CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5 - Page 380

SolarWind · #**7581** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 4:38 AM**

June 17, 2008

Abner · #**7582** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 6:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

How does this interact with the street? Is Harlem basically a wasteland there, and if so, does this help/hurt it?

I can still hope for the best that when it's occupied it feels a bit more 'human' and more integrated with the urban fabric.

Harlem would be a perfectly fine street there if it weren't for the traffic and narrow sidewalks. There's a park across the street. A block south on the other side, though, is River Forest's massive strip mall, which definitely kills things. As you can see, a lot of the frontage along Harlem is taken up by the parking garage, which does no favors. It also visibly looms over downtown--it's right behind Lake St.--so it's not really tucked away behind the old Fields building there. There will be a Trader Joe's, but they could have put one of those in without making the building so revolting. Anyway I still think this building could make it harder to approve more worthy projects in the future.

Chicago Shawn · #**7583** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 7:43 AM**

Almost done, just one last patch of facade left...

And some slab edge covers....

The rest of it all...

Retail spaces:

I love the polycarbonate glazing on the garage facades, it looks like carved ice...

A preview of whats to come to Streeterville? I hope so!

honte · #**7584** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 12:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicago Shawn

I love the polycarbonate glazing on the garage facades, it looks like carved ice...

Great photos, Shawn.

The glazing down there is actually a kind of glass, not polycarb. (At least, in Hovey's older projects it was... did he change it?)

the urban politician · #**7585** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 1:26 PM**

Screw urban life. I want to live in Skokie Old Orchard Woods!

That building inspires

aaron38 · #**7586** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 1:58 PM**

Old Orchard Woods is a great design, and I hope Cityfront Plaza III is just as good. But I'm a little put off by the tower-in-the-park aspect. Having a large park on one side for open space is one thing, but is it really as isolated as it looks? Can you walk to anything from there?

Or I guess, more importantly, are there plans for this building to get company in the future, to build up a dense core around it?

Steely Dan · #**7587** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 2:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaron38

Having a large park on one side for open space is one thing, but is it really as isolated as it looks?

yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaron38

Can you walk to anything from there?

no, not in any practical sense. the project sits on an odd little leftover piece of land smooshed between the edens expressway to the east, cook county forest preserve land to the west, some suburban style office park development to the north and the new skokie jewish museum and golf road to the south. optima old orchard woods will forever sit in its weird auto-centric isolation.

the project is wicked-cool from an aesthetic stand-point, but you couldn't pay me enough money to actually live there.

spyguy · #**7588** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 2:25 PM**

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=29860

155 N. Wacker more than half full with lease
By Thomas A. Corfman, June 18, 2008

A joint venture led by developer John Buck Co. has leased more than half the space in the 1.1-million-square foot 155 N. Wacker Drive office tower project, completing a deal with Marsh & McLennan Cos. for 134,000 square feet.

---
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=29857

Developer puts South Loop site on the market
By Alby Gallun, June 18, 2008

A Chicago developer is seeking buyers for a 2.5-acre property in a fast-growing part of the South Loop after dropping plans to build a 600-unit apartment building there.

D2 Realty Services Inc. has hired CB Richard Ellis Inc. to sell the parcel at 1000 S. Clark St. with an asking price of $20 million. D2 paid $10.4 million for the property in August 2006, financing the acquisition with an $11-million loan from Fremont Investment & Loan, property records show.

jpIllInoIs · #**7589** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 2:29 PM**

^^^ OLD ORCHARD WOODS - You cannot walk to anything but, the future Yellow Line extension to Old Orchard will literally run to the front door.

trvlr70 · #**7590** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 2:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

optima old orchard woods will forever sit in its weird auto-centric isolation.

the project is wicked-cool from an aesthetic stand-point, but you couldn't pay me enough money to actually live there.

Wasn't there some talk at one point of an additional stop on the Skokie Swift line at Old Orchard and then connecting the two with a landscaped path?

VivaLFuego · #**7591** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 4:50 PM**

^Optima OOW shows that the much-maligned towers-in-the-park design can indeed be awesome (thanks for not including surface parking lots!).

