CHICAGO | General Developments

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by BWChicago

As posted in November, these properties encompass Pizza-ria!, Red Ivy, Mullen's, Goose Island, Salt & Pepper Diner, Improv Olympic, Bar Louie, a smallish souvenir shop, Starbucks, and 7-11.

LAME!!!!!

what a great way to destroy wriglyville! the rent on the new spaces will probably be so high that half those shops will have to relocate! not only that, the IO building is nostalgic!!! ugh! i hate this city sometimes.

i REALLY don't get this 'new and shiny' mentality here!





i don't care about the starbucks and 711 and all of that or the empty lot. i just wish we could hang on to the texture of wriglyville that is ALREADY there:

it'd be a shame to lose this:


*from google

[schwerve]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

LAME!!!!!
it'd be a shame to lose this:

*from google

you gotta be kidding me....

it'd be such a shame to lose such a great group of horrible yuppie bars... I mean, bar louie is such a mom & pop place, won't somebody think of the children!

[Taft]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

LAME!!!!!

what a great way to destroy wriglyville! the rent on the new spaces will probably be so high that half those shops will have to relocate! not only that, the IO building is nostalgic!!! ugh! i hate this city sometimes.

i REALLY don't get this 'new and shiny' mentality here!

i don't care about the starbucks and 711 and all of that or the empty lot. i just wish we could hang on to the texture of wriglyville that is ALREADY there:

I'm all for working with the flow and texture of existing buildings when there is a stylish or aesthetic texture to start with. I just don't see it here. The majority of those buildings are pretty bland, though consistent with a lot of the commercial stock in Chicago. Those google streetview pics are a pretty common view in Chicago right now.

I, for one, don't want to turn our city into a living museum for the sake of preserving the feel of a neighborhood. The exceptions are when there is truly something special about the neighborhood, feel and building. Again, I don't see it here. Not that the replacing structure is very special, either, but it does have qualities that make it a pretty good upgrade, IMO.

Taft

[honte]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

I couldn't help myself:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...back-nata.html
Burt's back: Natarus now lobbying City Hall

Former 42nd Ward Ald. Burton Natarus is officially back at Chicago City Hall –-- this time as a lobbyist for a real estate developer.

God, is that funny.

[honte]

Originally Posted by BWChicago

Looks like I was right about this; there is scaffolding up and the terra cotta has been removed, revealing what appears to be an old clock face flanked by a pair of pilasters on either side. This could look great restored - It gives it a more Arts and Crafts kinda feel- I hope they can alter their signage proposal to fit the clock face. The parapet looks a bit different, too. Below is a shot I took from my windshield (I was a passenger)

Great catch. The building is going to be landmarked, so there is a chance they will restore it. Generally, this does not happen because owners are not required to make improvements, only maintain. It might be possible that people were not aware of these changes - I haven't read the designation for this one - probably were aware of it though.

It is very possible that in the negotiations the restoration of this element came up. I am excited to see what happens, hopefully something great.

It's always amazing to me to find these incredible gems / historic tidbits hidden beneath something in architecture. Unfortunately, usually people don't take a step back to look at what they've got. Recently, Loyola uncovered a really wonderful Art Nouveau facade on Devon that had been covered for 1/2 century, but unfortunately they went ahead and screwed up the building even worse by ripping it off. Another example that comes to mind was a jaw-dropping cast-iron facade that was on Belmont just west of Ashland. It had been covered by a 1970s fake Mansard roof, and the condo developer (Matanky) built one of their piles behind it. I thought they were actually going to preserve it as some kind of artifact, but then, down it came.

_______

Adrian, I went past those buildings in Wrigleyville when this proposal first came up, and I didn't honestly see much that I would miss except the Starbucks building. Nevertheless, I really applaud you for taking this to task: A city is more than the great buildings, and many people forget this. I will miss the urban fabric there too, but hopefully that fabric will be resilient. Wrigleyville of all places seems to manage to retain its character in the face of rampant yuppification.

[Tom Servo]

Adrian, I went past those buildings in Wrigleyville when this proposal first came up, and I didn't honestly see much that I would miss except the Starbucks building. Nevertheless, I really applaud you for taking this to task: A city is more than the great buildings, and many people forget this. I will miss the urban fabric there too, but hopefully that fabric will be resilient. Wrigleyville of all places seems to manage to retain its character in the face of rampant yuppification.

i'm most upset about the IO. hopefully they relocate somewhere close.

[Tom Servo]

so i walked over there, checked out the development's website, and decided, meh, the development is not that bad.

