CHICAGO | General Developments - Page 914

The Pimp · #**18261** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 3:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Why would one dine in a department store restaurant, even if said department store is Saks?

There are way too many interesting and deliscious restaurants in this town to bother.

Remember Marshall Field's??? When I was a kid back in the 60's going to eat at Field's (state street) was a great experience. It's also a great way for stores to keep customers contained.

Rizzo · #**18262** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 3:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Why would one dine in a department store restaurant, even if said department store is Saks?

There are way too many interesting and deliscious restaurants in this town to bother.

In the loop department store restaurants are very popular The waits at Macy's on State are sometimes impossibly long that people know never to go there unless you leave early.

I suppose on N. Michigan Ave it's a different story because it's a not a big office area and gravitates towards tourists, but I imagine they'll get visitors form people around the area or shoppers that want a quick bite to eat and plan on spending most of their shopping within a couple blocks. While downtown Chicago certainly has good restaurants let's not forget about 80% of it is national or local chains. So department store restaurants would technically be something interesting and different considering nationally their existence is rather sparse.

joeg1985 · #**18263** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 4:17 PM**

Also when you go to dine in a department store you can expect the same quality and general experience that you receive at that department store. So if you like what you the experience of shopping at Nordstrom, why wouldn't you eat at the Nordstrom Cafe? A lot of times it is about the familiar.

wierdaaron · #**18264** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 4:39 PM**

These are the sweet sounds that serenade me when I work from home now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYsSsr7LJNU (Clark/Polk AMLI development)

To the office, I go.

Mr Downtown · #**18265** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 5:05 PM**

And since I work from home, they serenade me all day long.

It would be a little easier to endure if I thought they'd eventually produce good-looking buildings, but I've seen the renderings.

Vlajos · #**18266** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 5:13 PM**

Wow, I'm really surprised so many people would dine at a department store.

Someone mentioned Marshall Field's, but that was the 1950s or whatever. Today, we have so many outstanding restaurants, I would never think of eating at a department store.

killaviews · #**18267** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 6:34 PM**

Other news on Michigan Ave, it seems Williams and Sonoma has closed in 900 N. Michigan.

urbanpln · #**18268** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 7:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by killaviews

Other news on Michigan Ave, it seems Williams and Sonoma has closed in 900 N. Michigan.

They are moving to the Clybourn Corridor. I heard the reason for the move was a lease dispute.

Busy Bee · #**18269** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 10:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Wow, I'm really surprised so many people would dine at a department store.

Someone mentioned Marshall Field's, but that was the 1950s or whatever. Today, we have so many outstanding restaurants, I would never think of eating at a department store.

Yeah back when most department stores were privately and locally owned, weren't controlled by beancounters appeasing shareholders in their hopeless quest to compete with bottom of the barrel discount stores. Those were the days. To visit a downtown department store, especially a flagship, was a huge deal and made quite the impression on many.

ardecila · #**18270** Posted **Mar 28, 2013, 11:55 PM**

Lots of reasons for the decline of department stores. Luxury brands began to open their own boutiques instead of selling through department stores, and travel to top-tier cities became easier, so individual cities had less need for top-tier retail. Discount stores opened in suburban areas, siphoning off the low-end market.

Even the middle market is increasingly being dominated by Zara, J.Crew, Club Monaco, H&M, Uniqlo, etc and plenty more that are womens-only.

On the other hand, I don't see a substantial difference between Kohl's and a department store, yet Kohl's is successful. Legacy costs are a big problem.

Rizzo · #**18271** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 12:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by urbanpln

They are moving to the Clybourn Corridor. I heard the reason for the move was a lease dispute.

Sur La Table appears to be moving in. Wow imagine that dispute. Kitchen knives probably being thrown each other and all....

Rizzo · #**18272** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 12:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Lots of reasons for the decline of department stores. Luxury brands began to open their own boutiques instead of selling through department stores, and travel to top-tier cities became easier, so individual cities had less need for top-tier retail. Discount stores opened in suburban areas, siphoning off the low-end market.

Even the middle market is increasingly being dominated by Zara, J.Crew, Club Monaco, H&M, Uniqlo, etc and plenty more that are womens-only.

On the other hand, I don't see a substantial difference between Kohl's and a department store, yet Kohl's is successful. Legacy costs are a big problem.

Kohl's is a department store. People tend to lose that association because you typically don't find them connected to malls or in downtowns. Though it would be nice to have them on State Street as another anchor.

nomarandlee · #**18273** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 12:34 AM**

Great great news.

Quote:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Ma...er-to-Reality/

The Chicago Riverwalk Is a $100 Million Step Closer to Reality

Posted today at 3:20 p.m.

By Whet Moser

Today, outgoing Department of Transportation secretary Ray LaHood announced that his department would be offering a $100 million loan to Chicago for its riverwalk, a project Rahm Emanuel has touted as one of his mayoral legacies in development.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014 and end in 2016, though the Studio Gang-designed boathouses will be done this spring. (The loan isn't going to be finalized until this summer, but LaHood suggested it was "just a matter of crossing the Ts.")

The loan comes through the federal government's TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) Program. Currently, the interest rate is 3.10 percent on a 35-year loan. It's an old but underused program that LaHood massively expanded—up until this year, only $122 million was available for the program...........

..

wierdaaron · #**18274** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 12:49 AM**

That is good news.

I'm curious about the riverwalk buildout and retail. I've seen the renderings for all the different themes and activities, but I haven't seen anything to indicate whether there would be retail space added along the riverwalk.

I'd love to have the riverfront become a tourism draw, but if there were decent retail/food options down there it would also bring locals and kind of re-route the pedestrian flow from upper wacker.

I guess something to avoid is it becoming another Navy Pier.

Clear routing between the riverwalk and millennium/grant park would be nice, too. Maybe some blue signage to point people up to Michigan and down a few blocks.

jarta · #**18275** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 2:52 AM**

$100M loan from USDOT's TIFIA program to help build the Riverwalk out into the Chicago River. Done by the end of 2016. Not too shabby!

ardecila · #**18276** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 2:56 AM**

The Riverwalk needs to be finished, but it's not a transportation project, and it shouldn't be getting transportation funds. Even the Bloomingdale is arguably a bike path, but the Riverwalk will be a crowded esplanade jammed with tourists and Loop workers strolling; not really a quick or fast route to get across the Loop. I haven't seen a bike path in any of the renderings, either.

BorisMolotov · #**18277** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 4:49 AM**

Quote:

Kohl's is a department store. People tend to lose that association because you typically don't find them connected to malls or in downtowns. Though it would be nice to have them on State Street as another anchor.

Really? Every single one in Illinois or Wisconsin that I know of (have been to) has been either directly attached to or in the same complex as a mall.

LouisVanDerWright · #**18278** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 1:08 PM**

Did anyone else notice that they restored the brick on that really funky modernist building just north of Roscoe and LSD to it's original red/orange and grey high contrast coloring? It was painted all grey for quite some time and all of the sudden the red is back.

Vlajos · #**18279** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 1:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Great great news.

..

Awesome!

Steely Dan · #**18280** Posted **Mar 29, 2013, 1:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

The Riverwalk needs to be finished, but it's not a transportation project, and it shouldn't be getting transportation funds. Even the Bloomingdale is arguably a bike path, but the Riverwalk will be a crowded esplanade jammed with tourists and Loop workers strolling; not really a quick or fast route to get across the Loop. I haven't seen a bike path in any of the renderings, either.

a project does not need to have a bike path attached to it to be included in "transportation", pedestrian infrastructure counts too.