CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[BVictor1]

Plan Commission Agenda 06/19/08

A proposed Waterway Residential Business Planned Development Application
submitted by L & M Riverbend Venture, an Illinois partnership, for the property
generally located at 444 West Lake Street and 201 North Canal Street. The applicant proposes to construct a 52-story office building, a 26-story hotel/ residential building, and an approximately 1.5-acre public riveredge plaza with approximately 1.1 million square feet of office space, 250 hotel rooms, up to 30 residential units, and 250 off-street parking spaces. (42nd Ward)


A proposed amendment to Residential Business Planned Development No. 368 and Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Application No. 535 submitted by TFC Park Street, L.L.C. The applicant proposes to amend the planned development and seeks Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection District approval to develop Parcels 7 and 7A of Subarea B of the planned development, generally located at 435 - 457 North Park Drive, 320 - 342 Upper East North Water Street, and 432 - 456 North New Street, with a 107-story hotel/ residential building containing approximately 348 hotel rooms, 353 residential units, and 570 off-street parking spaces and an approximately 0.6-acre public plaza. (42nd Ward)


A proposed Business Planned Development Application submitted by FRC-MJ,
L.L.C., for the property generally located at 601 West Monroe Street. The applicant proposes to construct two office buildings of 27 and 30 stories with ground-floor retail space and 460 off-street parking spaces. The Applicant proposes to change the zoning of the site from DC-12 Downtown Core District to DC-16 Downtown Core District prior to establishing the Business Planned Development. (2nd Ward)


A proposed amendment to Master Plan II of Subarea A of Residential-Business
Planned Development No. 499 and Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront
Protection Application No. 532 submitted by Central Station, LLC for the property generally bounded by East Roosevelt Road, South Lake Shore Drive, McCormick Place North, and South Michigan Avenue. The applicant proposes to construct two residential towers of approximately 83 stories and 73 stories. (2nd Ward)

[the urban politician]

^ approved!

[nomarandlee]

Nevermind, Harryc's pics showed up after a refresh.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ approved!

Just because it's on the agenda?

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Plan Commission Agenda 06/19/08

A proposed Waterway Residential Business Planned Development Application
submitted by L & M Riverbend Venture, an Illinois partnership, for the property
generally located at 444 West Lake Street and 201 North Canal Street. The applicant proposes to construct a 52-story office building, a 26-story hotel/ residential building, and an approximately 1.5-acre public riveredge plaza with approximately 1.1 million square feet of office space, 250 hotel rooms, up to 30 residential units, and 250 off-street parking spaces. (42nd Ward)


A proposed amendment to Residential Business Planned Development No. 368 and Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Application No. 535 submitted by TFC Park Street, L.L.C. The applicant proposes to amend the planned development and seeks Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection District approval to develop Parcels 7 and 7A of Subarea B of the planned development, generally located at 435 - 457 North Park Drive, 320 - 342 Upper East North Water Street, and 432 - 456 North New Street, with a 107-story hotel/ residential building containing approximately 348 hotel rooms, 353 residential units, and 570 off-street parking spaces and an approximately 0.6-acre public plaza. (42nd Ward)


A proposed Business Planned Development Application submitted by FRC-MJ,
L.L.C., for the property generally located at 601 West Monroe Street. The applicant proposes to construct two office buildings of 27 and 30 stories with ground-floor retail space and 460 off-street parking spaces. The Applicant proposes to change the zoning of the site from DC-12 Downtown Core District to DC-16 Downtown Core District prior to establishing the Business Planned Development. (2nd Ward)


A proposed amendment to Master Plan II of Subarea A of Residential-Business
Planned Development No. 499 and Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront
Protection Application No. 532 submitted by Central Station, LLC for the property generally bounded by East Roosevelt Road, South Lake Shore Drive, McCormick Place North, and South Michigan Avenue. The applicant proposes to construct two residential towers of approximately 83 stories and 73 stories. (2nd Ward)

Nice

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by jjk1103

........is it just me, or are some of the larger high rises deliberately slowing down or stopping ?? ....in particular the two 600 N LSD buildings (and Joffrey Tower) were topped out quite a while ago.........they seem to be on a "slow track" for the last 6 months or so.

