CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by harryc

Casinos are for loosers - Leave that niche for Gary.

yeah no... the "losers" are our governments that can't pay our teachers and cops while we let North West indiana and Rosemont steal the "low hanging fruit" of tax dollars

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

I still think that's the best spot to put a casino, but that plan looks awesome, lets hope most of it gets built

Could be a good location for the Amazon HQ2 campus as well.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Could be a good location for the Amazon HQ2 campus as well.

I'm sure it's no cooincidence that suddenly this whole plan is out in the open after years of talking only about the portion north of Chicago Ave.

This development, Amazon or not, would be a fantastic catalyst for a Chicago Ave subway connecting the Red and Blue line with perhaps another trunk down the middle and down canal meeting back up with the blue line down by union station? That's only a few miles of subway and is inherently less daunting than trying to fund a whole new line.

[r18tdi]

It would be nice if the plan included ramps to and from the Ohio feeder.
That way cars, taxis, and ubers could hop right off the highway into Freedom complex.
Better connectivity to River North too...

Edit: And a new River West Metra stop between Clybourn and the Loop would be sweet.

[OhioGuy]

18 buildings, new riverfront park planned for Chicago Tribune printing plant site
BY JAY KOZIARZ ON OCTOBER 4, 2017 10:32 AM

As the City continues to work behind the scenes to lure Amazon’s lucrative second headquarters to the Windy City, a third potential Chicago site for the tech campus has officially broken cover. Today, the Chicago Tribune has released new renderings and details regarding its plan to redevelop its 30-acre Freedom Center printing plant property on the west bank of the Chicago River’s North Branch between Grand and Chicago avenues.

Previously understood to be in play for redevelopment, the valuable riverfront parcel flanks both sides of the Ohio Street bridge at the intersection of the neighborhoods of River North, River West, Goose Island, and Fulton River District. The mega-project would take advantage of revised zoning rules for the North Branch that have opened the area to new kinds of mixed, non-industrial use.

According to the Chicago Tribune and Crain's, both of which got a first look at the plan this morning, the redevelopment of 777 W. Chicago Avenue calls for 9 million square feet of both commercial and residential space spread across 18 buildings. Designed by Chicago architecture firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), this city in a city could support as many as 19,000 jobs and 5,900 residential units. Roughly 25 percent of the parcel will be set aside for park space and a riverwalk component.

[Domer2019]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

First of all. If it happens then good. Secondly though, it seems odd that this much development only equates to 5.5 million sqft. Would it not make sense to build out half the tract with taller buildings and then wait until the next opportunity to build out the rest?

5.5 million is phase 1 - it's 9 million total.

Question: does this replace the designs/planning for the northernmost section that was already publicized, or just add onto it?

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Domer2019

5.5 million is phase 1 - it's 9 million total.

Question: does this replace the designs/planning for the northernmost section that was already publicized, or just add onto it?

Adds to it.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

yeah no... the "losers" are our governments that can't pay our teachers and cops while we let North West indiana and Rosemont steal the "low hanging fruit" of tax dollars

Casinos are a societal poison, at least the type that need huge amounts of land with an attached hotel. If you want legal gambling, do what London does and have a handful of places with card tables, craps, and a good bar. None of that one-armed bandit garbage. Keep it very high end.

Or if you really want that, then put it in Navy Pier. That's the place for older Midwestern tourists, not the West Loop. That demographic would rather than help hurt local restaurants and shopping.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

It would be nice if the plan included ramps to and from the Ohio feeder.
That way cars, taxis, and ubers could hop right off the highway into Freedom complex.
Better connectivity to River North too...

Edit: And a new River West Metra stop between Clybourn and the Loop would be sweet.

Can we keep calling this area Freedom Center when they build it? Would much prefer it over some shitty developer bullshit like "Lincoln Yards".

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Can we keep calling this area Freedom Center when they build it? Would much prefer it over some shitty developer bullshit like "Lincoln Yards".

