CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

https://chicago.curbed.com/2015/6/15...rium-village-3
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2015...-finally-begin

The midrise building at Division/Wells looks nothing like the initial renderings. I'm done complaining about it though.

I'd rather them have started work on the towers along Division before continuing south on Wells. Division is undergoing a transformation for the better IMO. It used to get pretty sketchy at night, especially near the Clark/Division red line. Now there are people out in surprisingly large numbers after 10PM. I wonder if/when the owner of the Jewel strip mall at Clybourn/Division would sell their parking lot. It would also make for nice park space IMO.

Are there updated renderings of how the two additional towers will look?

[SolarWind]

October 26, 2017

[SolarWind]

October 26, 2017

[SolarWind]

October 26, 2017

[harryc]

Oct 13



Old School


Oct 18



"I'm not touching you"


Oct 25

[harryc]

Oct 13



Oct 18

An alternative to sheet piles.


Oct 25





Note the second piling at the bottom just poking above the mud.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Joe Zekas

The Rock N Roll McDonald's in River North - a site for forumers to eat their hearts out by YoChicago, on Flickr

This photo shows two things:

1) This area is a perfect place for a new park.

2) Chicago city blocks are way too small. Look how much road surface there is compared to actual usable land!

[aaron38]

^^^
1) The post office is probably the best choice for a park, it's already government land.

2) About 150 years too late to complain about that. Considering absolutely nothing can be done about it.

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by harryc

Portillos is just a fake mall-like place, with great food. Ohio House - that has history, authenticity, and memories.

Oh come on Harry, that Portillos has a tommy gun display on the wall, and an old timey car suspended in the air. Harkens back to prohibition era Chicago. It's good stuff.

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by 10023

This photo shows two things:

1) This area is a perfect place for a new park.

2) Chicago city blocks are way too small. Look how much road surface there is compared to actual usable land!

1. I agree, there's no park anywhere nearby for quite a few blocks.

2. A good reason to build UP!

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by 10023

This photo shows two things:

1) This area is a perfect place for a new park.

2) Chicago city blocks are way too small. Look how much road surface there is compared to actual usable land!

Short blocks make for a great walking experience. Obviously the architecture in this area leaves a lot to be desired, but look at Portland.

[harryc]

Oct 18











Potential - hope they accent the structural steel.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by 10023

2) Chicago city blocks are way too small. Look how much road surface there is compared to actual usable land!

River North blocks are definitely too small, but they aren't average when it comes to the city as a whole. Blocks in the loop are about 50% larger.

Following Michigan Ave, the mile between Madison and Roosevelt is roughly 11 blocks, while the mile between Madison and Chicago is 14 blocks. Three of those are the larger blocks south of the river. The roughly 1 mile stretch between the river (starting at Kinzie) and Division contains 18 blocks.

[10023]

Originally Posted by aaron38

^^^
1) The post office is probably the best choice for a park, it's already government land.

2) About 150 years too late to complain about that. Considering absolutely nothing can be done about it.

I disagree about the post office, for two reasons:

1) The surrounding blocks are already largely developed, so you lose the chance to design buildings to face the park. Buildings which, of course, would not have above ground parking garages with park views, or vehicle access on the side facing the park.

2) Block size. A decent sized park needs to cover at least two city blocks in River North. Using only the post office block, or only the McDonald's block, would create a pocket park at most, more of a small square than a real park. I think a block in the area is just over 2 acres - for comparison, Washington Square Park in NY is almost 10 acres. Even Chicago's Washington Square Park, which is tiny and underutilized as a result, is more than one River North block.

Originally Posted by ardecila

Short blocks make for a great walking experience. Obviously the architecture in this area leaves a lot to be desired, but look at Portland.

Eh, perhaps, but these are too small, and the roads are too wide. Road surface takes up an enormous proportion of the land area - much more than in many places which would be considered to offer excellent walking experiences.

There needs to at least be a long term movement toward reducing the number of lanes and widening sidewalks then. Perhaps a couple of through streets that are wider, but shrink the others down to two lanes.

[the urban politician]

^ Definitely agree that River North needs some serious road dieting. State St north of the river has some of the shittiest sidewalks in the developed world.

I think River North has boomed so rapidly that the infrastructure will take time to catch up. Plus we have the “what about the traffic?” buffoons who will speak out against road narrowing. But sidewalk widening would really go a long way

[10023]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Definitely agree that River North needs some serious road dieting. State St north of the river has some of the shittiest sidewalks in the developed world.

I think River North has boomed so rapidly that the infrastructure will take time to catch up. Plus we have the “what about the traffic?” buffoons who will speak out against road narrowing. But sidewalk widening would really go a long way

I'm sure wider streets made sense when I was growing up, and River North was a place you drove through on the way somewhere. But now it's a real neighborhood and needs wider sidewalks to encourage street life.

Two lanes is actually completely sufficient, if not the optimal road width, to keep traffic moving in a city anyway. There's a spare lane to pass stopped vehicles, but not so many as to encourage superfluous lane changes which actually slow traffic.

Fewer lanes would also control speed, and in a busy neighborhood like that, the speed limit should be lowered to 25mph anyway. That and fewer lanes would make it safer for pedestrians.

[left of center]

^ Speed definitely needs to be slowed and generally more thoroughly regulated on Ohio and Ontario. Anywhere west of Michigan, drivers treat those streets an an extension of the Kennedy. It can be an unnerving experience trying to cross those streets as a pedestrian, especially in the evening.

[TSSTaylor]

Originally Posted by Joe Zekas

The Rock N Roll McDonald's in River North - a site for forumers to eat their hearts out by YoChicago, on Flickr

I'd love to see McDonald's turn the Rock n Roll location into a green flagship park with giant Golden Arches and submerged McDonalds below the park. Keeping a presence on the location and also providing a park for River North.

[10023]

Originally Posted by TSSTaylor

I'd love to see McDonald's turn the Rock n Roll location into a green flagship park with giant Golden Arches and submerged McDonalds below the park. Keeping a presence on the location and also providing a park for River North.

Yeah, pass on the McDonald's park.

I would love for a developer to buy the McDonald's block, the post office block, the western half of the block to the east of McDonald's (the alley in the middle would have to go), the southern half of the block to the north, the northern half of the block to the south, and the western half of the block to the northeast, and then redevelop all of that into a new planned district. Something with coherent design which is all focused toward and built with the park in mind.

The post office block should be the sight of a large anchor tower with public amenities at the base (concert hall? new branch of a top local or international museum?) to anchor an entertainment district.

Or I suppose that block could be park/open space as well, perhaps with a different purpose, and the two diagonally located pieces linked with an architecturally interesting elevated pedestrian crossing. But it's hard to see that happening from an economic standpoint.


Of course, what we'll actually get are condos/apartments, lots of parking and curb cuts for garage entrances...

[coldru]

EarthCam link for 900 W Washington - Taris Real Estate - http://900washington.com/