CHICAGO | General Developments

[thewaterman11]

Originally Posted by guesswho

A bit of a random question:

But has there ever been a proposal to develop the METRA tracks between Washington & the half block (to the south), Lake (to the north), Canal (to the east), and Clinton (to the West)? That's two full blocks that could hold at least four (maybe five?) 1MM+ sq foot towers (office?) I'm estimating.

I know that all the other surface lots in that area would be developed first, as the infrastructure costs associated with capping RR tracks are expensive, but you think that with the revenue hole at METRA, (who I assume owns the air rights or would it be someone else?) the owner would be beginning to think about development proposals sometime later this decade....as it seems a good deal of surface lots in the West Loop are actively being developed as residential (rather than office).

Capping has been done extensively in Millennium Park (obviously), but there isn't 5MM sq feet of office space above that, so the only other parallel would be in NYC (i.e. Hudson Yards?) and the area immediately south of Union Station?

The biggest problem I can think of with doing this would be access from the street to the towers above; unlike Millennium Park, these tracks coming out of Ogilvie are above the street level as opposed to below it, making it just about impossible for any kind of car access to be had. Thus, I don't think it's at all possible (or even attractive) for anyone to take on such a difficult and expensive undertaking.

[Rizzo]

A couple noticings...

Home Good is closing their store on Michigan Ave. That leaves the third floor of that complex vacant along with the shuttered Eddie Bauer on the lower floors

Also there's large openings cut in the precast on the nordstrom. I hope they will be windows but I'm not sure.


Regarding the discussion on rail capping , I say we do it where it makes sense. But it's important to note that rail is part of Chicago's character and I think seeing the trains cut through the Fulton river area is cool. Planning for capping rail should have happened decades ago before all those buildings got built with standard surface street access.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by thewaterman11

The biggest problem I can think of with doing this would be access from the street to the towers above; unlike Millennium Park, these tracks coming out of Ogilvie are above the street level as opposed to below it, making it just about impossible for any kind of car access to be had. Thus, I don't think it's at all possible (or even attractive) for anyone to take on such a difficult and expensive undertaking.

This is what I was saying a while ago during that discussion about whether 20-25 floors is too short for new near West loop Towers. There are a crap ton of developable sites available in the area that won't become viable until the supply of vacant surface lots are wiped out.

As of right now the Ogilvie tracks make absolutely no sense to develop, but there are creative solutions that will become viable once the value of land in that area increases sufficiently.

The most obvious solution to your problem would be building the lobbies under the tracks where the French market and all that retail is now and then running elevator shafts up between the tracks into towers hovering over the station. Obviously nowhere near practical right now, but could be once the sea of surface lots dries up.

[harryc]

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Hayward

A
Regarding the discussion on rail capping , I say we do it where it makes sense. But it's important to note that rail is part of Chicago's character and I think seeing the trains cut through the Fulton river area is cool. Planning for capping rail should have happened decades ago before all those buildings got built with standard surface street access.

It is a lot less cool standing there for 10 minutes waiting for trains to clear at -10F wind chill. Capping may be out but I'm strongly in favor of closing at least the Canal crossing and building a pedestrian bridge over it.

[guesswho]

Originally Posted by thewaterman11

The biggest problem I can think of with doing this would be access from the street to the towers above; unlike Millennium Park, these tracks coming out of Ogilvie are above the street level as opposed to below it, making it just about impossible for any kind of car access to be had. Thus, I don't think it's at all possible (or even attractive) for anyone to take on such a difficult and expensive undertaking.

Good point. I didn't even think that the tracks were at (or above as you mention) street level......that's a major proposal killer for certain.....

Fifield should just cap it with a park like he plans to with the Kennedy......or they could make it into the world's largest outdoor Whirlyball in the summer and the world's largest ice rink in the winter......

But seriously, I think at some point someone will see this as valuable land when all the surface lots are gone and the easy 3 or 4 story redevelopment properties are all gone.......maybe sometime in the 2020's? Again, I believe you could at least put at least four or five 1MM+ sq ft. towers over those tracks if someone really wanted too.....

The Old Post Office is probably easier to revamp/redevelop from an ROI perspective when compared to this land north of Ogilvie, even with 290 running underneath it.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by k1052

It is a lot less cool standing there for 10 minutes waiting for trains to clear at -10F wind chill. Capping may be out but I'm strongly in favor of closing at least the Canal crossing and building a pedestrian bridge over it.

