CHICAGO | General Developments

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by marothisu

There is a Green Line stop planned for Damen and Lake. Construction is supposed to start later this year and finish sometime in 2020. Personally I think there should be a Pink Line stop at Madison and Paulina though.

True but I still think it's a miss to not have a station between Morgan and Lake. Especially of this turns to an office and residential mid/high rise district. I don't think there is enough density in the broader area to spread the stations this far apart. My opinion only.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

True but I still think it's a miss to not have a station between Morgan and Lake. Especially of this turns to an office and residential mid/high rise district. I don't think there is enough density in the broader area to spread the stations this far apart. My opinion only.

Your statement is confusing - if you're talking about Morgan and Lake Streets - they're perpendicular streets. If you are talking about the Morgan station and Lake station in the Loop then perhaps you should check out the Clinton station (Green and Pink line one, not the Blue Line one) between the two that's existed since 1909.

[KWillChicago]

I would love for a supertall on the northwestern site sitting as a gated off grass lot but if its going to sit as nothing for the next 20 years cant they just build some form of public park for the community instead of just chillin on it? Driving past it was just irritating not having that open space for the public but of course would much rather have a tower.

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Your statement is confusing - if you're talking about Morgan and Lake Streets - they're perpendicular streets. If you are talking about the Morgan station and Lake station in the Loop then perhaps you should check out the Clinton station (Green and Pink line one, not the Blue Line one) between the two that's existed since 1909.

I meant Morgan and Ashland.

[KWillChicago]

Some new photos from curbed of that st. Boniface conversion. My bad if this is a repeat.

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/3/30/16842060/st-boniface-church-condo-development

[harryc]

March 13



March 19

New limestone


March 28

And some old (far left)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

I meant Morgan and Ashland.

Yeah that might be cool, though I don't think that would come until that area has the density of downtown. Most parts of town don't have stops that close together outside of the Loop, South Loop, and Near North Side. Now, if someone like Amazon were to come to Chicago with HQ2 and pick that area then there might be some weight to it within 5 years possibly but I think it would be a long time before we see something between there.

[harryc]

March 28

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

I really hate that. It's like they are making a facade graveyard, and saying look we have no idea how to make buildings like this so will just leave up these tombstones up as a reminder, when better developers used to build high quality good looking buildings. Since, we can't and wont.
It's not that hard to make buildings with classical proportions today, its just basic design sense using bricks and concrete. It's not even expensive materials. You can get super cheap resin ornament to even make it look very ornate.

I have literally no qualms about this kind of move. For the community, it preserves the value in the historic streetscape while the interior can be reconfigured for modern needs.

For the developer, it’s a no-brainer to use the free facades that came with the land, rather than throwing them in a dump truck never to be seen again. Of course, if keeping the facades adds a ton of logistical cost to construction, it might be a wash or a net loss, but there are certainly times when it makes sense to preserve-in-place or remove/reconstruct. I love how the Viceroy Hotel on Rush turned out.

The Clark St project was originally intended to be an adaptive reuse project with some additional floors added, but the low ceilings in the old garage (under 8 feet) and the 1920s concrete frame were not conducive to a residential conversion so they had to go this route.

[Baronvonellis]

That's ugly with the non- symmetrical facade. I'd prefer it with all windows in the center mass, and a cornice at the top to resolve the roofline. It would look alot better then. The glazing bars are nice touch though. I'd like to see more buildings with glazing bars.

[JK47]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yeah that might be cool, though I don't think that would come until that area has the density of downtown. Most parts of town don't have stops that close together outside of the Loop, South Loop, and Near North Side. Now, if someone like Amazon were to come to Chicago with HQ2 and pick that area then there might be some weight to it within 5 years possibly but I think it would be a long time before we see something between there.

Stops at Halsted and Racine would, with Morgan & Ashland, sort of resemble the kind of spacing you see in the Fullerton to Belmont stretch of the northside main. With the recent pickup in the office market in the West Loop plus the increasing density of housing it might make sense.

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by marothisu

In other news, zoning applications have been made public for the last few days. Nothing really major yet, but a few notable projects for various reasons. Hopefully some more come in still..

* 4757 N Ashland Ave (Ashland and Lawrence). 99.9% sure this has been mentioned on here, but anyway..currently a 1 story building that has a lot of parking and probably used to be a gas station (https://www.google.com/maps/place/4757+N...507befb7e!8m2!3d41.9684793!4d-87.6689974). Seeking to rezone to 4 stories (55 ft in height) with 39 units and ground floor commercial/retail with will have 35 indoor parking spaces on the 1st floor

* 1900 W Pershing Pl (btwn Winchester and Wolcott - near Damen. Close to McKinley Park): Currently vacant lot (https://www.google.com/maps/place/1900+W...556e65137!8m2!3d41.8234649!4d-87.6733999) seeking to become 4 different 3-story townhome buildings with 4 townhomes each - 16 total townhomes. 2 garage spaces each. Developers have Chinese names so I guess possibly the narrative of this which has been talked about many times in areas along I-55 like McKinley Park is possibly relevant here.

