CHICAGO | Riverline | 8 Towers | 600FT - 500FT(X2) - 380FT(X2) - 242FT(X2) - 300FT~

[dreamy-developer]

Originally Posted by arCHItecture_

Just in time for Lendlease to pull out of the project....

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/lendlease-receives-site-plan-approval-next-phase-southbank

I guess I'm really confused. Can someone explain what the point of this news is if LendLease is pulling out of the development?

Is this technically still moving forward, or is it poised to be taken over by another developer? I guess I'm just really skeptical on any validity of this news since the announcement from LendLease earlier this week.

Even Urbanize state the project is "completely up in the air" due to this. So I'm wondering why any news about this or the permits moving forward are even happening?

[arCHItecture_]

The site plan approval and minor change approval are procedural milestones for the project regardless of the state of what the developer is doing.

In this unique situation, this approval may mean nothing, and the project might be doomed entirely due to the fact that Lendlease is pulling out of the project and selling the site. However, this news may also be helpful in securing a new developer to buy the land/project because this means they have a fully entitled development with permits already in the works that they can purchase and have a lot of the heavy lifting already completed.

But also who knows how long it would take for a new owner to come along..

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by arCHItecture_

Just in time for Lendlease to pull out of the project....

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/lendlease-receives-site-plan-approval-next-phase-southbank

Praise be.

[intrepidDesign]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Praise be.

Amen. God what an awful design. Maybe it was a placeholder?? Why would you ever wrap a park with parking garages, and with a view of the river? Sure what's on the west bank of the river isn't great but it won't always be there I would imagine. Naw, the base of whatever gets built there should be like the Cooper, parking wrapped in townhomes.

[ithakas]

Things are definitely moving!


Monday, December 16


This morning (Saturday, December 21)

[BVictor1]

A few days late, but...

12.20.24

[ithakas]

Glad this won't be happening...

[r18tdi]

The podium designs keep getting worse lol. I guess that's what happens when you step down from Perkins + Will to FitzGerald.

[ardecila]

Yeah these towers keep getting shittier. The Cooper was beautiful top-to-bottom, the Reed was kinda boring but at least tried to have some flair around the podium. This one is just a turd.

If they bought that Parcel Q, they should extend the podium northward into that space. 2x the footprint, 1/2 the height. Much shorter podium, more efficient parking layouts, nice deck on top of the podium for amenities.

[r18tdi]

New info and images of Riverline "Building G," via Urbanize Chicago:

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/site-plan-approval-secured-first-building-riverline

[gebs]

Yessss, keep building up the South Loop.

[lakeshoredrive]

Wasted opportunity

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by lakeshoredrive

Wasted opportunity

Don't forget that much of the site is landfill, so the southern site can't build as many highrises as the northern half. Plus the southern half will still have Manhattan level densities of >100k ppl/sq mi, even with the townhomes

[Randomguy34]

CDOT is FINALLY moving forward with the Taylor St bridge





https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city...0-08_4A-CDOTTaylorStreetBridge_Patel.pdf

[munchymunch]

That’s awesome, curious how the design will look, hopefully it’ll complement our cities many great bridges.

[moorhosj1]

It was always on this timeline. It has been a line item in the TIF funding plan for years. You can see the money allocated for study/design in 2024, then the money for construction in 2026-2027.

[left of center]

Wouldn't a Polk St. bridge make more sense? Polk street goes further into the South Loop, terminating at State Street. Taylor would terminate immediately after crossing the river at Wells.

I imagine CDOT's reasoning is that Taylor would help shuttle more cars to 90/94, whereas neighborhood connectivity is more of an afterthought. The fact that Roosevelt is an absolute sh*tshow during rush hour means they probably have a point in that regard.

In an ideal world with infinite resources, we would get both bridges built.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by left of center

Wouldn't a Polk St. bridge make more sense? Polk street goes further into the South Loop, terminating at State Street. Taylor would terminate immediately after crossing the river at Wells.

I imagine CDOT's reasoning is that Taylor would help shuttle more cars to 90/94, whereas neighborhood connectivity is more of an afterthought. The fact that Roosevelt is an absolute sh*tshow during rush hour means they probably have a point in that regard.

In an ideal world with infinite resources, we would get both bridges built.

Polk has some challenges, too. On the West side of the river, it terminates into a heavily trafficked multilane loading ramp for the massive USPS facility there. On the east side, the street is narrow and serves primarily as a dead-end access for The Reed at Southbank. I believe a pier and water taxi stop are planned here as well. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the current conditions/use would need to be addressed.

[ithakas]

If feasible, I think the city should tunnel under the Metra tracks at 9th to connect it with Clark and create another east-west connection between Polk and Roosevelt (since Roosevelt is elevated, there won't be another east-west connection from Wells until you go south to maybe 15th Street?).

The city needs to slow down traffic at Clark and Polk anyway—Clark was designed as a feeder decades ago but now has a walkable dense neighborhood around it, and drivers are too aggressive here—so adding a traffic light at 9th & Clark would also help with that.

[vxla]

Originally Posted by left of center

Wouldn't a Polk St. bridge make more sense? Polk street goes further into the South Loop, terminating at State Street. Taylor would terminate immediately after crossing the river at Wells.

I imagine CDOT's reasoning is that Taylor would help shuttle more cars to 90/94, whereas neighborhood connectivity is more of an afterthought. The fact that Roosevelt is an absolute sh*tshow during rush hour means they probably have a point in that regard.

In an ideal world with infinite resources, we would get both bridges built.

Polk Street had a bridge until Grand Central Station went belly-up. IMHO it really makes a lot more sense to put Polk back rather than build Taylor.