CHICAGO | Wrigley Field Redevelopment News

[MegaBass]

Foreclosure suits stall big development near Wrigley Field

A long-planned retail and residential project along Wrigley Field could face a further delay with two new foreclosure suits hitting one of its developers.

The suits are against ventures led by Steven Schultz, who owns several Clark Street buildings that would be demolished to make way for the development, Addison Park on Clark.

[MayorOfChicago]

^ ugh....seriously.

After they close everything down now they stall the development. Please get this rolling again quickly.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by MegaBass

Foreclosure suits stall big development near Wrigley Field

Thank god. I actually heard from the owner of Mullen's that this is looking more and more like it won't happen. I hope that is true. No one wants this horrid, suburban development in Wrigley.

It's bad enough Ricketts is building his horrible hotel, clock tower turd, and whatever else.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

It's bad enough Ricketts is building his horrible hotel, clock tower turd, and whatever else.

Seriously? The hotel is going to be going over a suburban McDonalds (and not a nice one at that) in the heart of a dense, walkable neighborhood and you think it's bad? I guess you'd rather have a shitty McDonald's with a parking lot near a train stop and near a bunch of walkable areas though huh? I'm not saying it's a great looking development, but to think that anybody would prefer that McDonald's over something being built there is insane.

And considering the flag (Sheraton, last I checked), it will get some tourists outside of downtown to spend money. The hotel looks bad, but it's still better than the shit that's currently there.

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Seriously? The hotel is going to be going over a suburban McDonalds (and not a nice one at that) in the heart of a dense, walkable neighborhood and you think it's bad? I guess you'd rather have a shitty McDonald's with a parking lot near a train stop and near a bunch of walkable areas though huh? I'm not saying it's a great looking development, but to think that anybody would prefer that McDonald's over something being built there is insane.

And considering the flag (Sheraton, last I checked), it will get some tourists outside of downtown to spend money. The hotel looks bad, but it's still better than the shit that's currently there.

Servo trolls pretty hard around these parts, and I usually agree with most criticisms of his posts, but come on. He never said he would 'prefer' the McDonalds over the hotel, just that it is a horrible hotel... which will undoubtedly match the triangle office building dud.

And he is right. Everything the Ricketts have built or proposed is really quite poor design wise.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

Servo trolls pretty hard around these parts, and I usually agree with most criticisms of his posts, but come on. He never said he would 'prefer' the McDonalds over the hotel, just that it is a horrible hotel... which will undoubtedly match the triangle office building dud.

I implied his stuff as saying he'd rather not have anything built than build this crap.

And he is right. Everything the Ricketts have built or proposed is really quite poor design wise.

And I never said otherwise. In fact, twice I said above that the design is bad.

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I implied his stuff as saying he'd rather not have anything built than build this crap.

He was very clearly referencing the Addison Park on Clark fiasco with that statement.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

He was very clearly referencing the Addison Park on Clark fiasco with that statement.

Except what I quoted was

It's bad enough Ricketts is building his horrible hotel,

Yes, it's a horrible design, but it's still 100X better than what's on that entire few lots right now.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Except what I quoted was


Yes, it's a horrible design, but it's still 100X better than what's on that entire few lots right now.

Though presumably it is never really an either-or choice.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by marothisu

to think that anybody would prefer that McDonald's over something being built there is insane.

I never said that... I just think his something far better could have been done there. But please, continue with your assumptions...

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yes, it's a horrible design, but it's still 100X better than what's on that entire few lots right now.

This is horrible logic. We're now STUCK with this Ricketts pile of garbage for decades.

[MegaBass]

Installation has begun on the wrought iron facade - to match 1930s Wrigley Field (Wrigley Blog)

[Skyguy_7]

Well-done, Rickets! Matches the old wrought iron to a tee. Much improved. There's a special place in hell for those 1960s concrete panels.

[the urban politician]

^ That's a nice touch

[Vlajos]

Wow, looks pretty good.

[woodrow]

They are delivering green terracotta tiles. This morning i saw a truck with what looked like end caps.

[maru2501]

phew

[Via Chicago]

Wrought iron looks beautiful. Now imagine if they applied that same level of thought and sensitivity to the rest of the renovations.

[lu9]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

Wrought iron looks beautiful. Now imagine if they applied that same level of thought and sensitivity to the rest of the renovations.

I don't quite follow? Are you referring to the Triangle building? or perhaps the new video boards?

The Wrigley renovations themselves are being done very well IMO. They are designing it to appear as it did in the 30s.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by lu9

I don't quite follow? Are you referring to the Triangle building? or perhaps the new video boards?

The Wrigley renovations themselves are being done very well IMO. They are designing it to appear as it did in the 30s.

video board is atrocious and out of scale with the bleachers. but i guess that ship has sailed. the office building is an unmitigated architectural disaster.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by lu9

I don't quite follow? Are you referring to the Triangle building? or perhaps the new video boards?

The Wrigley renovations themselves are being done very well IMO. They are designing it to appear as it did in the 30s.

The 30's looks better then the 80-10's but that ain't saying much. Some Wrought iron fencing looks OK but is hardly forward thinking nor probably all that expensive (compared to a full scale renovation/replacement of the outer shell).

Let's face it. The Ricketts are doing all these "upgrades" on the relative cheap. They decided since they couldn't get the taxpayers money they would go full tilt and put in enough money to only have the stadium be put in a state of good repair. Most of the rest are add ons (save maybe the clubhouse for the players) they took advantage to ram through more lucrative revenue producing proposals (billboards, restaurants, hotels, tacky Vegas plaza etc.) which mostly detract from the park IMO and then they laud themselves for "investing" 500 million of their own dollars in their own ballpark. Meanwhile showing themselves to be exactly the country bumpkin Cornhusker folks they are with their gauche Disney-Vegas ideas for the ballpark and neighborhood they are putting forth. I am all for upgrading the stadium and for them putting in more revenue making amentities of course but they chose the most garish ways to go about that will not leave any long lasting legacy for which fans or the neighborhood can be really thankful.

Still, I consider it a minor victory that are putting up the modern train wreck for their triangle building compared to the retro-schlock clock tower they planned before.