CHICAGO | General Developments

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

The Rogers Park one in Gateway Center and a few others I'm sure.

there are two in rogers park: the gateway center one and the one at ridge/pratt across the street from the S&C plant.

there's also one down in southshore, and one up in norwood park at milwaukee/devon.

still, other than those 4 out in peripheral areas, 10 of the 11 other dominick's locations in the city have found buyers.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

two in rogers park- the gateway center one and the one at ridge/pratt.

and there are a couple pretty deep on the south side too, i forget the exact locations.

Right, so there are like 5-6 in the city left and like 40+ in the suburbs.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Still, Feldstein said “major concerns” remain about traffic and parking that will likely require making some streets one-way while putting cul-de-sacs on others. ...

I am not familiar with this new definition of the verb "require."

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Here's to hoping that the Division/Clybourn one never gets bought.

I want to see that site redeveloped so badly...

It could use a good structure fire to accelerate the process.

[wierdaaron]

Is anybody familiar with the property that McCormick & Schmick's sits on (1 E Wacker)? Is that land part of one of the neighboring towers' parcels? It just struck me how odd it is to have a 1.5 story building sitting on Wacker, part of the main branch canyon which is on the way towards total buildout.

It does allow a nice bit of breathing room between the towers on either side, but it seems like if that land is self-contained that eventually market forces will require it be used for more than a restaurant.

(I'm staying at the Langham this weekend, so seeing the restaurant from above for the first time made me think of this.)

[Mr Downtown]

I'm pretty sure that was developed in conjunction with the Kemper (United of America) Building, deliberately put there to allow windows on the east side of the building. You have the same thing at a number of buildings: 180 North LaSalle, 200 North LaSalle, 190 South LaSalle, 181 West Madison.

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I'm pretty sure that was developed in conjunction with the Kemper (United of America) Building, deliberately put there to allow windows on the east side of the building. You have the same thing at a number of buildings: 180 North LaSalle, 200 North LaSalle, 190 South LaSalle, 181 West Madison.

That's what I started thinking. It looks like it's attached to Kemper (wasn't that Unitrin or something before?). If they did something like the proposed annex to 360 N Mich, a bunch of people would lose their views.

Unless that restaurant is the Chicago landmark someone's supposed to cantilever over...

[Justin_Chicago]

Is Gems Phase 2 starting this year? I can see Phase 1 from my office and the windows are almost complete. I was under the impression that Magellan was going to develop the lot between Aqua and BCBS next.

[harryc]

Jan 22


Jan 31
The old steel cap and a few extracted piles


The pointy end of the pile




Work on the S bank between Clark and LaSalle


An between Dearborn and Clark

[wierdaaron]

If I remember correctly the Clark-Lasalle section, which seems to be where they're starting, will be the "river theater" section. Mainly a huge amphitheater style stairstep going from the sidewalk level to the riverwalk level. Not the most auspicious of the riverwalk sections, but one of the more important because it's how most of the foot traffic will move between the two levels.

I might have the blocks confused though.

Also, here's hoping they don't spring a leak and flood half the city again.

[marothisu]

Are there plans for the riverwalk to build out more business tenant spaces?

[Pilton]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

If I remember correctly the Clark-Lasalle section, which seems to be where they're starting, will be the "river theater" section. Mainly a huge amphitheater style stairstep going from the sidewalk level to the riverwalk level. Not the most auspicious of the riverwalk sections, but one of the more important because it's how most of the foot traffic will move between the two levels.

I might have the blocks confused though.

Also, here's hoping they don't spring a leak and flood half the city again.

harry has labeled the 2 locations shown correctly. Dearborn-Clark, known as The Cove and Clark-Lasalle, known as The River Theater. Link to River Theater: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...verTheater.pdf

Originally Posted by marothisu

Are there plans for the riverwalk to build out more business tenant spaces?

See link for planned kayak rental at The Cove: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...al/TheCove.pdf

The plan is to have some licensed businesses along the expanded Riverwalk provide revenue to help pay back the federal loan.

[harryc]

Love the way they included the Water Taxi in both renders.

For those who haven't tried it - cheap and easy.

[ardecila]

A few rental businesses will not provide enough revenue to cover $100M of debt (plus interest). The bulk of the repayment will have to come from TIF. Hopefully the project results in much greater assessed values for property in the area.

[wierdaaron]

Are USDOT loans even expected to be paid back? I picture them being more like grants. But between that and the river lighting Rahm just announced/proposed I think it will be a pretty powerful engine to pump humans (and their leaky wallets) from Michigan Avenue into the Loop, which should be good for everyone. Tourist money is probably heavily concentrated around Michigan, with small splashes around Willis. Imagine the street-friendly businesses that will pop up once tourists start wandering around Wacker and the NW Loop (where coincidentally a big crop of national chain hotels are sprouting).

The river improvements excite me to no end (obviously) because I think it could be huge for tourism, the same way Millennium Park was. "Hey, Chicago's got this new river thing. Let's go there this summer."

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Pilton

See link for planned kayak rental at The Cove: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...al/TheCove.pdf

The plan is to have some licensed businesses along the expanded Riverwalk provide revenue to help pay back the federal loan.

Eh, The Cove is not what I had in mind. I think The Marina is more like it.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

The river improvements excite me to no end (obviously) because I think it could be huge for tourism, the same way Millennium Park was. "Hey, Chicago's got this new river thing. Let's go there this summer."

Possibly, but I think this is only more of a reality if they put places to eat/drink down there as well as being able to more easily rent kayaks and such. I think the lighting of it, if done correctly, will add the attractive factor. There's many world cities with eateries and such along their major bodies of water.

[chicagogreg]

The stair amphitheater section excites me most as well—it's surprisingly hard to get down to river level as of now (even access to the architectural boat tours require a few flights of old, unattractive stairs) but access should be greatly improved with the renovation.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Are USDOT loans even expected to be paid back? I picture them being more like grants.

Of course. That's why they're loans. Many TIFIA projects are toll roads, which generate lots of revenue to pay back the loan. The interest rate on the Riverwalk loan is only 3.33% on a 35-year schedule, which is (IIRC) less than what the city could get by selling bonds and less than what a P3 investor would demand, so it's an attractive way to finance any kind of transportation project.

As far as I can tell, the city plans to pay the debt to the Feds using gas tax proceeds. Rent from tenant businesses might reduce that a little bit but they're still just a drop in the bucket.

[Pilton]

^ I said "help" not "cover.". Taxpayers will provide far more revenue to help to repay the loan than licenses like the kayak rental concession or restaurants/bars like the Park Grill. The licenses will provide lucrative business opportunities. But, this is Chicago (lol!) and providing revenue to "help" pay the loan will be mentioned.