CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5 - Page 235

Alliance · #**4681** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 3:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.nearwestgazette.com/Archive/1207/News1207d.htm

Desmond stated the City will create an “extension of Grant Park” over the railroad tracks flanking South Wall-Central Station and Columbus Dr. His firm is sponsoring an international competition for the extension’s design and has narrowed its choice to three finalists.

He noted Metra likely will consolidate its tracks and relocate its Weldon Yard structure just north of 18th St., where train cars are washed, to a more ”under grade” location in Grant Park north of Roosevelt Rd., perhaps at 9th St. Another solution would have Metra continue to use the current structure but reduce its height to between 18 and 20 feet.

Desmond also announced the St. Charles Railroad will close its operations in March 2008.

honte · #**4682** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 3:46 AM**

^ Whoa, that is great news! Two in one day!

bnk · #**4683** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 3:58 AM**

Wow that is almost hard to believe. The latest talk about covering the tracks was not anytime soon.

I wonder what the timeline on this project really is?

VivaLFuego · #**4684** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 4:33 AM**

^That is great news all around. I hadn't even considered the possibility of Metra simply moving some of the yard facilities north a bit, but it could work (I never thought the idea of closing the yard completely made any sense, I mean it's a commuter railroad, you have to have an in-city yard to hold trains during the day).

Also, that is VERY soon for the SCAL to cease operations...is the flyover down at 79th already under construction, or will CN be re-routing the trains even further south than that?

ardecila · #**4685** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 6:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Also, that is VERY soon for the SCAL to cease operations...is the flyover down at 79th already under construction, or will CN be re-routing the trains even further south than that?

The Grand Crossing flyover, AFAIK, has no funding lined up. It's a relatively simple project, since the flyover ramp already exists, but without tracks on it. I'm assuming the closure of the St. Charles Air Line is part of a larger CN strategy for Chicagoland that involves EJ&E expansion heavily (which my idiotic town is protesting).

The city's rail network is so extensive that the Amtrak trains using the SCAL can be rerouted on at least 5 or 6 ways to reach Union Station. CN freight trains are a different story, I guess....

I'm not convinced that the Air Line is the barrier to development that everybody claims - it's just a scapegoat. That being said, a South Loop park system would be awesome. It would have an interconnected series of the covered tracks in Grant Park, Burnham Park, the covered tracks from Roosevelt to 18th, the St. Charles Air Line as a spine (ala High Line or the Promenade Plantee in Paris), a large park as part of the Riverside District, Ping Tom Park, and a connection to the South Branch Bike Trail.

trvlr70 · #**4686** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 3:50 PM**

That's such super news about Grant Park. I can't wait to see the renderings of the three finalists!

Who has an inside track on such information?

aaron38 · #**4687** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 3:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcu

Northbrook firm strikes deal for Lake Shore Athletic building
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=27316
Seniors housing developer to redevelop 80-year-old structure
(Crain’s) — A little-known Northbrook development firm that specializes in high-end, senior housing has a deal to acquire the Lake Shore Athletic Club building, possibly ending months of controversy over a proposal to demolish the structure to make way for a condominium tower.

So are the parking requirements different for a project like this, since seniors don't drive as much?
Or do they still have to shoehorn a parking garage in somewhere?

10023 · #**4688** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 5:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Adjustments being made to south wall of Grant Park

By Marie Balice Ward

At a meeting of the Greater South Loop Association (GSLA), Tim Desmond, president of Central Station Development LLC, called the four towers constituting the South Wall-Central Station, as “the southern bookend” for Grant Park. This was the developer’s fourth community group presentation concerning the South Wall project.

South Wall-Central Station is bounded by Roosevelt Rd. on the north, 14th St. on the south, Columbus Dr. on the east, and Michigan Ave. on the west. Its four towers are One Museum East, One Museum West, Grant Park Tower III, and Grant Park Tower IV.

The highest, Grant Park Tower IV, would rise 900 feet tall and the lowest at 720 feet, for an average of 757 feet. The development was designed to balance the north end of Grant Park, where buildings range 650 to 1,136 feet high, for an average height of 866 feet.

(Full article at link):

http://www.nearwestgazette.com/Archive/1207/News1207d.htm

Sounds to me like "balance" would mean making one 1,100 feet tall.

Question on the Lakeshore Athletic Club - are they saving what were the public areas of the building, at least (the pool etc)? I wouldn't imagine that they'd "save" any of the upper floors - not even the senile want to live in housing that was apparently deemed insufficient for use as dorm rooms.

pilsenarch · #**4689** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 7:28 PM**

Just to clairfy the news from Desmond at the GSLA meeting:

The competition, which was funded by Central Station and included the participation of Dept of Planning, is for the area NORTH of Roosevelt ONLY (within the southern end of Grant Park) and does not have any funding identified as of yet (big surprise). If Metra does decide to relocate its' maintenance facility, this might contribute significant sums for contsruction of the park above. It would involve a partial covering of the tracks and/or fill to raise the park to the level of Roosevelt. Desmond did not commit to any park development south of Roosevelt and north of 14th.

Loopy · #**4690** Posted **Dec 4, 2007, 8:56 PM**

Yeah, the writer (or the editor) is likely confusing two different proposals:

The design competition (as I understood it) was for the area just North of Roosevelt that Central Station donated to the Parks Department to extend Grant Park to Roosevelt.

The South of Roosevelt track-covering proposal has been banging around for a while. It includes an extension of Grant Park to (I think) 14th street, and highrises over the tracks to 18th. But as you probably know, it is a rather nebulous plan.

jjk1103 · #**4691** Posted **Dec 5, 2007, 12:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

No doubt about it (the increased importance of late for developers to show up with lots of cash in their own pockets) - I've made similar comments stressing this recently.

Not to get too off-topic but I would say The Spire's financing right now is as big a question mark as the tower itself (yes Kelleher claimed in the past to be putting 30% down, but he certainly doesn't have overall financing locked up and as of right now all he's paying for is the foundation, other underground work, ramps, etc (not chump change, but I'd assume far less than 10% of total project costs)

Back to 2100 - As to the point about moving equity from the loft portion to the tower financing, if the developer did that, you could essentially go back to looking at 2100 as one project (overall % of units sold, etc), but even if he sold alll of the lofts, that would only bring the overall percent of units sold to around 40%. But back to your point, this could all be moot, as I have no idea how much equity Rokas and/or partners are prepared to put in (but I certainly suspect not enough)...

........I had always assumed with engineering and architects fees factored in, when the 1st piece of steel goes above ground, they have more like 30% to 40% of the total cost already sunk......

SolarWind · #**4692** Posted **Dec 5, 2007, 1:11 AM**

A small crane was delivered to 215 West Washington at lunch today. We'll have to keep an eye on this location.

BVictor1 · #**4693** Posted **Dec 5, 2007, 2:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaron38

So are the parking requirements different for a project like this, since seniors don't drive as much?
Or do they still have to shoehorn a parking garage in somewhere?

The PD requires a 1 - 1 parking ratio for this project.