CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[Biff]

I have a question to all you Chicgo forumers and i don't want to derail this thread but it seems like the place were i could hit up the most of you. Please PM me instead of posting. My wife and i are planning to come down to the windy city in April/May and was wondering if there were any recommendations for decent places to stay for 3 or 4 nights. We would like to stay downtown but don't really want to spend $500 a night because we will mostly be out seeing the sights. Anything reasonable in the $150 - $250 per night range that is in a decent location. Thanks for any help, we can do the Hotels.com thing but you are never sure of the area, etc and i figured you guys would know best. Please don't tie up the thread - PM me.

Thanks.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Half of it will be parking, thus opaque windows. 192 parking spots for a 79 unit tower--are you f'in kidding me?

While there is some ok bus service on Sheridan, that location is close to a mile walking to a rail station, not particularly close to the services on Broadway and less than 1/2 mile to a major expressway. Would I rather see higher density there? Sure. But I also understand why they feel the need to build a lot of parking into it.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by simcityaustin

The streetwall doesn't bother me to much. If it was a shorter building maybe, but the overall look and height make it ok. The location also is low pedestrian other than those going to Navy Pier. I like the park in between Parkview and Peshtigio.

That area is not low pedestrian in the summer, and it's not only Navy Pier tourists walking around in the area. As more residential towers get added, even in the winter there's going to be quite a lot of foot traffic. Not Michigan Avenue at Christmas foot traffic, but maybe Clark Street on a typical weekend day sort of traffic.

[simcityaustin]

Originally Posted by emathias

That area is not low pedestrian in the summer, and it's not only Navy Pier tourists walking around in the area. As more residential towers get added, even in the winter there's going to be quite a lot of foot traffic. Not Michigan Avenue at Christmas foot traffic, but maybe Clark Street on a typical weekend day sort of traffic.

Well, all I know is when I walked by it prime time on Saturday very few were around. I can see your point once the Spire opens up though and other nearby developments are finished. At least they can look up and see something nice.

[i_am_hydrogen]

SoNo, British School, North Ave Bridge, etc.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

192 parking spots for a 79 unit tower--are you f'in kidding me?

Wirtz owns a bunch of vintage highrises in the area. Being able to offer monthly parking nearby undoubtedly would make those more attractive to tenants.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Wirtz owns a bunch of vintage highrises in the area. Being able to offer monthly parking nearby undoubtedly would make those more attractive to tenants.

That's my hope; that the extra parking doesn't represent greater than 1 space per new unit, but rather would either be 1) a paid public parking garage or 2) monthly parking available to neighborhood residents.

Generally glad to see this lot (finally) developed, and the density is decent if not ideal. Since there are so few places in the city with RM-6.5 zoning and little argument against density, I do wish they had considered something a bit larger scale (in the 30-40 story range), but oh well.

[Chicago Shawn]

^Getting any high-rises built in that neighborhood is a victory. 1 block away is St. Joseph's Hospital, and the fucktard NIMBYs protesting a 9 story medical office building won their fucktard lawsuit, which if upheld could cause major problems for many projects requiring an upzoning into the planned development process, especially since the 2004 zoning code rewrite has made it vastly more restrictive towards as-of-right development.

Originally Posted by LA21st

1 Presidential Tower into a hotel? Thats 49 stories!

Is it just me, or does anyone else really notice how many hotel proposals are coming along? Its really crazy when you think about it. Even crazier when you think about whats u.c.

Presidential Towers already uses part of Tower IV for cooperate housing, so it looks like that is being expanded to accommodate a whole tower and converting it to a full commercial use.

[Ryan81]

Perhaps this isn't entirely appropriate for this thread, but since this thread is about the ongoing development in Chicago, I thought it was relevant. The Nelson Atkins museum here is Kansas City has Art Sinsabauh's photographs on display. There are some really neat photographs of Chicago from 1964. See the link below:

http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/sinsabaugh/index.html

[F1 Tommy]

Very cool.You can see the tops of Marina Towers in the background.It looks so wide open.

Thanks for posting the link.

Tom

[cbotnyse]

very cool! thanks for posting.

[Dan in Chicago]

For a second I wondered what was that big block left of the Wrigley Building. Looks like Trump Tower about eight months ago. Then I saw it's just a billboard.

[SamInTheLoop]

Did anybody make it to the Plan Commission meeting yesterday?
I'm afraid to ask, but did 161 W. Kinzie actually get a hearing, or was it
pulleed from the agenda for like the 11th or 12th time?

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Wirtz owns a bunch of vintage highrises in the area. Being able to offer monthly parking nearby undoubtedly would make those more attractive to tenants.

When I lived in the adjacent Wirtz building, residents would park in the alleys as often as they could get away with and often block up everything. Parking in that area is a problem, so I can definitely see Wirtz using a garage as a selling point for their apartments.

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

Did anybody make it to the Plan Commission meeting yesterday?
I'm afraid to ask, but did 161 W. Kinzie actually get a hearing, or was it
pulleed from the agenda for like the 11th or 12th time?

It passed.

[Xeelee]

cool pics.

[spyguy]

Franklin Point
Chicago, Illinois

Franklin Point is a large-scale mixed-use development along the Chicago River just south of the downtown loop. The development, which includes two new harbors, would bring 3.5 million sf of new space to the South Loop area.

The development, comprised of 8 buildings, features a mix of condominiums, apartments and senior housing, a 500-room hotel and 125,000 sf of retail space. In addition, landscaped parks, streetscapes and a riverwalk are planned for the development, as is a marina with room for 40 boat slips

[dagobert]

Originally Posted by spyguy

Franklin Point
Chicago, Illinois

Franklin Point is a large-scale mixed-use development along the Chicago River just south of the downtown loop. The development, which includes two new harbors, would bring 3.5 million sf of new space to the South Loop area.

The development, comprised of 8 buildings, features a mix of condominiums, apartments and senior housing, a 500-room hotel and 125,000 sf of retail space. In addition, landscaped parks, streetscapes and a riverwalk are planned for the development, as is a marina with room for 40 boat slips
[/IMG]

Was this design prepared for Rokas Int? Last I heard Rokas and his co-investors had a hard time raising financing and Franklin Point is dead for the time being.

[HowardL]

Wow ... that's rather like a coked up Vancouver. There are some nice ideas in the plan. Hopefully the good bits make it through to whatever finally happens there.

[APPRAISER]

Does anyone know how tall the buildings are going to be??