^The article spyguy posted re: sale of "The Curve" site is interesting.

1) Does anyone know, what are the guidelines of the PD approved for that site? Maximum height, allowable units, etc.?

2) the article states Chieftain Group bought the lot on the SW corner of Harrison/Wells; part of the "Franklin Point" area on the former Grand Central site. Maybe we'll see a new proposal for this land before long...

EDIT: see this PDF from their website for a general massing: http://www.chieftain.ie/pdf/grand_central_chicago.pdf
200 bed hotel, two 25-story towers, 15000 sq ft of retail, and a "range of 1, 2, and 3 bedroom" condos. Looks like a small little plaza space right on the corner. Retail along Wells. Parking garage behind the two towers, far away from the street. Construction start in Summer 2009, completion in 2011. Architect is Brinstool + Lynch, which should give a pretty good idea of the aesthetic since B+L doesn't seem to diversify their highrise style much. Height looks to be slightly less than the nearby Wells Street Tower. Rough guess, I'm thinking we're looking at about 300-320ft in height on the towers (Phase II a bit taller), so maybe 350-400 residential units total between them.
Vetro buyers will be ticked. Does the site already have PD approval to build this? Or will they need Fioretti's approval, i.e. have south loop NIMBYs kill the project through dependable pandering?

Mr Downtown · #**7592** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 6:35 PM**

No PD amendment has ever been filed for The Curve site. I suppose some part of the old LaSalle Park PD might still apply.

No Franklin Park PD has ever been approved. I don't think anyone would seriously oppose 25-story buildings there.

VivaLFuego · #**7593** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 9:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

No PD amendment has ever been filed for The Curve site. I suppose some part of the old LaSalle Park PD might still apply.

No Franklin Park PD has ever been approved. I don't think anyone would seriously oppose 25-story buildings there.

Looks like the Curve site falls under PD 523, which is pretty large and appears to also include the AMLI 900 highrise and the Roosevelt Collection. Any ideas what a hypothetical new developer at the Curve site could build as-of-right under the current PD?

The Chieftain site appears to just be zoned DX-7 (FAR 7.0). Given two 25-story buildings occupying approximately 1/3 of the total site, this proposal will be pretty close to the zoned FAR. So yeah, I hope you're right that this wouldn't see any opposition for PD approval as-is in terms of density and height, though I could imagine "Greenest Ward" Fioretti making them supersize the parking deck.

spyguy · #**7594** Posted **Jun 18, 2008, 10:05 PM**

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=2166

Chicago: Edition Hotel, 150 E. Ontario St., 270-unit mixed-use hotel, September 2008, $24 million..

Chicago: Cedar Hotel Redevelopment, 1118 N. State St., 200-room boutique hotel, September 2008, $20 million.

Chicago: 1035 West Van Buren, 1035 W. Van Buren St., 325-unit multi-residential tower, April 2009, $70 million.

SolarWind · #**7595** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 12:00 AM**

June 17, 2008

pasadenabinks · #**7596** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 2:17 AM**

^^^So ugly. I see the Allure every day from the Halsted bus. It is in such a visible location, it is such a big block. No form, no grace. Yuk

Alliance · #**7597** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 4:32 AM**

I will defend its verticality.

Ch.G, Ch.G · #**7598** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 4:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alliance

I will defend its verticality.

I find myself agreeing with you twice in one night, Alliance.

An upright cinderblock in still infinitely better than precast masquerading as stone facing. I'd much rather see these kinds of joyless towers around town instead of Lagrange's Second Empire caricatures.

Breezyfingers · #**7599** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 1:14 PM**

Silver Tower et. al. from the AMA (forgive the reflections).

the urban politician · #**7600** Posted **Jun 19, 2008, 1:14 PM**

Regarding the attacks on K Station, I just like 'um cuz they're dense.

The higher the density, the lower my architectural IQ (which is already low to begin with). Great cities need a lot of people, and more people=more stores + markets + things do do = more people looking at what's going on around them instead of up at the buildings = nobody will notice the crappy architecture