CHICAGO | General Developments

[gebs]

Originally Posted by Thirteen13

• Video Link

One of those rare moments in which a vertical video is the preferred orientation.

[sentinel]

For anyone who still has doubts about the old Cook County hospital facade:

"Commission OKs preliminary landmark designation for the Cook County Hospital Building, 1835 W. Harrison St. Built in 1914 by Paul Gerhardt, the Beaux-Arts structure is one of Chicago's grandest public buildings. The designation covers all exterior elevations, including rooflines.."
https://twitter.com/ChicagoDPD/statu...86433730682886

and:

"The Permit Review Committee OK'd the scope of rehab work at its meeting last month. It will anchor a new $1 billion Illinois Medical District development plan, and include masonry repairs, window replacement to match the historic appearance, and new cladding on the south facade."
https://twitter.com/ChicagoDPD/statu...86563020099584

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

oh ok well when it is done and bland and VE'd like crazy whenever its finished in 20 years I'll be sure to come back to this post and make you eat crow

Ok

[marothisu]

The August zoning board agenda is out. One of the items is for a proposed 5 story (63 ft in height) building with 39 units for the corner of Western and Hutchinson (a few blocks south of Montrose). Also would have ground floor commercial/retail. Currently it is or was the Car Outlet car dealership which is mostly a parking lot. It's good to see these potentially vanish..

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The August zoning board agenda is out. One of the items is for a proposed 5 story (63 ft in height) building with 39 units for the corner of Western and Hutchinson (a few blocks south of Montrose). Also would have ground floor commercial/retail. Currently it is or was the Car Outlet car dealership which is mostly a parking lot. It's good to see these potentially vanish..

Nice, Western is starting to fill in. It will take quite a bit more of this though.

[PittsburghPA]

Dropped a friend off in the South Loop today and noticed a tower crane at Wabash and (I think it was) 14th. I tried to do some digging but wasn't able to find any renderings. Anyone have any info on the site? The only thing I could find was CMK bought it from Columbia College. Thanks!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by PittsburghPA

Dropped a friend off in the South Loop today and noticed a tower crane at Wabash and (I think it was) 14th. I tried to do some digging but wasn't able to find any renderings. Anyone have any info on the site? The only thing I could find was CMK bought it from Columbia College. Thanks!

It's going to be 2 buildings. One is to be 15 stories with 199 units and ground floor retail while the other is to be 10 stories with 62 units and ground floor retail. All together 261 units.

It's been posted about a handful of times in the Highrise thread. Spyguy posted a rendering of it in the last few weeks (though if you go back further, someone else posted the same thing).

[SolarWind]

August 2, 2018

[SolarWind]

August 2, 2018

[bnk]

[QUOTE=SolarWind;8271038] Willis Tower - 233 S Wacker


Sorry to correct you but the name of the building will always be the
Sears Tower even though they the company is pretty much bankrupt. Its going to be the same for me for the JHC building.

The Chicago White Sox play at "Guaranteed Rate field"


I'm a cubs fan but even me would never say the word.


When it was US cellular though I did not mind calling the place the "Cell"

[left of center]

Originally Posted by sentinel

^The Cook County Hospital Administration building will be torn down in the near future: HVAC is very outdated and cost-prohibitive to replace, low floor-to-floor heights provide very little flexibility in increasing ceiling height, and the exterior facade is rapidly deteriorating; last year there were a couple of incidents where large portions of brick essentially 'peeled' off due to severely degraded masonry ties. Fortunately, no one was injured, but it's only getting worse.

Damn, thats a shame. Its an otherwise very handsome courtyard style building that the city would be richer for keeping around.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by bnk

The Chicago White Sox play at "Guaranteed Rate field"


I'm a cubs fan but even me would never say the word.


When it was US cellular though I did not mind calling the place the "Cell"

Oh you mean subprime mortgage field? And before that, mobile phone park? So much tradition on the south side, aye?

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by left of center

Damn, thats a shame. Its an otherwise very handsome courtyard style building that the city would be richer for keeping around.

Absolutely agree - it's a beautiful building and I wish there was some way to salvage it, but I think it's also a classic example of not designing for the future, only focusing on the immediate needs of the present, at the time it was built - purpose-built buildings that do not allow for flexibility in program, use, even in the ability to upgrade HVAC, plumbing, interiors, etc, inevitably go the way of the dodo.

