CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[harryc]

Originally Posted by Jita

Here's a different angle of Clare that I took this evening from my apartment house. I still haven't been able to figure out how to show the photo full size.

Those are some wicked shots.

[SolarWind]

May 15, 2008

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

I'm going to a Real Estate Forum in the morning with the developers of Lakeshore East as the keynote speakers (Joe Carlins & Jim Loewenberg).

Did anyone have any questions that they'd like me to bring up?

^ Architectonica (or whatever that new project is called)--what are the plans for that, including timeline?

And what's planned at the far NE corner of the site? I'm guessing they are planning on a supertall

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by SolarWind

May 15, 2008

Haven't seen it from that angle before - thanks.

[harryc]

May 17

[killaviews]

^^^^I like 565 Quincy - they never had a tower crane, just that big a** crane in the alley. 550 West Jackson looks really good in that pic - was it built like Staybridge Suites - Staggered truss?

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by Jita

Here's a different angle of Clare that I took this evening from my apartment house. I still haven't been able to figure out how to show the photo full size.

The URL for your posted file ends in "...wz6.th.jpg..." meaning that you are hosting the URL for the thumbnail version of the file. Post the URL without the "th" for the file and you should be good to go. Nice picture, though. Keep 'em comin'!

[Alliance]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

I'm going to a Real Estate Forum in the morning with the developers of Lakeshore East as the keynote speakers (Joe Carlins & Jim Loewenberg).

Did anyone have any questions that they'd like me to bring up?

Height of the Arquitectonica proposal. All the buildings in that area are landing about the same height. We'd all love to see the original supertall Arqui proposal with the flanking towers. The success of LSE certainly could justify such a building.

And again, plans for my 1500'er at LSD

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by harryc

is that serious?

...wow, and we'll be getting HOW MANY MORE of these?



i think this might just be the WORST building... ever built... ever in the history of the universe... ever... this makes the grand plaza towers look like masterpieces of modern architecture.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

is that serious?

...wow, and we'll be getting HOW MANY MORE of these?



i think this might just be the WORST building... ever built... ever in the history of the universe... ever... this makes the grand plaza towers look like masterpieces of modern architecture.

What ( other than the color ) makes this suck so bad ? not that I disagree.

I always feel the acid test is what the base is like, when you are standing there, last time I was by it was still covered, but looked to be .... lacking ....

[samoen313]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

is that serious?

...wow, and we'll be getting HOW MANY MORE of these?



i think this might just be the WORST building... ever built... ever in the history of the universe... ever... this makes the grand plaza towers look like masterpieces of modern architecture.

strongly worded. making an argument for which one is actually worse would be enormously difficult. they're both in the realm of lamentable architecture that doesn't merit any distinguishing the bad from worse. they're all embarrassing.

[honte]

^ I think Adrian's strong sentiments are probably pretty close to my own on this K station building. It's hard to explain why it's so bad... but one thing that really bothers me is the color, which makes it stand out very starkly against the skyline. I've been seeing it pop up all over the place, and it's impossible to ignore. For instance, in Harry's shots of Trump from Oak Park, it really does some major damage.

[VivaLFuego]

Yeah, it looked pretty presentable until they painted it with pure wretch. But saying it's worse than Grand Plaza? Be careful saying things so harsh you can't take them back...

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by Chitown

Nonsense! Projects begin at the moment of conception!

[Eventually...Chicago]

^^^^ while that building is not good i think the way you have to approach it to say that for the buildings entire life it will probably be cheaper to live in than all of its surroundings. So it will actually serve a nice urban role to maintain a lower income bracket in the west loop.

I know it is tough to swallow, but when you value diversity in a city you need bad buildings as well as good ones. At least it is nice and tall and adds density to an area that had zero before. I bet in 5-10 years the building will be obscured by other buildings and it will be able to quietly assume its role.

[Chicagoguy]

I was just wondering if anyone had any updates on a select few buildings that are either in the up and coming stage or still in early marketing stage! I was wondering about updated information on Park 1000, Park Michigan, X/O Condos, and Grant Park 3.

[ardecila]

Park 1000 - who the hell knows or cares anymore? Groundbreaking has been postponed so many times, I've lost all interest.

X/O - groundbreaking is planned for December 2008, but that's assuming they sell enough units before then to secure a construction loan.

Park Michigan - probably can't sell enough super-luxury units in the crowded market that exists in the city right now. Without pre-sales, they won't be getting any construction loans to start building.

GP3 - I think they want to sell most of OMP West before they start marketing on a third tower. From the looks of the OMP West construction site, they're in no hurry to finish, so I don't think they're selling out just yet. It may be 2 or 3 years before marketing begins.

I think the amount of buyers in these projects are not enough to justify construction on any of them just yet. The interested buyers are spread too thin, and if any of these are cancelled, many of the committed buyers will leave the market rather than looking elsewhere in the South Loop.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Yeah, it looked pretty presentable until they painted it with pure wretch. But saying it's worse than Grand Plaza? Be careful saying things so harsh you can't take them back...

yeah, it looked pretty alright pre-paint. still bad though. and yes, it is 1,000 times WORSE than the grand plaza towers. this thing is ridiculously bad and for three main reasons:
primarily because it's cream! secondarily because i can see it EVERYWHERE i go! it haunts me! and tertiarily because it's just a BAD and cheap looking design that is yet further continuation of the cycle of bullshit residential towers that continues to pop up all over the city.

this painted concrete bullshit has got to stop! seriously, has anyone seen the amli tower (whatever it's called) in the south loop??? what the fuck is that??? seriously? when will people accept concrete as the very beautiful material that it is? do they need more great examples than rivercity, vetro, 30w oak, contemporaine, 1620s michigan, and so on, and so on???? jesus!

[the urban politician]

^ The HELL it's worse than Grand Plaza.

Grand Plaza actually tries to be ugly. This one just tries to be plain. Eventually it will go unnoticed, but the GP twins will burn holes through our retinas for decades to come.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Nice shots of theWit, tom. Yesterday, I noticed that it's starting to have an impact on the view up State Street from the south. It will do a nice job of partially covering the ugly side of Unitrin.