CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7 - Page 872

skysoar · #**17421** Posted **Jun 25, 2020, 11:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicubs111

Near North Side neighbors ready to fight 43-story apartment tower plan

"Fifield Cos. wants to construct the 406-unit building on a parking lot at Maple Street and LaSalle Drive, along the west side of the Gold Coast Galleria condominium tower at 111 W. Maple St., according to the condo association."

"Residents believe the proposed 457-foot-tall tower is too ambitious for the size of the site, saying it would block sunlight and air flow, snarl traffic and reduce property values, said Wolfgang Suess, treasurer of the condo board and a spokesman for residents in the 34-story Galleria."

https://www.chicagotribune.com/colum...3ru-story.html

Are you serious, no one is entitled to their sunlight, their airflow, and how will their property values be "reduced". Is there evidence that building highrises in large dense cities decrease values of property in any neighborhood. If the current Nimby environment that exist today in Chicago existed many years ago, i doubt that Chicago would have ever evolved into the great metropolis that it is today.

ardecila · #**17422** Posted **Jun 26, 2020, 2:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by marothisu

Seems like it would be this thin lot. Any renderings? Seems like it would be a skinny building from the street view at least:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9018...7i16384!8i8192

My guess is that it gets chopped down around 10 stories when this is over and ends up being anywhere from 25 to 35 stories instead of 43.

Looks like it's the whole corner site, the red brick apartment would be torn down. There's also mention of the tower podium containing parking and community space for the church. Seems like the church is a key partner in this venture, they may have even recruited Fifield.

Ideally this development scheme gets reversed so the tower ends up on the church's parking lot north of Maple, while the corner site south of Maple just becomes a church parking garage. Win win for everybody, it knocks out two surface lots, preserves views and gives Fifield a slightly bigger site with more flexibility for an efficient tower. They could even set it up so ALL the parking is south of Maple in a consolidated garage, and the tower could have a "tower in a park" design that fits LaSalle better with a soft touch.

Bonsai Tree · #**17423** Posted **Jun 26, 2020, 4:49 AM**

^^Why would the church want to do that? They can sell the one lot now and then sell the other one later. They'll get twice (or probably more) value instead of just selling everything at once. Churches aren't in the best of financial positions so I can see why they would want to maximize their assets, although I agree that would be the best scenario.

Also that little building they are going to tear down doesn't really have much going for it except for its entrance on LaSalle. Absolutely gorgeous entrance.

Barrelfish · #**17424** Posted **Jun 26, 2020, 2:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Looks like it's the whole corner site, the red brick apartment would be torn down. There's also mention of the tower podium containing parking and community space for the church. Seems like the church is a key partner in this venture, they may have even recruited Fifield.

Ideally this development scheme gets reversed so the tower ends up on the church's parking lot north of Maple, while the corner site south of Maple just becomes a church parking garage. Win win for everybody, it knocks out two surface lots, preserves views and gives Fifield a slightly bigger site with more flexibility for an efficient tower. They could even set it up so ALL the parking is south of Maple in a consolidated garage, and the tower could have a "tower in a park" design that fits LaSalle better with a soft touch.

The parking lot on the NE corner of LaSalle and Maple is owned by a different church I believe (Church of the Ascension).

The proposed location is on the SE corner, which is where the similarly named Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral has its parking lot. It seems that both the small building right on the corner and the L shaped parking lot that wraps around it would be redeveloped under this proposal. The church has its greek fest in that parking lot every summer, which presumably would move into the community center portion of this proposal. That makes this a big win-win for the church and the developer.

The NE corner lot is also a potential development site. Since its only immediate neighbor is a car dealership, it would have an easier path without NIMBYs complaining about blocked views.

gandalf612 · #**17425** Posted **Jun 26, 2020, 11:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrelfish

The parking lot on the NE corner of LaSalle and Maple is owned by a different church I believe (Church of the Ascension).

