CHICAGO | General Developments

[PerryPendleton]

Looking at those pictures above and it is just so clear.

Many of these empty lots in River North do not need enormous towers. Sure, we could use some, but....

This tri hotel development is perfect. MORE OF THIS ASAP!

[denizen467]

River North Art Center (the former North Pier building) seems to be undergoing some big project. Tons of windows have been removed - and in some places, facade has also been removed to make 2 adjacent windows into 1 large opening. Is there landmark protection for this building? I know that condos were planned, I wonder if that's going forward and these are going to be balconies or something.

[XIII]

George Lucas exploring options to build a "Digital and American Arts" museum in Chicago after SFO NIMBY'd it.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ncisco-snubbed

This would do gangbusters foot traffic in the city. (Think MSI +Star Wars). Good to see Lucas taking a bigger role in the city, too. I can see him being welcomed with mostly open arms on something like this.

At the very least, if Lucas wants to put the museum in, Rahm will make sure it gets approvals.

Here's what was planned for SFO, but they've noted that the Chicago version would be redesigned.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by XIII

George Lucas exploring options to build a "Digital and American Arts" museum in Chicago after SFO NIMBY'd it.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ncisco-snubbed

This would do gangbusters foot traffic in the city. (Think MSI +Star Wars). Good to see Lucas taking a bigger role in the city, too. I can see him being welcomed with mostly open arms on something like this.

At the very least, if Lucas wants to put the museum in, Rahm will make sure it gets approvals.

Here's what was planned for SFO, but they've noted that the Chicago version would be redesigned.

Wow, interesting news. Is Lucas intending to pay for the whole museum?

[Skyguy_7]

Originally Posted by PerryPendleton

Looking at those pictures above and it is just so clear.
Many of these empty lots in River North do not need enormous towers. Sure, we could use some, but....
This tri hotel development is perfect. MORE OF THIS ASAP!

Couldn't agree more. 1225 Old Town is another good example of a modest building, in terms of height, making a large impact in the area.

Ps: Unless there's a different PerryPendleton on IG, we have a mutual friend. You corrected her after she appeared to label a photo of Millenium Centre as the Hancock. I was scratching my head too, but she cleared up the confusion. Leave it to an SSP'er though- Always dropping knowledge bombs.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by XIII

...
Here's what was planned for SFO, but they've noted that the Chicago version would be redesigned.
...

Understandable, but I would say that one architectural style not well represented in Chicago is the Mission style and that looks almost like a meld of Mission and Prairie - how appropriate would that be?

As far as location, am I the only one who thinks putting it on Holy Name's parking lot would be awesome? Alternately, that riverside lot next to U of C's Gleacher Center would be cool, too. A little outside the box would be the SW corner of Clark/Roosevelt, or near the new Cermak stop on the Green Line, close to McCormick Place.

[marothisu]

Yes please to George Lucas! Hey, maybe he'll build in Washington Park, haha. I love that he's actually giving something back to the city..

[emathias]

Originally Posted by denizen467

River North Art Center (the former North Pier building) seems to be undergoing some big project. Tons of windows have been removed - and in some places, facade has also been removed to make 2 adjacent windows into 1 large opening. Is there landmark protection for this building? I know that condos were planned, I wonder if that's going forward and these are going to be balconies or something.

Do you mean the River East Art Center?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yes please to George Lucas! Hey, maybe he'll build in Washington Park, haha. I love that he's actually giving something back to the city..

Yeah - come on Chicago women, start marrying more billionaires from other cities and making them relocate!

[killaviews]

The city is not going to be allowed to buy land and give it to a billionaire. The DePaul/Marriott deal is already causing a huge stink.

The City will have to use land it already owns - Michael Reese, a park. What the city and county needs to do is relocate the Water Reclamation Office's. That would be a prime spot for a vertical museum.

[Mr Downtown]

If you read the Tribune story carefully, it seems like Chicago is a long shot for the Lucas museum. Lucas has spent his entire life in San Francisco or environs. The Trib had some laughable tourism figures claiming 46 million for Chicago and only 16 million for San Francisco.

The politics that caused the Presidio site to be held up must seem byzantine to Chicago politicians whose only experience with process is getting served with lawsuit papers. But I think a compromise Presidio site (or building design) will yet be found.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

If you read the Tribune story carefully, it seems like Chicago is a long shot for the Lucas museum. Lucas has spent his entire life in San Francisco or environs. The Trib had some laughable tourism figures claiming 46 million for Chicago and only 16 million for San Francisco.

The politics that caused the Presidio site to be held up must seem byzantine to Chicago politicians whose only experience with process is getting served with lawsuit papers. But I think a compromise Presidio site (or building design) will yet be found.

This says SF had 17 million tourist visitors in 2013.

http://www.sanfrancisco.travel/research/

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Yeah I don't doubt that SF sees significantly fewer visitors than Chicago. It is a much smaller city and doesn't even come close to dominating the region it lies in. Chicago is the only Global City for 1,000 miles or more in each direction. If you want to visit a metropolis and live in that Midwestern radius, then you are going to Chicago.


I think they should shoot for the Reese site since Mr. Lucas seems fixated on waterfront property. They should build the track decking the proposed for the Olympic Village and instead expand the lakefront park onto it by extending a few sections of the deck over the drive. Then they can plop the museum on top of the raised section that will be created by the deck.

