CHICAGO | General Developments

[Mr Downtown]

I have the impression that Landmarks has become rather more, um, flexible since Brian Goeken left or since Mayor Emanuel took office. Leaving aside the Prentice debacle, there's a rooftop addition under construction at Harrison & Dearborn that never would have been allowed in the old days, and they ruled last year that they would no longer seek to preserve rooftop water towers.

I'm not exactly appalled at this alteration, though. I'm sure Landmarks required them to save the bottom blocks of limestone that were cut out, so this could be considered reversible.

[ChickeNES]

Also, it looked like they made the same change on the opposite side for Land and Sea Dept., but I wasn't able to get a good look as there was a bus in the way.

[ChiTownWonder]

I kinda like that shake shack there, I don't know why but I do.

[ChiTownWonder]

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.903879,-...3m2!1sjnl9e0QCYD4JkThimNgwbA!2e0!6m1!1e1

why? just why?

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.90398,-8...3m4!1e1!3m2!1sP4JpQg9Fp7RCZ1Kq2qpN0g!2e0
this makes me happy though.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Honestly, I don't have a problem with that change at all. All the city clubs were not exactly welcoming to outsiders back in the day and their architecture often reflects that. It's better urban planning to have retail storefronts especially along a street like bole Mich. And double especially across from Millennium Park. I continue to be amazed by what we are building as a city in our front yard and this is just the latest addition. I'm planning on touring the athletic association next week and am really looking forward to seeing how it turned out.

Also, I've been walking through the new Maggie Daley park multiple times a week lately and wow is that nice. I was concerned that it would be too cluttered with all the activity areas, but there's a surprising amount of open space in the middle of the park.

[Skyguy_7]

^Some fantastic vistas too. Apparently, there's even a slide where adults are welcome, which I hear is a doozy.

[SamInTheLoop]

Surely one of life's great lessons is surely to never, ever overestimate McCaffery. They still - to this day - incredibly - have not one restaurant open at Roosevelt Collection. And, Mago Grill's build-out has not even commenced! They've bungled the leasing of that project beyond recognition. The restaurants should have been the first spaces filled and opened after the movie theater.


Oh, and by the way, no surprise here, but the British School looks like pure —.

Nice work all-around, douchebags.....

[the urban politician]

^ I don't understand your personal vendetta against McCaffery. It's not like they are the only developer that has had leasing issues in troubled sites. Look at Block 37, the current owners of which you have always had nothing but good things to say...

Anyhow, I can't stand Roosevelt Collection's design and layout, but now that it's there we may as well make the best of it

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ChickeNES

It's new:

I guess it makes a counterpoint to the door near the roofline on the right side.

[BVictor1]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...tm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

May 21, 2015
Look inside the Chicago Motor Club, reborn as Hampton Inn
By JAN PARR

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Oh so close! I cannot wait to be able to walk the whole length at the water level. It'll be like a dream come true.

Looks like you'll be able to take in the next two blocks this weekend.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/544/article/p2p-83604221/

Curtain rises Saturday on $100 million Riverwalk extension

Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune
7:38 am, May 22, 2015

The first two blocks of the Chicago Riverwalk's $100 million extension are set to open Saturday, raising the curtain on an urban playground of kayaks, Tiki bar cocktails and floating concert stages.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to announce Friday the western expansion of the Riverwalk from State to Clark streets, as well as a one-block addition to LaSalle Street that will open in early June.

When completed in late 2016, the final design will feature a 11/4-mile jogging, pedestrian and bicycle trail from Lake Michigan to around the Lake Street Bridge.

Along the way, visitors, office workers and area residents will have a new oasis away from the downtown bustle to have a meal or a cup of coffee, or simply to relax and enjoy the water.

Each of the six blocks — or "rooms," as city officials call them — will have its own theme, including children-friendly splash areas, a live performance venue, an ecology classroom of sorts and plenty of places to eat and drink.