The proposed location is on the SE corner, which is where the similarly named Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral has its parking lot. It seems that both the small building right on the corner and the L shaped parking lot that wraps around it would be redeveloped under this proposal. The church has its greek fest in that parking lot every summer, which presumably would move into the community center portion of this proposal. That makes this a big win-win for the church and the developer.

The NE corner lot is also a potential development site. Since its only immediate neighbor is a car dealership, it would have an easier path without NIMBYs complaining about blocked views.

The only views blocked anyway would be to the west, so not sure why the complaining.

Chi-Sky21 · #**17426** Posted **Jun 27, 2020, 12:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonsai Tree

^^Why would the church want to do that? They can sell the one lot now and then sell the other one later. They'll get twice (or probably more) value instead of just selling everything at once. Churches aren't in the best of financial positions so I can see why they would want to maximize their assets, although I agree that would be the best scenario.

Also that little building they are going to tear down doesn't really have much going for it except for its entrance on LaSalle. Absolutely gorgeous entrance.

I would love to get the stone from that demo

harryc · #**17427** Posted **Jun 27, 2020, 7:01 PM**

June 22

Chicago | 450 N LaSalle by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

June 25

Chicago | 450 N LaSalle by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

harryc · #**17428** Posted **Jun 27, 2020, 9:00 PM**

June 22

Chicago | Old Town Park by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Chicago | Old Town Park by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

June 25

Chicago | Old Town Park by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

jc5680 · #**17429** Posted **Jun 27, 2020, 10:08 PM**

Nobu (w/ a little of Fulton east in the bkg) has made a bunch of progress on exterior trim details the last week or so. I believe they are finally about to open

HomrQT · #**17430** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 2:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc5680

Penitentiary style?

harryc · #**17431** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 11:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Penitentiary style?

Totally clueless regarding the structural elements they are trying to mimic.

rgarri4 · #**17432** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 2:34 PM**

Wow its been so long, I forgot Nobu was still under construction.

BrinChi · #**17433** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 5:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Looks like it's the whole corner site, the red brick apartment would be torn down.

If it includes knocking down the apartment building, then I have no problem opposing this development. There's no need for that. Plenty of parking lot space to consume.

BrinChi · #**17434** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 5:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc5680

Nobu (w/ a little of Fulton east in the bkg) has made a bunch of progress on exterior trim details the last week or so. I believe they are finally about to open

Perfect timing lol. Unreal how long this took.

RedCorsair87 · #**17435** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 6:15 PM**

^ I think they were trying to defeat the Navy Pier Flyover and the Ravenswood Metra Station Update for longest construction project in this cycle.

marothisu · #**17436** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 9:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrinChi

If it includes knocking down the apartment building, then I have no problem opposing this development. There's no need for that. Plenty of parking lot space to consume.

Across the street yes. That lot is pretty skinny so they can build something on it without knocking down the smaller building - would be less units of course. My guess is that's going to happen anyway. In this area (my former neighborhood) that's the way some things go. It'll probably get a 10 story height drop.

chicubs111 · #**17437** Posted **Jun 28, 2020, 9:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Penitentiary style?

Hopefully there still adding because based on some previous rendering images there was some additional accent elements...but who knows this building has been through how many developers i wouldn't be surprised if they cheaped out and changed some stuff...

harryc · #**17438** Posted **Jun 29, 2020, 2:36 AM**

June 25

harryc · #**17439** Posted **Jun 29, 2020, 3:08 AM**

June 25

ardecila · #**17440** Posted **Jun 29, 2020, 2:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrinChi

If it includes knocking down the apartment building, then I have no problem opposing this development. There's no need for that. Plenty of parking lot space to consume.

It's a tricky site, they CAN put the tower to the south of the apartment but then it overshadows the church, and the church may not accept that since this is their project.

As noted, the lot north of Maple belongs to a different church so that is not in play here.

The Assumption Church project at Illinois and Franklin is a good example of a church and a highrise playing nice together, but they had more space to work with.