CHICAGO | General Developments

[LouisVanDerWright]

49 Single Family Homes Planned for the Former Riddell Site on Milwaukee:

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140...elmets-housing

Between this and the 6 six flats under construction just to the south, the entire character of that stretch of Milwaukee is going to change overnight. The two biggest eyesore lots will have bit the dust almost at the exact same time.

[ChiHi]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

1345 has some kinda weird floorplans, too. Corner units (the only ones that would have long term views) have ridiculous serpentine hallways between the front doors and the actual living areas, and the rest of the units are weirdly narrow. It all really feels like an afterthought to the apartment tower, which if memory serves it basically is. I'm happy for south loop to get some more condos, but if it fails to fill up it could be because of the quality of the product rather than the strength of the market.

It seems that CMK is becoming synonymous for awkward and small floor plans. They did it with 235 Van Buren, 630 Franklin, 1620 &1720 S Michigan and VUE20. Hard to believe these guys built the Contemporaine. Their building look decent but function pretty horribly.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

49 Single Family Homes Planned for the Former Riddell Site on Milwaukee:

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140...elmets-housing

Between this and the 6 six flats under construction just to the south, the entire character of that stretch of Milwaukee is going to change overnight. The two biggest eyesore lots will have bit the dust almost at the exact same time.

It's good, but that stretch of Milwaukee really kills the energy, with the high school to one side and SFH on the other and to the north. Where else on Milwaukee are there SFH? I think that these are detrimental to Six Corners. Avondale is going to be the next Logan Square (which was the next Wicker Park), but it's going to hit a wall once it gets to Addison. The whole of Milwaukee between Addison and Irving is really terribly planned.

[ardecila]

I guess, but there's no transit there to fuel a bustling commercial district along Milwaukee. The Blue Line is a good 3/4 mile away. The Grayland Metra station doesn't count.

[Chi-Sky21]

Anyone know the story of the building on the northeast corner of Ashland and 21st? It looked like it was being rehabbed for a long time, then i drove by today and it is almost completely demolished. Is something new going up there?

[streetline]

Originally Posted by BWChicago

It's good, but that stretch of Milwaukee really kills the energy, with the high school to one side and SFH on the other and to the north. Where else on Milwaukee are there SFH? I think that these are detrimental to Six Corners. Avondale is going to be the next Logan Square (which was the next Wicker Park), but it's going to hit a wall once it gets to Addison. The whole of Milwaukee between Addison and Irving is really terribly planned.

The sad part is that a "proposal for 250 apartments was rejected as too dense for the neighborhood", despite the fact that this site is right up against a metra station.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by Link N. Parker

LOL, kinda funny. I was wondering if when that was going to happen, have a high school named after him or even an entire street, or park

It used to be thought unseemly to name things for living persons.

[Chi-Sky21]

Former chief of staff making a play for the more valuable Obama library. If it's going to be built anyways...what's in a name?

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by sloop.chi

Appears they might be doing soil testing at State/Harrison large parking lot? Anyone know of anything?

Believe me, I'm all in favor of killing the parking lots.. but it occurs to me that if every block is filled in, the only way to see a skyline will be from the lake.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by Buckman821

I believe it is next door to that McDonalds. So we're now going to have not one but two drive thrus within spitting distance of the upcoming $200+ Million new Wilson station.

You were right, the Sonic is not replacing the McDonalds, it is next door to it so there will be 2 drive-thrus right freaking next to each other. Sonics don't have interior space, so you have to eat on a bench or in your car. What should be only a delight of hungry truckers crossing the Nebraska plains - an asphalt oasis with endless lanes of running engines dribbling exhaust and ground beef grease - is now taking shape right in a densifying urban neighborhood. And it all gets celebrated in about a week.

http://voices.suntimes.com/business-...-ready-to-roll
Chicago’s first Sonic drive-in ready to roll
April 24, 2014

The first Sonic drive-in restaurant in Chicago will open May 6 in Uptown. The drive-in at 1022 W. Wilson Ave. announced the opening date on its Facebook page.

“It can be a matter of pride in a lot of small towns when you get your first Sonic, so we still have a lot of towns around the state to grow,” Sonic’s chief development and strategy officer John Budd said recently. ...

[Busy Bee]

Some of the worst food I've ever had was from Sonic. So, yippee.