Proposed features
Use of environmentally-conscious building materials and practices to seek eligibility for LEED certification.
The Hyatt Place Hotel with approximately 135 rooms
Residential apartments with 150 rental units
500 parking spaces for residents, retail shoppers and visitors
Improved structures for existing businesses, as well as new retail options such as a health club, pharmacy, or grocery store
From the beginning, the development team has been working with the Lakeview community to adapt the project based on neighborhood feedback. The evolution of the development reflects the changes made to address points raised by local officials, community groups and residents. The development team will continue to address practical and viable suggestions offered throughout the process.

The building height has been significantly decreased since the original concept in order to better integrate the development into the existing community. The current proposed height is 57% smaller than originally proposed – from a proposed 245 feet to the building’s current height of 105 feet. The proposed top of the building is only slightly taller than the existing AT&T building at 3532-36 N. Sheffield and is shorter than Wrigley Field’s lights and is significantly shorter than the Chicago Housing Authority buildings at 3920-40 N. Clark Street.

In addition to reducing the height of the buildings, the number of residential units was dramatically reduced from 220 originally to 150 currently. The reduction addresses concerns about density raised in the community.

so my complaint will switch to the awful architecture:

SURPRISE SURPRISE, SCB is the architect (the crappy chicago special continues), and just look at these elevations :





though i will admit, it could be WAY worse! this was the original proposal, an out of place, dated skyscraper that would have marred the face of clark street, wrigleyville, and the city:

[spyguy]

http://www.insideonline.com/site/epage/62491_162.htm

Fall groundbreaking slated for Clybourn condos
Eighty-unit mixed-income residence to be built on Near North Side

By Amy Williams Bernstein

An 80-unit mixed-income residential building is planned for vacant land near the corner of N. Clybourn Avenue and N. Larrabee Street on the Near North Side. The Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation owns the 0.81-acre site at 1413-1427 N. Clybourn Avenue and 1414-1426 N. Larrabee Street. CMHDC and the for-profit company Related Midwest partnered to develop the property through Clybourn Larrabee LLC.

Chicago-based architectural firm Brininstool & Lynch has designed a nine story rectangular glass building that will be positioned along Clybourn Avenue.


---------
New assisted living building coming to Lake View

April 15 was a beautiful day when officials broke ground for the new Saint Luke Renaissance Greenview Place on the corner of Greenview Avenue and Melrose Street in Lake View.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

Time was, these high-profile corner buildings would put exclamation points at the intersections; I'm still waiting for a modern take on the old turret buildings.

The property owner-cum-developer couldn't get his hands on the corner parcel, the current owner refuses to sell.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by spyguy

http://www.insideonline.com/site/epage/62491_162.htm

Fall groundbreaking slated for Clybourn condos
Eighty-unit mixed-income residence to be built on Near North Side

By Amy Williams Bernstein

An 80-unit mixed-income residential building is planned for vacant land near the corner of N. Clybourn Avenue and N. Larrabee Street on the Near North Side. The Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation owns the 0.81-acre site at 1413-1427 N. Clybourn Avenue and 1414-1426 N. Larrabee Street. CMHDC and the for-profit company Related Midwest partnered to develop the property through Clybourn Larrabee LLC.

Chicago-based architectural firm Brininstool & Lynch has designed a nine story rectangular glass building that will be positioned along Clybourn Avenue.

Awesome, this sets a great precedent for density on a "clean-slate" stretch of Clybourn. Looks decent, too.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by spyguy

New assisted living building coming to Lake View

April 15 was a beautiful day when officials broke ground for the new Saint Luke Renaissance Greenview Place on the corner of Greenview Avenue and Melrose Street in Lake View.

^ I hope this isn't replacing something nice & historic

[EarlyBuyer]

Photo's taken by EarlyBuyer 5/4/08

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ I hope this isn't replacing something nice & historic

According to Google Maps there's a lone house on the lot; otherwise, it's all surface parking.

[spyguy]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,7042335.story

Berwyn's 'Spindle' dismantled late Friday

Tribune staff report
12:28 AM CDT, May 3, 2008

Under the cloak of darkness, Berwyn's most famous pop icon was dismantled late Friday, skewering any hopes of saving the "Spindle."

[aaron38]

Did the spindle get sold? I heard on the radio a couple weeks ago that it was on eBay. The requested price was pretty low I think, but there was a $50,000 shipping and handling charge, and no refunds.

[i_am_hydrogen]

^Nope. The attempt to sell it on ebay failed.

From Inside Lincoln Park:

Judge partially halts soccer field construction

[VivaLFuego]

What is the latest word on the Museum of Broadcast Communications?

EDIT: guess my thought was prescient, lo and behold Crain's has a story up about a foreclosure suit on the incomplete building...

[sentinel]

New Art Institute Modern Wing (can anyone spot the Legacy in the background?? Rising fast!)





Bridge to MP under construction

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ I hope this isn't replacing something nice & historic

If only there were some way to look at a remote location without traveling there . . .

[jpIllInoIs]

^That's funny!