CHICAGO | OneEleven - 111 West Wacker | 630 FT | 59 FLOORS | COM

[SamInTheLoop]

^ Regulation of signs is something I'd think the vast majority of muncipalities do. And, I think the vast majority of people think they should be regulated.

These banners on the side of skyscrapers are a huge pet peeve of mine. If there are time limits (which there should be!), then they need to be strictly enforced, with meaningful fines levied for noncompliance. Apart from condo buildings, there are a substantial number of rental towers built over the last decade which seem to have essentially permanent 'now leasing' or similar signs hung from the side......these need to come down........it should be no more than 12 months after occupancy permit issued, than signs must come down......

By the way, this newest render looks quite good....it's a pretty solid design....

[Baronvonellis]

This is hardly a new concept in cities though. I've seen buildings from the 20's with "rooms for rent" painted on to the side of the building in huge letters permanently. This has probably existed since the dawn of cities.

[jc5680]

Originally Posted by emathias

I've never understood people's objection to signage. Cities exist expressly for commerce. Being anti-sign is like saying having a zoo is fine, but we have to pretend that the animals are there incidentally - which is, of course, a ridiculous idea.

It's not signage, it's advertising. Maybe splitting hairs, but I see a difference.

[ChiPhi]

I think the real question in many of these cases is the role of government in pushing private developers to create "good" buildings. In many cases, regulations that limit the freedom of developers on their own land (zoning and community review of designs) makes development less feasible, less economical and thus less prevalent. In most cases, we are talking about forcing supply side costs onto the developers. In the case of signs, we are discussing whether or not to lower demand for a given developer (by removing an advertising source). However, in the case of housing in an already dense and mature neighborhood, advertising is not going to create demand in the vast majority of cases, only steal it from other sources. Therefore, if one other building has a "for lease" sign, it makes economic sense for all private developers to advertise on their own buildings. But, if we outlaw the signs for everyone, no one will be disadvantaged from the law. The only developments hurt (if my thesis holds) would be those like SONO which need to convince those who want to live in Lincoln Park to opt for a dense setting or (conversely) those who live in a dense setting to move to West Lincoln Park. But, if done properly and across the board, the onus could be placed on renters to seek out buildings instead of tying the hands of developers into putting unsightly "for lease" or "for sale" signs across their skyscrapers.

Anyways, this is getting off topic, does a moderator want to move it to the Gen Dev thread?

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Hayward, have you seen the subway entrance at Wells/Lake? Granted, it's a quiet corner of the Loop, but there's an awesome modern entrance there which has not succumbed to your urban forces of decay, and it's been there for nearly 20 years now. Same goes for the one at Federal Plaza on Dearborn, which is even older.

Oh dude, bad examples. What you don't know and I'll leave it at that.

[ardecila]

Guess I'll take your word for it then?

I still don't see how modern design conflicts with the durability needs of street furniture while traditional acanthus leaves and rosettes are some kind of kryptonite to vandals, taggers, and skaters.

Maybe it's the same principle that makes shopping malls play classical music to eliminate loitering.

[Tom In Chicago]

This thread has left the tracks. . . can we get it back on topic?[/rhetorical] Thanks in advance. . .

. . .

[takascar]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

This thread has left the tracks. . . can we get it back on topic?[/rhetorical] Thanks in advance. . .

. . .

OK.

Looks like they are chipping very slowly along the edge of the elevator core. From my vantage point, it seems like they have 3 "stories" to chip away and have not even completed 1 of them in 3 weeks time. That stuff must be hard.

From what I understand, the reason they have to lop off the top part of the core is because the openings onto the rest of the floor for those are different - they appear to be access hatches for elevator equipment since this was the end of the wider floorplate. I'm guessing that they need to be the same as the the lowest visible level with openings for people to enter the core from the rest of the floor.

Looks like they may need to chip away at the huge columns that front on Wacker drive as well. They have scaffolding, but no work has been done.
At this pace, they will easily take the balance of this year to complete.

No new movement on the main building permit status - still some disciplines haven't approved it yet, though they did get a permit to get electrical service installed - probably cutting over the name from Teng to Lend Lease, since the juice has been on continuously since the project started (for lights).

[harryc]

Originally Posted by takascar

OK.

Looks like they are chipping very slowly along the edge of the elevator core. From my vantage point, it seems like they have 3 "stories" to chip away and have not even completed 1 of them in 3 weeks time. That stuff must be hard.

From what I understand, the reason they have to lop off the top part of the core is because the openings onto the rest of the floor for those are different - they appear to be access hatches for elevator equipment since this was the end of the wider floorplate. I'm guessing that they need to be the same as the the lowest visible level with openings for people to enter the core from the rest of the floor.

Looks like they may need to chip away at the huge columns that front on Wacker drive as well. They have scaffolding, but no work has been done.
At this pace, they will easily take the balance of this year to complete.

No new movement on the main building permit status - still some disciplines haven't approved it yet, though they did get a permit to get electrical service installed - probably cutting over the name from Teng to Lend Lease, since the juice has been on continuously since the project started (for lights).

Chipping away at the E side now, they were on the W and S sides fore a long time.

My understanding was that the new design required a reworking of the transfer floor to accommodate the changed load.

[harryc]

They are set to have an official "groundbreaking" on the project today. In preperation all the old (very weathered) rails (2x4s) were replaced with nice new ones, and those covered with blue cloth just for good measure. A wheelchair ramp was also built. Yesterday they had about a dozen nice new sledgehammers on hand for the ceremony.


11-01-12


11-01-12


last week

[harryc]

Jan 2006


Jul 2006


Nov 2 2006


Winter 2007


Jul 11 2007


Nov 1 2007


Jun 2008


Dec 2009


Jan 2009 Consolidated Forms' crane comes down

[george]

Thanks for that, harry.^ Hard to believe it's been 7 years.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Wow!! That's so crazy to see! What was on this site before this started in 2006?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten

Wow!! That's so crazy to see! What was on this site before this started in 2006?

a parking lot.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by george

Thanks for that, harry.^ Hard to believe it's been 7 years.

I was 16 when everyone was talking about this.


And the Spire -_-

[ChiPhi]

From Crain's on the groundbreaking:

[Mr Downtown]

^They should have called it a skybreaking.

[ChiSoxRox]

I'm thrilled to see progress happening on this site.

[Mr Downtown]

Lynn Becker has written an excellent history of the project to this point.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Seeing the original renderings in that article kinda makes me miss the old design. The new one is ok though. At least SOMETHING will finally start to rise here.