* 4227 W 35th St. New field service center for Peoples Gas - 71,179 sq ft over 2 floors. Parking for 417 cars so probably a good number of jobs which is great to see around here. I think there's a good amount going on in this general area. This is across the street from a 100K sq ft training center that Peoples Gas built or is building.

* 4801-59 S Cicero. Currently a vacant lot (https://www.google.com/maps/place/4801+S...8bdd187847!8m2!3d41.8056569!4d-87.742711). Proposed to become a 4 story (45 ft), 62 unit senior housing building with 40 parking spaces. Somehow they want the billboard there to remain. Developer/operator is the Miller-Valentine Group from Cincinnati and it's to be called the Cicero Senior Lofts.

* 1812-14 W Division St (around Honore St). Currently a 2 story building that used to have Czar Bar (https://www.google.com/maps/place/1812+W...0db182130!8m2!3d41.9035337!4d-87.6730231). Proposed to raze that building and construct a new 4 story building with ground floor commercial space and 12 units. 0 parking spaces and 12 bicycle spaces - TOD qualifying.

* 1114 W Fulton Market (near May St). Currently a vacant 4 story industrial building (https://www.google.com/maps/place/1114+W...fd81cde3b!8m2!3d41.8869127!4d-87.6551459). Seeking to rehab the entire building and put ground floor commercial and turn floors 2-4 into office space. Also construct a 5th floor penthouse for the office tenants to use. 61 total feet in height. Developer is Domus Group .

* La Palapa at 2000 W 34th St (34th and Damen - one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Chicago. Go there if you've never been) looks like they want to expand, add a rooftop deck and even an apartment unit in the new expansion.

* 1537-41 W Pearson (near Ashland Ave). Proposed to be two buildings of 6 total units, 6 total parking spaces and each at 43 feet in height. I only mention it because it appears to be a vacant lot for over a decade (https://www.google.com/maps/place/1537+W...2f017c2601d!8m2!3d41.897322!4d-87.666317). Good to see things like this fill in even if it's pretty small and not totally visible.

* 314-18 S Halsted. Establishment of 4 new units in the existing building about The Parthenon restaurant in Greektown.

* 2469-71 N Clybourn. Currently vacant lot (https://www.google.com/maps/place/2469+N...6f67efb62!8m2!3d41.9267439!4d-87.6711932). New 5 story building with 8 units, 8 parking spaces, and 2 ground floor commercial spaces. Clybourn is personally one of my least favorite streets in all of the north side of Chicago, but at least there's still some smaller mixed use things being built instead of totally residential.

La Palapa expansion is well underway, I was wondering what exactly they were doing over there because way more steel and concrete block wall was already erected for what would be needed in a typical restaurant expansion. Cool to hear it will include a roof deck and a residence. The original stand-alone building is in the middle of the new structure.

[wchicity]

Any updates on Nobu starting up again?

[headcase]

Originally Posted by left of center

That's one thing I love about Chicagoans; the intense pride we feel for the city. We used to have more of it though, before the national media (and the president) started sh*tting on us. I'm hoping this is just a trough, and our bravado starts picking up agai.

Funny the media didn't mention at all that Chicago's homicides dropped by 127 last year from the year prior, a 16% decrease. I guess good news doesn't sell ads, huh?

Its because the 625 murders in '17 is still a huge number ... between '12-'15 the number averaged around 416 then in '16 the total jumped to 722. The city would have to see similar decreases over the next two years just to get back to the '15 level.

But this is off topic...

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by harryc

March 30The steel on the horizon on the left - 8 stories is going to have an impact

source

The pastiche of neo-Industrial buildings seems much better suited to contemporary building design than something Classical referencing. If the elements of buildings are having to balloon in size, for whatever reasons (regulatory, efficiency of materials, infrastructure requirements, whatever), at least the faux factory look accommodates this without the severe cognitive dissonance of a Classically styled building with blown-up proportions and coarsely rendered ornament. I still feel like I'm being lied to, but at least my intelligence isn't being insulted (as much). I do wish, though, that the cut lines between panels of brick weren't so obvious; it really pulls the curtain on the whole thing.

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

I recall someone asking how the new Mart Projector project was going to be configured. Looks like the new projection enclosure will be at the Jetty, essentially under the Wacker sidewalk. Engineering is by IMEG.

will be a nice heater for the underground homeless village there

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by marothisu

There is a Green Line stop planned for Damen and Lake. Construction is supposed to start later this year and finish sometime in 2020. Personally I think there should be a Pink Line stop at Madison and Paulina though.