[UKVGuy]

Construction equipment has finally started moving into the site for the Fifield project at 1850 W. Chicago. Looking forward to seeing that lot get filled in!

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

^Some fantastic vistas too. Apparently, there's even a slide where adults are welcome, which I hear is a doozy.

That slide is insane. I slammed my knee on the way down and my friend bruised her tailbone. I think kids are literally just more flexible whereas adults approach these things stiff with anxiety or fear, making it difficult for their bodies to adjust to sudden turns. Anyway, it's still pretty badass, and would for sure have made a huge impression on me when I was a youngster.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ I don't understand your personal vendetta against McCaffery. It's not like they are the only developer that has had leasing issues in troubled sites. Look at Block 37, the current owners of which you have always had nothing but good things to say...

Anyhow, I can't stand Roosevelt Collection's design and layout, but now that it's there we may as well make the best of it

The thing about it is, it's not even personal - it's a critical assessment based on observational evidence.....praise where praise is due, and venom in its appropriate place as well. Happy talk deserves no greater, nor lesser position than that which makes some less comfortable.


And no, I've questioned CIM's timetable in the past....and on the whole, they've taken longer than they should have, and as I've pointed out it was their mistake to ditch the hotel. However, I do think they are turning-will turn around the block.....they have a fantastic vertical addition I'm looking at asI type......and, for the record, I've trashed Mills and Freed in the past.......but nobody does deserve it like McCaffery - whether their business decisions or their commitment to — design, they are the worst of the worst....in fact, perhaps only the likes of a Sedgwick Properties and/or an Allison Davis may truly give them a run for their money.....

[wierdaaron]

I attended a CAF talk recently about parks, and I picked up a sentiment among some people who hate Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park on principal because they're built on top of rooftops. Like, the fact that you can't take a shovel and dig to China somehow disqualifies it for park status. I found that very bizarre.

I can understand displeasure over the reality that every few generations they might need to be torn up to repair that structure, but were that not the case we would never have gotten Maggie Daley. That kind of churn is what makes cities great, the opportunity for renewal. Maybe I can't depend on the fact that my great-great-great-great grandkids will be able to frolick in MDP in the same way a New Yorker might be able to make the same assumption about Central Park, but that doesn't seem like reason enough to hold animosity toward our two newest downtown parks.

[SamInTheLoop]

Absolutely gorgeous. What a gem of a restored building!

Can't wait to see CAA as well....

[wierdaaron]

I find the history, or I guess the existence of the motor club kind of interesting. Cars are so baked into modern society now that it's hard to imagine that there was a time when organizations had to be erected in order to promote, encourage, and enable the use of automobiles. As a native Detroiter with GM plant blood from both sides of my family, it makes me a little proud. As a jaded new-urbanist downtown-dweller who thinks cars are evil and white men ruin everything, it makes me a little chagrinned.

Either way, I'm glad that history is preserved. And that mural. My god, that mural.

I hope this exterior signage is temporary, though.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Signage is temporary at the Motor Club, they are waiting for a fancy custom "Hampton Inn" sign that will be installed upon arrival.

[johnnygosox]

[QUOTE=wierdaaron;7036022]I find the history, or I guess the existence of the motor club kind of interesting. Cars are so baked into modern society now that it's hard to imagine that there was a time when organizations had to be erected in order to promote, encourage, and enable the use of automobiles. As a native Detroiter with GM plant blood from both sides of my family, it makes me a little proud. As a jaded new-urbanist downtown-dweller who thinks cars are evil and white men ruin everything, it makes me a little chagrinned.

Either way, I'm glad that history is preserved. And that mural. My god, that mural.

I hope this exterior signage is temporary, though.[/

Hmmm.....white men ruin everything? Good thing you didn't say that about another gender or race.....you might have been challenged. As it is......I guess you're in the clear amongst these forumers.

[wierdaaron]

^facetious hyperbole