...........I'm sure they'll finish but it seems that the developer is in no hurry to complete them ?? .......I think there may be a financing issue ?!

I've definitely noticed this on select projects as well. Obviously in some cases there are issues with materials or labor that result in a slowdown. But I think this does occur due to financing issues on occassion (depends on the precise financing details and that's of course deal-specific). The obvious extreme example is Waterview.

Here's another potential example of a very slow-track project I took note of on a stroll this morning - the Trio high-rise. What is the deal with that one? Has anyone noticed in recent weeks if they are actually still making vertical progress? I had last walked by maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago and it seems like there was virtually no difference in height to today - perhaps a floor or two at most....


Also, what about OMP West - that one continues to move almost unbelievably slow - what do they have, like 3 people building that one?!

And not sure about 600 LSD, but I did stop by Joffrey earlier this week and it is finally just about 99% visually complete exterior-wise...

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Just because it's on the agenda?

Well, to be completely honest, that's ususally the way it works in this town, right? (not that I'm necessarily complaining, mind you!)...

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Just because it's on the agenda?

Where do you think this is, Evanston?

[TheBigHurt]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

I've definitely noticed this on select projects as well. Obviously in some cases there are issues with materials or labor that result in a slowdown. But I think this does occur due to financing issues on occassion (depends on the precise financing details and that's of course deal-specific). The obvious extreme example is Waterview.

Here's another potential example of a very slow-track project I took note of on a stroll this morning - the Trio high-rise. What is the deal with that one? Has anyone noticed in recent weeks if they are actually still making vertical progress? I had last walked by maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago and it seems like there was virtually no difference in height to today - perhaps a floor or two at most....


Also, what about OMP West - that one continues to move almost unbelievably slow - what do they have, like 3 people building that one?!

And not sure about 600 LSD, but I did stop by Joffrey earlier this week and it is finally just about 99% visually complete exterior-wise...

The condo market seems saturated. Could that have something to do with the hurdles?

[BVictor1]

It is with deep regret that I must inform you that Robert c. Smith "BUCKY" passed away last Saturday evening, June 7, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There will be an obituary in tomorrow's Sunday Tribune, and a memorial service at Gentry of Chicago (440 N. State St, Chicago), in which he was a part owner, from 2-4 PM next Sunday, June 22. You are all welcome to join us if you desire.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Taken today:

235 W. Van Buren


Burnham Point


Vetro


Roosevelt Collection

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

It is with deep regret that I must inform you that Robert c. Smith "BUCKY" passed away last Saturday evening, June 7, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There will be an obituary in tomorrow's Sunday Tribune, and a memorial service at Gentry of Chicago (440 N. State St, Chicago), in which he was a part owner, from 2-4 PM next Sunday, June 22. You are all welcome to join us if you desire.

He will be deeply missed. He was one of high spirits and cared very much about the state of our great city.

[Norsider]

Originally Posted by TheBigHurt

The condo market seems saturated. Could that have something to do with the hurdles?

We're only in the midst of an unprecedented crisis in housing and the credit markets. Yeah, I guess you could say the condo market is a bit tough these days.

[Loopy]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

It is with deep regret that I must inform you that Robert c. Smith "BUCKY" passed away last Saturday evening, June 7, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There will be an obituary in tomorrow's Sunday Tribune, and a memorial service at Gentry of Chicago (440 N. State St, Chicago), in which he was a part owner, from 2-4 PM next Sunday, June 22. You are all welcome to join us if you desire.

Yeah, Bucky was a great guy. RIP.

He had a devilish sense of humor. He recently wrote the Chicago Journal to point out that for some reason the 2nd Ward Alderman forgot to invite him to be on the Development Review Committee as he had been on the email list from day one.