Sorry I’m continuing OT discussion.

For the longest time I’ve wanted a Madison pink line station out of convenience but I’ve come to realize why this is no way going to happen in the near future

1. It may benefit arrivals, but not departures from UC. The pink line would be bridging travel for red line riders, the people that live in the loop and neighborhoods along the pink. Sounds like a lot, but I can’t say the ridership would be substantial enough to build another station
2. Buses are doing all the work. The Ashland and Damen buses have got all north and south travel handled. Plus after hawks and bulls games, fans are filling mostly empty buses.
3. Green and Blue lines have the East-West travel mostly down. If you’re gonna head to oak park for example, You’ll just walk to the future green line station. Why bother with the pink to green transfer.
4. Hawks and bulls need a development plan for those lots and deck or reduce parking. If they get some people living over there, a Madison station can be used all the time.

I’d like to see United Center transition into something like LCA in Detroit. You can build parking decks lined with residential, hotels and limited retail.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Jibba

source

The pastiche of neo-Industrial buildings seems much better suited to contemporary building design than something Classical referencing. If the elements of buildings are having to balloon in size, for whatever reasons (regulatory, efficiency of materials, infrastructure requirements, whatever), at least the faux factory look accommodates this without the severe cognitive dissonance of a Classically styled building with blown-up proportions and coarsely rendered ornament. I still feel like I'm being lied to, but at least my intelligence isn't being insulted (as much). I do wish, though, that the cut lines between panels of brick weren't so obvious; it really pulls the curtain on the whole thing.

The cut lines are pretty obvious on the real thing and it appears it will have a painted brick look on the precast. They didn’t even do a brick veneer on precast which there’s plenty of examples from the late 90’s to the early 2000’s which look incredibly convincing. One would think the craft would improve or become cheaper since then. So to that, totally agree with your post.

[Busy Bee]

Re: Brick expansion joints... I loath the look of these things. Is there any reason why it wouldn't be possible to completely hide these joints? It seems like with more effort they could match the mortar lines perfectly and fill them with flex sealant virtually indistinguishable from mortar, especially when viewed from a distance.

[marothisu]

Here's some preliminary sales data I took from realtor.com for the month of March (2018) for Chicago by area. This counts a lot of things from multi unit buildings (usually 2 or 3 units... not the larger ones. A 10 or 40 story building wouldn't show up here), land (barely shows up though), condo, etc.


1. Near North Side: 271 sales
2. Lakeview: 205
3. West Town: 198
4. Lincoln Park: 132
5. The Loop: 129
6. Near West Side: 110
7. Logan Square: 95
8. Uptown: 91
9. Near South Side: 74
10T. Edgewater: 72
10T. North Center: 72
12. Austin: 71
13. Lincoln Square: 66
14. Portage Park: 62
15T. Auburn Gresham: 52
15T. West Ridge: 52
17. Irving Park: 48
18T. Avondale: 46
18T. Dunning: 46
20. Ashburn: 42
21T. Humboldt Park: 41
21T. Rogers Park: 41
23T. Belmont Cragin: 38
23T. Roseland: 38
25T. Albany Park: 36
25T. South Shore: 36
27.. Washington Heights: 35
28T. Greater Grand Crossing: 34
28T. South Chicago: 34
30. Grand Boulevard: 33
31. Jefferson Park: 32
32. West Pullman: 31
33. Norwood Park: 30
34T. Garfield Ridge: 27
34T. North Lawndale: 27
36T. Bridgeport: 24
36T. West Lawn: 24
38T. Brighton Park: 23
38T. Morgan Park: 23
40T. Forest Glen: 22
40T. Woodlawn: 22
42T. Clearing: 21
42T. New City: 21
44T. Chicago Lawn: 20
44T. Mount Greenwood: 20
46. West Englewood: 19
47T. Englewood: 18
47T. Hyde Park: 18
47T. North Park: 18
50T. Chatham: 17
50T. Lower West Side: 17
52. Kenwood: 16
53T. Beverly: 15
53T. Douglas: 15
53T. East Side: 15
53T. West Garfield Park: 15
57T. Avalon Park: 14
57T. Calumet Heights: 14
57T. East Garfield Park: 14
57T. Hermosa: 14
57T. South Deering: 14
62. Gage Park: 13
63T. Edison Park: 11
63T. Little Village: 11
63T. O'Hare: 11
66. Hegewisch: 9
67T. Montclare: 8
67T. Oakland: 8
69T. Archer Heights: 7
69T. McKinley Park: 7
69T. West Elsdon: 7
72. Armour Square: 6
73T. Burnside: 5
73T. Pullman: 5
73T. Washington Park: 5
76. Fuller Park: 1
77. Riverdale: 0