CHICAGO | General Developments

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Southeast corner of Kingsbury & Weed has a zoning notice up for Chase to establish a drive-through bank. And all the other buildings along Weed, other than Joe's and Zentra, are almost entirely gone now.

Does anyone know if Chase's plan involves keeping the existing 2-story brick building on the site, which appeared to be in pretty good condition and is actually sort of interesting following years of various rehabs and additions? Or will they flatten the site for a cookie cutter piece of drive-thru suburban junk?

That would be a tremendous waste if they demoed that building. It would be a perfect building suitable for a bank. It does have parking and existing driveway connections and configuration perfect for a drive-thru bank.

I believe the building currently has tenants on the second level. Perhaps this is just a modification to permit the construction of a drive-thru canopy with ATMs.

But in that area, I tend to expect the worst, so....

[Mr Downtown]

^Tremendous waste? Really?

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

^Tremendous waste? Really?

I don't think you understand the context of my argument. Chase will develop on that site more than likely. If they can be offered an existing building that has some charm and good appearance that meets their needs for space and drive access, they should take it. Re-use and renovation of an existing building is a prudent use of resources and at least preserves a shred of what's left. Tearing it down and rebuilding new of similar size and scale would be a tremendous waste.

Building a tower on that site, would not be a tremendous waste because it's completely different. I think that's what you had confused.

[ardecila]

I believe the alderman is Burnett.

And yeah, it is incredibly anti-green to demolish this building for a similar one. Chase even uses a similar orangey brick and precast details on their new locations (like the mock two-story Chase branch at Franklin/Grand).

[Mr Downtown]

You do understand that certain tenants have specific functional requirements, right? Chase, for instance, will have a heavy vault that must be supported. (Failure to take this into account is the reason the WaMu on Printers Row never opened for business.) Chase will want particular queueing patterns for the drive-thrus; will want certain sightlines and efficient teller layouts in the lobby. The lobby has to be ADA compliant. The building needs to be somewhat energy-efficient and secure.

Could Chase make enough compromises and retrofits and additions to reuse this chopped-up fragment of an old factory building? Possibly. But sometimes preservationists pick their battles.

[ardecila]

The listing on LoopNet says the existing (office) tenants are not to be disturbed by the buyer of the lot. However, Chase's application for drive-thru mentions a one-story bank. Maybe Chase bought out the leases of the office tenants?

Basically, it just sucks that we're getting another drive-thru and losing another old building in an area that's rapidly becoming mini-Schaumburg. The unique industrial character of the area that attracted development in the first place is being lost.

[Mikemak27]

From what I've seen, Burnett has not been a friend to dense pedestrian development in his ward. He seems to allow whatever development a landowner throws at him because it will make jobs and bring in business (which is good). The problem is that we end up with garbage design and land use which is what will happen if this Chase is built as planned. If it wasn't for the hostage scenario that the black aldermen proposed when redistricting occurred, he wouldn't even be the alderman here because his ward would stay on the west side of the city, but we can all thank racial gerrymandering for his presence.

[J_M_Tungsten]

Lol mini Schaumburg. SONO is now the Zurich Towers!

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

You do understand that certain tenants have specific functional requirements, right? Chase, for instance, will have a heavy vault that must be supported. (Failure to take this into account is the reason the WaMu on Printers Row never opened for business.) Chase will want particular queueing patterns for the drive-thrus; will want certain sightlines and efficient teller layouts in the lobby. The lobby has to be ADA compliant. The building needs to be somewhat energy-efficient and secure.

Could Chase make enough compromises and retrofits and additions to reuse this chopped-up fragment of an old factory building? Possibly. But sometimes preservationists pick their battles.

I've worked on designing banks and drive-thrus before in some pretty difficult old buildings. Victorian mansions, former Carnegie libraries. I'm aware of the challenges. You don't have to always be averse to suggestions.

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten

Lol mini Schaumburg. SONO is now the Zurich Towers!

Now imagine the traffic if North/Clybourn had an IKEA.

Random office proposal I came across a while back for the site of that children's play center thing on Kingsbury:

[Rizzo]

^ Looks interesting but it would be nice if the garage was softened in the design a bit...fascias set back from columns, and a green wall in that void.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Why is Chicago demolishing so many old buildings? NYC, LA, SF, DC, Philly, etc., are renovating and restoring, not destroying. Has Chicago not learned its Mid-Century lesson? That should serve as a cautionary tale.

Also, a similar, somewhat related question: why does the quality of Chicago's low-scale contemporary architecture lag so far behind its high-rise counterparts?! The post-2000s neighborhood architecture in much of Chicago is generally of a very low quality. All that jumbo brick...unfortunate.

I love Chicago as much as the next guy, but the disregard of its industrial heritage, destruction wood-frame neighborhoods, and jumbo brick-ization of its commercial corridors is rather troubling.

Getting back to this comment, at least a decent amount of of Chicago's "old school" masonry buildings are being preserved in neighborhoods that aren't completely bombed out.

Seeing renovations of historic buildings such as this really make my day, especially in an historic neighborhood like Humboldt Park

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Seeing renovations of historic buildings such as this really make my day, especially in an historic neighborhood like Humboldt Park

While I'm glad it wasn't knocked down for another badly executed faux historic 3 flat, they sure did a mighty fine job of screwing up that front entry.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

While I'm glad it wasn't knocked down for another badly executed faux historic 3 flat, they sure did a mighty fine job of screwing up that front entry.

The entry is awful. The windows look cheap too.

[Mr Downtown]

On the other hand, it looks like St. James Catholic Church (29th & Wabash) is a goner.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/lee-bey/20...h-heads-toward

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

On the other hand, it looks like St. James Catholic Church (29th & Wabash) is a goner.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/lee-bey/20...h-heads-toward

Horrible loss.

Chicago is possibly going to lose 3 historic churches very soon:

1. The one mentioned above
2. The one on Armitage that was demo'd for a Walgreens
3. The one in Noble Square that was supposed to be part of a senior apartment development that seems to be falling apart financially.

And for #1 above, it is unfortunately in a part of town where the lot will likely remain vacant for many years to come.....

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Horrible loss.

Chicago is possibly going to lose 3 historic churches very soon:

1. The one mentioned above
2. The one on Armitage that was demo'd for a Walgreens
3. The one in Noble Square that was supposed to be part of a senior apartment development that seems to be falling apart financially.

And for #1 above, it is unfortunately in a part of town where the lot will likely remain vacant for many years to come.....

unfortunately this is probably going to become increasingly common as church attendance continues to decline, especially in poorer areas that dont have money for the upkeep.

[Via Chicago]

on the topic of another kind of loss, huge warehouse fire down on the SW side near the Pink Line. from photos it looks like a pretty classic design. im always bummed when one of these come down (felt the same way about the one in Avondale this fall), especially in a hood like this that isnt likely to see a replacement any time soon. now its just another gaping lot.


credit: Chicago Tribune
http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune...vice-20121229/

[Rizzo]

^ that sucks. That building was under renovation I believe

[ardecila]

I don't think I will lose any sleep over the Armitage church. It was a weird hybrid of religious and commercial architecture, with none of the grace we normally see in old churches like St Boniface and St James. St Boniface is especially sad after so many years fighting to preserve it, and because - with a park across from the front - it was a real neighborhood showpiece, a place that ought to be the center of life in the community.

Going back to the Armitage church, the loss isn't even very frustrating; the replacement Walgreens is a solid piece of urban architecture with no setbacks, parking, or drive-thru, with design about as mediocre as the old church.