[MayorOfChicago]

Emanuel unveils 2-year, $10M revamp of Riverwalk between State Street and Lake Shore Drive

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...801-story.html

...So Emanuel is planning a $10 million facelift for the stretch that would include new landscaping, seating, play areas and walkways. The goal is to entirely revamp what he’s dubbed Riverwalk East to better match the newer western segments.

New gateways would welcome visitors on either side of Michigan Avenue, along the river’s south bank. The walking path will be moved closer to the river. Public art would mask much of Lower Wacker Drive’s underbelly. More trees would be planted. A glass elevator would be installed. New restaurants and bars would be built. And a new walkway under Wacker would connect the Riverwalk to the Lakeshore East neighborhood and Vista Tower, when what will be the city’s third-tallest building is complete.

In addition to the city money, four businesses on the eastern end are chipping in more than $2.3 million toward the Riverwalk redo in exchange for long-term leases along what quickly has become a top outdoor destination downtown.

...The city plans two gateways on either side of Michigan Avenue, welcoming visitors and enticing them to venture down from upper Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, Reynolds said. One gateway is envisioned near where Mercury launches its boat tours through its First Lady Cruises fleet, just east of Michigan Avenue. Emanuel wants the other to span over the top of a large staircase that descends from the west side of Michigan Avenue to the Riverwalk.

Between Michigan and State, the city plans to make the walkway more efficient, put in more mature landscaping and cut into a ramp leading down from Lower Wacker Drive to provide more walkway space. The city also would build a series of retail stands to feature restaurants from Chicago’s various neighborhoods for three or six months at a time.

...As part of the city’s approval of the Vista Tower on the south side of Wacker Drive, the developers agreed to build a walkway that will connect the tower and the Lakeshore East development with the Riverwalk. The developers also are on the hook for building a glass elevator structure that would take pedestrians from upper Wacker Drive down to the Riverwalk, which currently has three handicap-accessible ramps but no elevators.

...City Hall has struck a similar deal with Island Party Hut, which operates a boat cruise, bar and restaurant on the eastern end. The restaurant plans to build a new, year-round glass structure with a roof that retracts and doors that slide all the way open, said Woods, the city project manager.

In its contract, Island Party Hut has committed to spend more than $1 million in improvements for its Riverwalk section, including $250,000 on its dock wall. The improvements also include utilities, landscaping and costs associated with building a new kitchen, restaurant and public restrooms.

...The Northman, a North Center establishment that dubs itself Chicago’s first cider bar, is opening up a spot on the Riverwalk’s eastern end later this year...Like Island Party Hut, Zacharias said The Northman also is looking at building a structure that could operate all year.

[sentinel]

^Wonderful!

[SIGSEGV]

The connection between the river and Lakeshore East will be awesome. It's very confusing to walk through that area now.

[Notyrview]

This is good but $10 million doesn't seem like a lot of money to truly revitalize that stretch.

[the urban politician]

I'm stoked about this.

This will only be cosmetic, but the restaurants will be spending more money on top of this to upgrade from their "container" aesthetic to actual restaurants with real bathrooms and plumbing.

This needed to happen to match the high quality of the Riverwalk further west.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by Notyrview

This is good but $10 million doesn't seem like a lot of money to truly revitalize that stretch.

Happy much that the east river walk is getting a spruce up but that is also what I thought when saw that dollar figure.

I'm guessing the east side improvements will be much more cosmetic than what was done on the west side where the foundations, bridge walkways, street furniture was likely much more involved. The new improvements on the east side sound primarily like a topical relaying of the boardwalk/pavement and putting up some placards to cover up upper Wacker, which hopefully won't be done too cheaply or else risk will making it look worse.

For the placards/art covering upper Wacker it would be nice to see some kinetic art installations to hide the huge mass is Wacker.

[k1052]

10M seems low for what they're talking about but whatever. The segment east of Michigan really does need some rehabbing along with fixing the vertical access issues from the SE corner of Michigan. Given the success of the riverwalk and the revenues being generated seems like a more than sound investment.

If Rahm can also wrangle more money out of the feds to expand and further renovate then go for it.