He was also Buddy Guy's accountant. That must have been an interesting job!

A few months ago when Jan, the owner of Skyscrapercity came to Chicago for a visit, Bucky was thoughtful enough to bring a gift for him from all of us. It was an original program pamphlet from the 1933 Century of Progress exhibition. Jan was touched, it was a perfect gift from a bunch of architecture fanatics to another architecture fanatic.

[VivaLFuego]

RIP Bucky...

[Eventually...Chicago]

you're crazy if you think construction on museum park west has slowed one bit. They had 20-30 man crews round the clock this weekend. Saturday and sunday. I think you need to remember that they're not done with OMP. I think they're doing pretty good for working on two buildings at once.

Once again, slowing construction doesn't make any sense at all, unless of course, you don't have the financing and you're trying to buy time. You either stop construction or build it. Sometimes certain projects move more quickly than others. Every day longer is another day paying interest on a construction loan (higher interest rates than permanent financing), every day longer is another day paying contractors, every day longer is another day with zero revenue.

Slowing construction because of market conditions is like taking longer to complete a degree because the job market is bad. And real estate lenders are much less accommodating than student loan lenders.

Also there is an issue of liquidity. Why would anyone consider an unbuilt condo more valuable than a built one? If the market is bad and you don't want to sell the unit under a certain price then don't. If the market improves and you slowed construction, well, then you've have nothing to sell, only letters of intent. A condo only has real market value if its complete.

[Mr Downtown]

From my window, the slowdown seems noticeable not only on Burnham Pointe but also on the Astoria. I thought perhaps they were stopped at the ninth floor because of some tie-in with finishing the top floor of One Place, but now I'm not so sure. Finally on Thursday I noticed that they seemed to be going up with some new columns, but the concrete pump doesn't appear to have moved for the last six weeks.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Eventually...Chicago

you're crazy if you think construction on museum park west has slowed one bit. They had 20-30 man crews round the clock this weekend. Saturday and sunday. I think you need to remember that they're not done with OMP. I think they're doing pretty good for working on two buildings at once.

Once again, slowing construction doesn't make any sense at all, unless of course, you don't have the financing and you're trying to buy time. You either stop construction or build it. Sometimes certain projects move more quickly than others. Every day longer is another day paying interest on a construction loan (higher interest rates than permanent financing), every day longer is another day paying contractors, every day longer is another day with zero revenue.

Slowing construction because of market conditions is like taking longer to complete a degree because the job market is bad. And real estate lenders are much less accommodating than student loan lenders.

Also there is an issue of liquidity. Why would anyone consider an unbuilt condo more valuable than a built one? If the market is bad and you don't want to sell the unit under a certain price then don't. If the market improves and you slowed construction, well, then you've have nothing to sell, only letters of intent. A condo only has real market value if its complete.

However, the above is contradicted by reality (again, it all depends on the exact terms of financing, and perhaps some developers quite frankly aren't in a hurry to have many dozens of unsold units in their building just sit finished at this juncture (hopefully we're at or near the trough of this cycle) - maybe they do have some time before loan maturity?? We're seeing it on multiple projects around town. And, come on - OMP W is one of the slowest movers I've seen - I mean, when did foundation work on that tower start? Keep in mind that originally, Enterprise was advertising at least partial delivery of that building by late '08!! It's an incredibly slow-track project, and apparently was not planned to be that way a couple years ago...

[the urban politician]

^ Nice shot. Adds to the reason why Dearborn Park totally sucks ass, though

[EarlyBuyer]

Not sure if this is the right thread to post this article on:

Walter A. Netsch dies at 88; designed UIC campus

"Walter A. Netsch, Jr., the maverick, strong-willed Chicago architect whose geometrically complex buildings, including the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and the U.S. Air Force Academy chapel in Colorado, departed from glass-box orthodoxy and both delighted and frustrated their users, died Sunday at his home in Chicago."

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2008/06/walter-a-netsch.html