River Point will give you a grade-separated route via the riverwalk (if you are walking to the Loop).

I agree that a bridge is needed at Canal though.

[UrbanOasis]

Back in 2008/2009 there was a PDF posted of the Wabash Avenue streetscaping project that showed the new sidewalk planters and lighting to be installed between Roosevelt and Congress. I've searched the forum but can't find this anywhere. I wanted to use it for a community service project I'm working on.

Can someone point me in the right direction or repost if you have access? Thanks!

[denizen467]

Metra rail terminus air rights project would have basically no room for columns, much less space for construction machinery to sink key caissons, because the tracks and platforms are pretty densely spaced. North of Lake, though, it wouldn't be impossible - although we wouldn't want the Powerhouse building to be torn down anyway.

I'm curious what the chances are that Metra will (or can be persuaded to) rebuild their old, column-prolific viaduct at Kinzie, or indeed anywhere between Lake and Grand. This could help traffic flow in that area. They could then sell parking (or even retail) underneath a long-spanned viaduct, hopefully helping defray some of the construction cost.

The thing is, today they still have the opportunity to buy adjacent parcels and tweak the alignment into something straighter; this would also give them elbow room for construction staging. If they wait much longer, things will probably get hemmed in.

[guesswho]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Metra rail terminus air rights project would have basically no room for columns, much less space for construction machinery to sink key caissons, because the tracks and platforms are pretty densely spaced.

Good points, I didn't think about that. The more responses I read, the more it sounds to me like the infrastructure requirements required to make something happen above the tracks are too cost prohibitive.....

[Vlajos]

This is exciting.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...553D0914134E6S

[Mr Downtown]

Metra doesn't own the railroad tracks coming into Ogilvie; the Union Pacific Railroad does.

Railroads generally aren't creative risk-takers. They tend to be pretty focused on keeping the trains running and the structures where they can easily maintain them.

[wierdaaron]

According to that Crains article, the Hojo replacement and the Gino's East Wells/Ontario tower will be presented at the city council meeting today. I hope there's designs.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

This is exciting.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...553D0914134E6S

The HoJo is interesting from a 1940s or 1950s American architecture perspective, but I'll be glad to see it go.


In other news, looks like that helipad from that Wheeling-based helicopter tour company has gotten zoning approval for Bridgeport. 2408 - 2424 S Halsted, which is right north of the train tracks and the freeway next to the river I believe. People wise it's not a bad location because it's not too far from the Halsted Orange Line stop either.

http://politics.suntimes.com/article...04012014-428pm

[Tom Servo]

HoJo, like Ohio House, are interesting. But they are only contextually interesting. As stand-alone buildings, they are mostly trash IMO. And no matter how interesting or nostalgic they may be, they do nothing but impede the progress of a modernizing city. Time to say goodbye like the old Chicago Lodge Motel RIP

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

HoJo, like Ohio House, are interesting. But they are only contextually interesting. As stand-alone buildings, they are mostly trash IMO. And no matter how interesting or nostalgic they may be, they do nothing but impede the progress of a modernizing city. Time to say goodbye like the old Chicago Lodge Motel RIP

Totally agreed - they're kind of tacky looking and out of place now in downtown Chicago. If they were on the side of a highway in the middle of Minnesota 2 miles outside of a 5000 person town with similar architecture nearby, they'd be more interesting.

[LouisVanDerWright]

As long as we landmark the Heart 'O Chicago Motel up on Ridge and Peterson, we can tear down every other motel in the city.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

As long as we landmark the Heart 'O Chicago Motel up on Ridge and Peterson, we can tear down every other motel in the city.

Not a fan of many of these BUT Heart 'O Chicago is a lot better fit contextually these days up there versus the ones in River North.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Denver has an even greater collection of these old motels than Chicago does. I saw one last time I was out there complete with a fantastic, massive neon sign that had been very sensitively converted to storage on the outskirts of town. Perhaps some of the older motels out in Lincolnwood or similar areas could be preserved in such a manner.

[spyguy]

Division and Cleveland
~100 units and another dozen in a separate smaller building along Cleveland
Crappy image, but as you can see, it will definitely be different from the rest of Parkside