CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[Skyguy_7]

311 looks almost nothing like the rendering but turned out damn nice.

[harryc]

Sept 23

640, 635, and 675 N Wells



Sept 19





Sept 27

[r18tdi]

Crane going up today at Washington and Peoria (#25 on the Curbed map).

[harryc]

Sept 27

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Thats a winner! They nailed the base. Good material, whatever the hell that is

looks like fiber cement siding (aka most used cladding in the most recent boom, ok maybe 2nd most behind black brick)

[emathias]

Corner of Clark and Huron, with cameraphone:

Yesterday, September 28

by me, on Flickr

Today, September 29

by me, on Flickr

[Ned.B]

The base on 3Eleven Illinois would have looked so much better if they had skipped the precast band above the third floor. Their brick choice is very modern and melds with the tower, and I sort of get that they were trying to be contextual with the surrounding warehouse buildings, but the actual execution is more 80s PoMo and I think really missed the mark.

[Jibba]

^Precisely.

[harryc]

Sept 23



Sept 27

[harryc]

Sept 23



Sept 27

[harryc]

Sept 19

Not much of interest in the old fill, an old school vaulted ceiling (sewer ?) - no match at all for the backhoe.


Sept 27

[J_M_Tungsten]

Man, we have a lot of weird buildings built in this last boom.

[the urban politician]

Plus we have sort of a 2 pronged thing going on in River North.

The eastern prong along State/Wabash and the western prong along Wells/Clark. And between them?

McDonalds + Rainforest Cafe + Hard Rock Cafe

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by harryc

Compare this to under 2 years ago. Pretty incredible transformation just right here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/W+...!4d-87.6341517

[10023]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Plus we have sort of a 2 pronged thing going on in River North.

The eastern prong along State/Wabash and the western prong along Wells/Clark. And between them?

McDonalds + Rainforest Cafe + Hard Rock Cafe

Hopefully that all gets torn down and replaced in one go next time.

I really hope that something can be done which creates some kind of public space and focal point for River North, though. Keep the blocks bounded by LaSalle, Erie, Clark and Ohio open as a sort of mini Madison Square Park. Then go big on the lots facing it to the south (Best Western/parking), east (Rainforest Cafe/Hard Rock Cafe/Walgreens/parking lot), and north (Fogo de Chao and some other low rose monstrosity). There are few nice older buildings to the north of Portillo's which would, ideally, be moved. This would ideally include breaking up the street grid and creating a more managed traffic flow.

That won't happen though, and modern Chicago is very bad at big centerpiece projects (witness the utter failure of Block 37).

[harryc]

Can't keep em straight without a program
#24 Curbed guide to the West Loop

Sept 29

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by 10023

Hopefully that all gets torn down and replaced in one go next time.

I really hope that something can be done which creates some kind of public space and focal point for River North, though. Keep the blocks bounded by LaSalle, Erie, Clark and Ohio open as a sort of mini Madison Square Park. Then go big on the lots facing it to the south (Best Western/parking), east (Rainforest Cafe/Hard Rock Cafe/Walgreens/parking lot), and north (Fogo de Chao and some other low rose monstrosity). There are few nice older buildings to the north of Portillo's which would, ideally, be moved. This would ideally include breaking up the street grid and creating a more managed traffic flow.

That won't happen though, and modern Chicago is very bad at big centerpiece projects (witness the utter failure of Block 37).

It can happen, but zoning is the issue. As long as Reilly the douchemonger insists on keeping the densities low, nobody is going to try something bold like this. You need density allowances to create open space, and given the cost of River North real estate we are talking about some serious density allowances to make it work financially

[Randomguy34]

56 W Huron received foundation permits yesterday. It's 13 stories with 11 condos, and an expected summer 2018 delivery.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by 10023

That won't happen though, and modern Chicago is very bad at big centerpiece projects (witness the utter failure of Block 37).

I wouldn't be that harsh, modern Chicago has also had some great successes (Millennium and Maggie Daley Parks, Riverwalk, the Navy Pier redo is turning out to be a huge improvement IMO)

The problem with Block 37 is that it happened in the early 2000's when there was still a 90's mentality hanging over developers. We seem to have broken free of that in the past 7-8 years. I think it would have turned out much better had it been developed today. For example, the new apt building built atop of it was a recent addition and was a much bolder, denser celebration of urbanity and the central city than the gloried shopping mall and Dallas style office building that came before it.

[harryc]

Sept 29

From Left to right - Mc D's - Nobu Hotel - 210 N Green


Ready for the matt