They should call it "The Fourth Estates"

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by 10023

Casinos are a societal poison, at least the type that need huge amounts of land with an attached hotel. If you want legal gambling, do what London does and have a handful of places with card tables, craps, and a good bar. None of that one-armed bandit garbage. Keep it very high end.

Or if you really want that, then put it in Navy Pier. That's the place for older Midwestern tourists, not the West Loop. That demographic would rather than help hurt local restaurants and shopping.

a societal poison that our residents currently flock to other areas to do...

yeah its trashy but it generates a ton of revenue that would quickly solve our budget issues... well that and legalizing marijuana is low hanging fruit that the conservatives in this state are too dumb to move their stance on

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Can we keep calling this area Freedom Center when they build it? Would much prefer it over some shitty developer bullshit like "Lincoln Yards".

My wife came up with 'Tronc Town'

I like that

[HomrQT]

The amount of underutilized land in and around downtown Chicago is crazy.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

It would be nice if the plan included ramps to and from the Ohio feeder.
That way cars, taxis, and ubers could hop right off the highway into Freedom complex.
Better connectivity to River North too...

Edit: And a new River West Metra stop between Clybourn and the Loop would be sweet.

Yeah, adding ramps shouldn't be too difficult. They could probably squeeze in some tight ramps to Desplaines.

How about a return of the old river bridge at Erie? That seems like an easy way to reduce congestion.

There's no site plan published yet, but the angled shape of some of the buildings seems to reflect the old rail line running through the site. Gives me hope that the ROW can be preserved for a transitway or hopefully a link from UP Metra lines to future underground platforms at Union Station. Then again, we've set aside "future transit corridors" several times before, and they've just sat there for decades.

[jc5680]

Nvm

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

18 buildings, new riverfront park planned for Chicago Tribune printing plant site
BY JAY KOZIARZ ON OCTOBER 4, 2017 10:32 AM

So much potential

The broadcast company envisions about 15 residential and office towers, ranging from 20 to 50 stories tall, with retail at the base of buildings. The plan, designed by architecture firm SCB, sets aside about 25 percent of the land for Chicago Riverwalk and park space.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Yeah, I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for interruption of the street grid or curvilinear buildings. The more unrelentingly square the street grid the better. The most universally we just vertically extrude that grid into blocks of buildings, the better. I can't wait til central Chicago looks like Paris, but with perfectly square blocks of buildings all built to like 10-50 floors high. The West Loop is making a good play at this, the Loop is already there. River North is following close behind.

You all are pro monotony and anti variety. Nearly the entirety of the city is a grid (which I like too); being against just 1% being different is a bit fascistic. Are you guys going to propose Milwaukee, Clybourn, and Lincoln be ripped up and filled in with buildings? Are all the 6 way intersections uninteresting? Do you not marvel that the native american / esker trails have survived through the centuries? Also, have you not noticed 333 Wacker is one of the most admired buildings of its era?

Originally Posted by harryc

Casinos are for loosers - Leave that niche for Gary.

Yes, and even if someone put up a "classy" casino, there's no way to prevent it going way downmarket in the future, or to forestall a slippery slope of increasingly downmarket casinos proliferating nearby. Better to have tourism dollars flow to support higher entertainment arts like cuisine, or music, or sports.

[the urban politician]

^ They already tried "going against the grid". It's called suburbia. It ended up looking and functioning like shit.

The grid must extend into infinity. Period.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ They already tried "going against the grid". It's called suburbia. It ended up looking and functioning like shit.

The grid must extend into infinity. Period.

Location - Libertyville

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ They already tried "going against the grid". It's called suburbia. It ended up looking and functioning like shit.

The grid must extend into infinity. Period.

Madison must be extended all the way to the Rockies. That would mean Denver is at about 800,000 West. How many blocks to Denver? 8000 left to go.