CHICAGO | General Developments - Page 935

george · #**18681** Posted **May 1, 2013, 9:17 PM**

This Wendy's is a company owned store and they have been very unresponsive to development or sale of their property as of yet... but everyone has a price.
The crane boom started coming down today.

ardecila · #**18682** Posted **May 1, 2013, 10:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ et al. Sad to say my initial snap reaction was my stomach talking.....let's identify an urban-appropriate replacement space for Wendy's before the current one yields to a tower of Wendy's.....those old-fashioned hamburgers, those broccoli and cheese potatoes, that chili, mmmmm.....man I wish there were still one on Wabash.......and, this would be why I need to drop a good 30-odd lbs!

Seriously.

How about one of these? Obviously sans drive-thru or with a shrunken one...

Busy Bee · #**18683** Posted **May 1, 2013, 10:54 PM**

Asiiiiaaaggggoo, mmmm...

untitledreality · #**18684** Posted **May 2, 2013, 4:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by george

1601 W Division

She sure is a pretty lady, now if only we could get some friends of hers to make their way into the neighborhood.

the urban politician · #**18685** Posted **May 2, 2013, 12:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Seriously.

How about one of these? Obviously sans drive-thru or with a shrunken one...

Uhhhh... how about NO!!?

Tom Servo · #**18686** Posted **May 2, 2013, 1:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Seriously.

How about one of these? Obviously sans drive-thru or with a shrunken one...

expensive materials and fancy finishes doesn't change the fact that suburban architecture has NO place in the inner-city.

SamInTheLoop · #**18687** Posted **May 2, 2013, 5:47 PM**

Sun-Times reported on Tuesday that construction has indeed halted due to the state grant/'small world contracting' scandal.

Also, yesterday UNO teachers voted to join the union. So, all in all, not the absolute best of weeks for Juan & Co.!

Rizzo · #**18688** Posted **May 2, 2013, 7:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Uhhhh... how about NO!!?

Minus drive-thru and parking, the building itself is superior architecture to lots of stuff that gets built in Chicago out of precast and paint

wierdaaron · #**18689** Posted **May 2, 2013, 7:22 PM**

I'm not familiar with that area, but it seems like a waste to knock down a one-story single-purpose structure to build another one-story single-purpose structure.

the urban politician · #**18690** Posted **May 2, 2013, 7:29 PM**

^ Tell that to McDonald's, who has been doing that all over the country for decades.

wierdaaron · #**18691** Posted **May 2, 2013, 7:38 PM**

^ That's true, I guess. I don't get to the northern neighborhoods too often, but I can remember seeing a fair share of single-story drive-through McDonalds around there.

Just seems that if you're in an area where multi-level buildings are viable and common and you own the land, not using it to its potential is bad business. Then again, I can imagine not wanting to take on the risk of owning a larger development when all you want to do is cook some burgers.

george · #**18692** Posted **May 2, 2013, 8:29 PM**

4-30

Argo Tea is fronting the bill to rehab Connors Park

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130...#ixzz2SAX39BrE

george · #**18693** Posted **May 3, 2013, 12:20 AM**

4-30

Fulton Market

ardecila · #**18694** Posted **May 3, 2013, 8:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

I'm not familiar with that area, but it seems like a waste to knock down a one-story single-purpose structure to build another one-story single-purpose structure.

Fast food chains typically reclad whenever possible, unless they need a dramatically larger building or addition/expansion of the drive-thru.

I do admit, it's pretty unusual to see fast food chains build their prototype single-story design without drive-thru or parking. The only one I can think of is the McD's at Chicago/State. Usually if the area's dense enough to go without parking/drivethru, it's dense enough that the chain will open as a tenant in a multistory building.

the urban politician · #**18695** Posted **May 3, 2013, 12:42 PM**

^ The worst is that 'Rock n Roll McDonald's' that was rebuilt several years ago. Yes, it's an improvement over what was there before, but what a colossal waste of real estate that is. Seriously, McDonald's is so caught up on the American car culture, I don't understand why they think they need drive thrus in downtown Chicago when they have drive thrus in 99.99% of their stores in the rest of the country. They could easily do what they are doing across from Wrigley--sell off the real estate for millions with a clause to lease back a large ground level McDonald's, and still make a ton of revenue.

I wonder if a developer has ever approached them with this idea? Problem is, they just rebuilt their store recently so I doubt anything would ever happen with this site for at least another 10-20 years...

Tom Servo · #**18696** Posted **May 3, 2013, 1:31 PM**

it's hard to think of a building worse than rock n roll McDonalds... i mean, we have no shortage of terrible buildings and wasted opportunities, but r and r McDonalds just plagues that whole area; it (as a center piece), portillos, rainforest, hard rock, walgreens, the gas station, and the surface lot behind it are just a giant cancer in the center city. if i had magical powers to change shit, this would be first! all of that is something i'd except in downtown dallas or atlanta or something, but not here.
sorry for beating a dead horse as i think we're all in agreement on this one...

J_M_Tungsten · #**18697** Posted **May 3, 2013, 1:54 PM**

The thing that kills me more than the actual McDonalds itself, is the ridiculous parking lot that lines Lasalle. If anything, they should sell off that lot for development and keep their precious drive through and two story McDonalds. Another thing that kills that area are the shit hotels; Ohio house, Best Western, and HOJO to name a few. I once saw a group of people spitting from the 4th floor down to the street out of the Best Western. Cheap hotels can bring in trashy people. I'm always so disappointed when I go through this area, but at least you can get out quickly and get into the beige forest of River North lol.

i_am_hydrogen · #**18698** Posted **May 3, 2013, 3:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

it's hard to think of a building worse than rock n roll McDonalds... i mean, we have no shortage of terrible buildings and wasted opportunities, but r and r McDonalds just plagues that whole area; it (as a center piece), portillos, rainforest, hard rock, walgreens, the gas station, and the surface lot behind it are just a giant cancer in the center city. if i had magical powers to change shit, this would be first! all of that is something i'd except in downtown dallas or atlanta or something, but not here.
sorry for beating a dead horse as i think we're all in agreement on this one...

Yeah, that area represents a bygone era of Chicago tourism (pre-Millennium Park) when going to Hard Rock or Rock N Roll McDonald's was the fun thing for people to do when they came to town. It's in need of a serious makeover.

wierdaaron · #**18699** Posted **May 3, 2013, 3:13 PM**

I worked right next door to Ed Debevics for a year and a half and I saw a constant stream of charter busses and school busses dumping untold thousands of patrons there, RnR McDonalds, Hard Rock, and Portillos every day.

Tacky as hell, but they're making gobs of money still, I'm sure.

PerryPendleton · #**18700** Posted **May 3, 2013, 3:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Yeah, that area represents a bygone era of Chicago tourism (pre-Millennium Park) when going to Hard Rock or Rock N Roll McDonald's was the fun thing for people to do when they came to town. It's in need of a serious makeover.

This area with those vacant lots make my head spin. Such an amazing section of the city that is polluted by vacant lots, crap hotels and those ridiculous restaurants.

In any case, if they developed the surface lots then all that crap would be dwarfed. Why can someone not build on them!