[untitledreality]

I'm not sure if this has been posted, but aside from the gross scale, and inept architecture of the new 3030 N Broadway proposal, the site plan is what really makes this proposal a potential neighborhood killer.

source: DNAinfo

Thats right, not only an interior "retail alley", but a 30 space surface lot fronting a residential street, sitting above the main parking garage ramp.

Instead of Valerio Dewalt Train, we get Antunovich. Instead of 2 floors of retail and 4 floors of apartments along a sleek, glass filled Broadway elevation, we get 6 floors of retail behind an atrocious, mostly precast elevation. Instead of 5 floors of residential fronting Waterloo Court, we get a 30 space surface lot. Instead of 53 condos/apartments, we get Zero.

What an absolute disaster, this is Halsted/Clark all over again... only 20+ years later. I really hope that the local interest groups look around at Halsted/Clark, the Broadway at Surf, and the dying Century Shopping Centre, and say enough is enough to these abominations.

[Rizzo]

I don't mind a sonic opening in Chicago, but it certainly shows a lack of focus and planning in the city. I could understand if this was miles west, but near the CTA? Sheesh. It's such a low intensity use of the site.

The irony of this is the foolishness of NIMBYS that complain about automobile traffic from a quiet residential building.....yet somehow a business like this pulls it off with grace and the wind at their back.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

Thats right, not only an interior "retail alley", but a 30 space surface lot fronting a residential street, sitting above the main parking garage ramp.

It's not a "surface lot", it's parking tucked under a ramp. The Waterloo side of the development is the least of the problems with this development... it's actually kinda nice.

[Buckman821]

Originally Posted by Hayward

The irony of this is the foolishness of NIMBYS that complain about automobile traffic from a quiet residential building.....yet somehow a business like this pulls it off with grace and the wind at their back.

So incredibly true. It really boggles the mind. I remember making a somewhat negative comment about the Sonic on Uptown Update and it was not so warmly received.

The only good thing I can say about a Sonic is that it hardly seems like they sunk much money into the building. If development pressures increase, maybe we can hope for better things sooner rather than later?

[Kenmore]

buried in a recent article on the CTA redline north work

The CTA also plans to acquire the block-long strip mall south of Ainslie Street, at 4837-87 N. Broadway, just north of the Uptown Theatre, for an additional staging area.

this strip mall is a major blight and anything that facilities its demise is great

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140...public-storage

[tjp]

^that would be incredible. Replacing that strip mall with anything else would do wonders for the area around the Lawrence stop.

[ardecila]

I'm glad to see that the CTA is now being strategic about encouraging TOD in conjunction with its capital investments.

Ultimately those investments need to translate to higher ridership, which means more intense development, but the lack of support from aldermen on this issue has forced CTA to get proactive. Osterman pays lip service to urban density and TOD but doesn't back it up and continues to approve strip malls right by L stations.

At the same time, something makes me uncomfortable about the CTA becoming a redevelopment authority. It's not their mission and that power has been abused so many times in the past to eviscerate dense neighborhoods and replace them with sterile towers in a park. If the CTA needs room for staging, that's fine, and to the extent they can choose staging sites to encourage positive redevelopment, that's fine... But the laundry list of properties for seizure around the Clark flyover seems super excessive.

[marothisu]

A few decisions from the Zoning Commission meeting on Friday:

* 46 room hotel at 312 W Chestnut. Approved
* 914 W Monroe (6 stories, 8 units), 924 W Monroe (7 stories, 10 units), and 23 S Sangamon (7 stories, 10 units) == 28 units. Approved.
* 11 parking spaces approved for future renovation of vacant storage building at 3141 N Sheffield into 80 loft apartments + retail (just south of Vic and near Belmont red/brown/purple line stop).

[emathias]

Originally Posted by marothisu

A few decisions from the Zoning Commission meeting on Friday:

* 46 room hotel at 312 W Chestnut. Approved
...

Kind of an unusual place for a hotel ... on the other hand, that area is exploding and changing really fast these days.

Originally Posted by ardecila

...
At the same time, something makes me uncomfortable about the CTA becoming a redevelopment authority. It's not their mission and that power has been abused so many times in the past to eviscerate dense neighborhoods and replace them with sterile towers in a park.
...
But the laundry list of properties for seizure around the Clark flyover seems super excessive.

With the Brown Line they showed restraint and didn't always knock down buildings, but just carved out what they needed. Hopefully they continue with that.