OR

They can just use McCormick Place East. They have been trying to re purpose Lakeside Center for a while now. It's probably more space than he needs, but perhaps they could entice other collections to join Lucas's museum there. If Rahm says "here, you can have this kickass building with sweeping skyline vistas which stands maybe 50' from the water" we would get the museum for sure. It would also probably become one of the most visited museums in the country, if not the world, because it would be directly linked into one of the largest convention centers on earth as well as the Museum Campus.

Now I am all worked up. I hope they propose it in Lakeshore Center. That would be the perfect architectural style to house the special effects models that were used for Star Wars. It looks like it is out of Star Wars. It's a shame that we let the FLW collection go to NYC. We could have combined FLW into this museum under the "American Art" half of the concept.

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

...The politics that caused the Presidio site to be held up must seem byzantine to Chicago politicians whose only experience with process is getting served with lawsuit papers. But I think a compromise Presidio site (or building design) will yet be found.

This^^

I've been following the whole Presidio / Crissy Field development. Lucas' museum was one of three finalists for a complex there and really tried to bulldoze the process. LOTS of heavy hitters were lining up behind his museum...but lots of old line SF types were equally against it. In the end, after a long review process, the Conservancy in charge said nyet to all.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Wow, we need to give him Lakeside Center. I just read the Tribune Article now:

Lucas previously committed $300 million to build the museum in San Francisco, with renderings depicting a 95,000-square-foot facility. Lucas has said the museum would receive a $400 million endowment over time. In comparison, Chicago's Adler Planetarium is more than 145,500 square feet, according to its website.

Should Chicago win the museum, Perry said the institution would need to grow in size to make up for the loss of current, off-site storage in San Francisco. He also said previous architectural renderings would be tossed and the design process would start anew.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...889D5251467D4Z


Maybe they wouldn't be so massively undersized for Lakeside after all. The problem is eating up main floors that exceed several hundred thousand square feet. The lower levels without windows could all be used to replace the "offsite storage" in SF. The extreme ceiling heights of the main floor could be used to build a lifesize example of an ATAT

[XIII]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

If you read the Tribune story carefully, it seems like Chicago is a long shot for the Lucas museum. Lucas has spent his entire life in San Francisco or environs. The Trib had some laughable tourism figures claiming 46 million for Chicago and only 16 million for San Francisco.

The politics that caused the Presidio site to be held up must seem byzantine to Chicago politicians whose only experience with process is getting served with lawsuit papers. But I think a compromise Presidio site (or building design) will yet be found.

You can't discount the fact that the the original desire was to have it in the Presidio, but they've been trying to get this through the committees there for 4 years and the reception has been more than icy.

They've offered him space next to the Lucasfilm offices instead of the golden gate view that was up for bid. To me, it seems to go against the message of the museum (bigger than just a Star Wars museum).

McCormick was one of the first things to come to mind. Close to downtown, lots of people passing through. Great showroom for big works. Even if he just want to use the space for a large installation, display and event space, it may be worthwhile to give it to him.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by killaviews

The city is not going to be allowed to buy land and give it to a billionaire. The DePaul/Marriott deal is already causing a huge stink.

The City will have to use land it already owns - Michael Reese, a park. What the city and county needs to do is relocate the Water Reclamation Office's. That would be a prime spot for a vertical museum.

What makes you think the city is going to buy land for him? Was that a stipulation in SF that he wanted them to just give him land? I somehow doubt that's going to be his main requirement for where he builds. It sounds like he wants to build this thing and will pay for land himself if he needs.

[ardecila]

I'm with LVDW on Lakeside Center... The damn thing is like an architectural Star Destroyer.

Some of the exhibition space could undoubtedly be converted to parking for the museum. They'd have to work around the Ari Crown Theatre too. Chicago would instantly become a top spot for Comic-Cons and such too...

[killaviews]

Originally Posted by marothisu

What makes you think the city is going to buy land for him? Was that a stipulation in SF that he wanted them to just give him land? I somehow doubt that's going to be his main requirement for where he builds. It sounds like he wants to build this thing and will pay for land himself if he needs.

My comment was in response to other above comments about building on privately own parking lots.

And according to the Tribune, it seems like they are looking for a city to give them land, and they will build a $300 million museum on it. The Tribune notes that no taxpaper money will be used, except for the gift of land.

If George Lucas wanted to buy the land the city wouldn't be "submitting proposals".

[Link N. Parker]

Originally Posted by emathias

Understandable, but I would say that one architectural style not well represented in Chicago is the Mission style and that looks almost like a meld of Mission and Prairie - how appropriate would that be?

As far as location, am I the only one who thinks putting it on Holy Name's parking lot would be awesome? Alternately, that riverside lot next to U of C's Gleacher Center would be cool, too. A little outside the box would be the SW corner of Clark/Roosevelt, or near the new Cermak stop on the Green Line, close to McCormick Place.

Although I would love to have the Lucas museum here, I am not sure about having Mission style here...Mission style doesnt really seem to fit in well in Chicago. Mission style was developed by spanish missionairies because it fits in with the climate in the Southwestern areas of this continent; if the spaniards had come to Chicago, they probably would not have used Stucco to build here. Terra Cotta? yes. Mission style/stucco? Im not sure it fits here with the climate.