion of a non-profit organization's building to commercial use will generate a lot of new tax revenue.

[honte]

^ So Shawn, they have scrapped the proposal that would only leave 4 courses of brick of the original the Monroe Street (annex) building? Last I heard, the floor heights didn't line up, so the facade was going to be slapped on to a new building, with floors misaligned with the window penetrations.

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Now nothing protects the Gage Group or 30 North or anything else along the streetwall from being façadomized.

... well, except for the utter capriciousness of landmarking and zoning in this city.

I do see your point - we have dangerous precedents all over the place these days. Hopefully the Commission will continue to look at each project on a case-by-case basis and will not yield to pressure based on precedents. However, the courts are an entirely different problem, and these matters frequently end up in that forum.

I am not sure, however, if the argument that a certain treatment within a particular district is cause for equal treatment in another part of the same district. I certainly hope not. Imagining The Heritage on Michigan Avenue with the Gage Group facade as its petticoat is not a pretty image at all.

[Mr Downtown]

Two-thirds of the Cobb building would be removed, including a marble-clad swimming pool and the Cherry Circle barroom. It's not a separate building in the back that's being torn down, it's the original 1893 building.

Does preservation in this town mean the ornament panels only? Why not just let the developer build an 80-story condo tower there, as long as they promised to put a nice inkjet photomural of the old building on the front?

"Can't-see-it-from-the-opposite-sidewalk" is a reasonable compromise in Old Town or Pullman, but not for the Michigan Avenue streetwall.

Do you really think this building will stand vacant for decades if they can't put in a 350-room hotel? Why not be satisfied with a 200-room hotel that fits into the existing buildings?