CHICAGO | General Developments

[SolarWind]

July 30, 2024

[SolarWind]

July 30, 2024

[Urbannizer]

5745 N Broadway

[r18tdi]

Excellent news regarding the Century & Consumers Buildings. Hopefully a viable plan for reuse comes together relatively quickly, the interiors are beyond trashed and only getting worse...

[ardecila]

"Viability" is a tricky thing. The archives proposal was "viable" because it had users identified and it addressed the Federal security concerns. But the users are religious organizations (mostly Catholic) and archives don't generate any revenue so the very costly renovation will have to be funded somehow.

I don't think the Feds can contribute any money at all toward religious institutions, so that leaves private fundraising by the Archdiocese and others, and this is probably the lowest thing on their priority list. There are certainly big-name Catholic donors out there who would love to put their name in big letters on State St, but this renovation will have a pricetag in the 9 figures.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

https://chicago.suntimes.com/archite...rksen-security

Late to the party, but beautiful news.

The gaping hole on State would have added insult to injury. A great win by the preservationists.

[ithakas]

Is there anything in the GSA's determination that prevents a developer from pursuing a proposal like CA Venture's from 2017? https://www.multifamilyexecutive.com...ment-project_o

There's a lot of lower hanging fruit for residential conversion in the Loop now though, I imagine...

[mh777]

Glad to see this is finally going. Seems like it's been sitting vacant forever. New design isn't great, but definitely beats what's there now..



Current Conditions:

[mh777]

Building permit issued yesterday for this one. Awesome infill!

[left of center]

A little annoyed that the parking garage will exit directly onto Fremont (thus requiring a curb cut right next to pedestrian oriented retail) instead of on the immediately adjacent alley. Otherwise, great design!

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by left of center

A little annoyed that the parking garage will exit directly onto Fremont (thus requiring a curb cut right next to pedestrian oriented retail) instead of on the immediately adjacent alley. Otherwise, great design!

Apparently that "alley" is actually a private driveway owned by the SoNo condo association. If they could have put their garage door there, I'm sure they would have rather than waste 1500SF on a useless indoor drive aisle.

https://chicagoyimby.com/2023/03/pla...orth-side.html

[left of center]

Frustrating that they did not allow them to do so, or at least we assume as such. We don't officially know the reason, but like you said I'm sure they would have preferred to go that route.

[pullmanman]

Public meeting today for 925 W Belmont went well. New Q&A panel format with written questions read by the Alderman, so no opportunities for shouting.

New information:

The zoning change application was formally submitted by the developers and Lawson was very supportive so I think it’s good to go.

14 month construction timeline once they start.

[mh777]

14 months seems a little ambitious considering they have to demo multiple buildings and then build this thing 11 stories.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by ithakas

Is there anything in the GSA's determination that prevents a developer from pursuing a proposal like CA Venture's from 2017? https://www.multifamilyexecutive.com...ment-project_o

There's a lot of lower hanging fruit for residential conversion in the Loop now though, I imagine...

I attended the GSA's last hearing for this and was one of many who denounced the demolition option. Joe Antunovich spoke from Zoom and gave a thorough history of the buildings and his own study of rehabilitation for it that was well-considered. (Antunovich was behind the 2000s renovation of the Reliance Building.)

[rgolch]

I haven't seen a thread about the proposed Lake shore drive revamp. Is it discussed in another thread? Anyone have any opinions on it? I sort of like the idea of adding more greenspace to those parts of the lake Michigan shore.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by rgolch

I haven't seen a thread about the proposed Lake shore drive revamp. Is it discussed in another thread? Anyone have any opinions on it? I sort of like the idea of adding more greenspace to those parts of the lake Michigan shore.

My opinion is that you’re going to feel screwed if greenspace is the basis for support. It’s 80% a road construction project, 10% a wave buffer project and 10% a parks project.

The project hasn’t even started and the greenspace in the proposal has already shrunk. Guess what’s going to be on the chopping block when it inevitably goes over budget?

Also, anything sand based in the images is not going to be there for long in reality without some additional concrete buffer construction.

[Toasty Joe]

RIP Mr Downtown. Touching comments on the Chicago subreddit post about his knowledgeable contributions to the site and this city.


Source: https://x.com/UrbanGuy0508/status/1821863241053519921

[Steely Dan]

^ that's very sad to hear.

Dude was like a walking encyclopedia of Chicago history.

RIP, fellow Chicago-phile.

[sentinel]

That's very sad news. Although we didn't always agree, he was a special man of infinite knowledge and insight, and an important contributor to the forum. RIP.