CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[the urban politician]

^ This will change with Vista Tower, which finally creates a through street between Wacker and Randolph.

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed but Streeterville's retail and dining options have steadily been increasing. The issue there was the lack of people. That's changing fast

[harryc]

June 1

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ This will change with Vista Tower, which finally creates a through street between Wacker and Randolph.

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed but Streeterville's retail and dining options have steadily been increasing. The issue there was the lack of people. That's changing fast

I don't buy it re: Streeterville. St Clair is chock a block with restaurants because it's also chock a block with budget hotels and right next to one of the city's biggest hospitals. All those people need to eat. East of St Clair, though, there isn't very much, and east of Fairbanks it's a ghost town.

Green River is hands down one of my favorite places in the city, but it definitely feels remote from other entertainment options and I'm not sure people are keen on going to a restaurant inside a hospital...

[harryc]

June 3

[FrankLloydWrong]

News on Harper Court phase 2.


https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2017...-polsky-center

[harryc]

Niche 905




Next


S&L Condos


833 N Clark

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I don't buy it re: Streeterville. St Clair is chock a block with restaurants because it's also chock a block with budget hotels and right next to one of the city's biggest hospitals. All those people need to eat. East of St Clair, though, there isn't very much, and east of Fairbanks it's a ghost town.

Green River is hands down one of my favorite places in the city, but it definitely feels remote from other entertainment options and I'm not sure people are keen on going to a restaurant inside a hospital...

Are you kidding? Several retail options have been added in recent years that simply weren't there before.

Sure it will never be Rush St, but the activity and options are definitely much greater than they were, say, 10 years ago

[the urban politician]

Niche 905 turned out pretty nice

[bgsrand]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Niche 905 turned out pretty nice

I feel like it is a carbon copy of of the Parc Huron at Kingsbury/Huron, with a slightly different podium and cladding. I agree though that it turned out nicely.

[Stunnies23]

S&L condos paint job looks terribly jumbled from that picture.

[ithakas]

I think the answer with Streeterville lies somewhere in between – much better than 10 years ago, but still a ways to go...

I have to imagine that between Moment, 465 N Park, One Bennett Park, and Optima II, it will make another leap over the next couple years. The MCA is building a restaurant called Marisol in its ground floor, which looks like it will be great.

It's bizarre to me that areas like Streeterville, Printers Row, Michigan Ave south of Adams, etc. don't have more restaurants. I get why everyone wants to crowd into the West Loop, but there's a high density of affluent people in these neighborhoods with relatively few options.

[chrisvfr800i]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Niche 905 turned out pretty nice

I agree 905 looks great, but that CTA el structure is pitiful.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ithakas

I think the answer with Streeterville lies somewhere in between – much better than 10 years ago, but still a ways to go...

I have to imagine that between Moment, 465 N Park, One Bennett Park, and Optima II, it will make another leap over the next couple years. The MCA is building a restaurant called Marisol in its ground floor, which looks like it will be great.

It's bizarre to me that areas like Streeterville, Printers Row, Michigan Ave south of Adams, etc. don't have more restaurants. I get why everyone wants to crowd into the West Loop, but there's a high density of affluent people in these neighborhoods with relatively few options.

It's the lack of fine-grained cityscape. The part of Streeterville with restaurants are the parts with finer-grained cityscapes - Ontario, St. Clair, Ohio. So much of the rest of it is monolithic and imposing.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by chrisvfr800i

I agree 905 looks great, but that CTA el structure is pitiful.

They repainted the structure south of Chicago, when will they repaint the portion north of Chicago?

[KWILLSKYLINE]

Originally Posted by chrisvfr800i

I agree 905 looks great, but that CTA el structure is pitiful.

Agreed. I enjoy the contrast in Harry's picture of new vs. old but those things are just a sad sight. C'mon Chicago, go buy a couple million buckets of that sweet maroon paint so that the rest of our tracks can look as sharp as Wabash and the bridges.

[Near North Resident]

Originally Posted by KWILLSKYLINE

Agreed. I enjoy the contrast in Harry's picture of new vs. old but those things are just a sad sight. C'mon Chicago, go buy a couple million buckets of that sweet maroon paint so that the rest of our tracks can look as sharp as Wabash and the bridges.

They use a Beige paint on most of the redone el tracks, maroon seems to be for bridges only and parts the loop

[maru2501]

Franklin L is largely a joke. Really bad looking right now

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by emathias

It's the lack of fine-grained cityscape. The part of Streeterville with restaurants are the parts with finer-grained cityscapes - Ontario, St. Clair, Ohio. So much of the rest of it is monolithic and imposing.

yup. and this ties in perfectly with my criticisms of the current trend towards jumbo-size master developments over fine grained. youre not going to get that nice mix of both good cheap eats and trendy stuff when all you have are the retail spaces in the bases of gargantuan imposing luxury condo buildings to choose from

look at how much commerce a strip like 26th street does. its second only to Michigan Ave. theyre small individual sales, but a LOT of them sure do add up. in fact id argue its far more vibrant that any area of the south loop despite being largely comprised of 2-3 flats and SFHs. density is important, but without a wide spread and mix of both retail spaces and rent prices to choose from, youre going to wind up with a bland monoculture that caters only to "sure things" and nothing else.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

look at how much commerce a strip like 26th street does. its second only to Michigan Ave. theyre small individual sales, but a LOT of them sure do add up. in fact id argue its far more vibrant that any area of the south loop despite being largely comprised of 2-3 flats and SFHs.

Yeah, but the density of the neighborhood (or relative lack of density) has nothing to do with the success of 26th Street. It's a destination for Mexicans across Chicagoland and the Midwest, just as Michigan Avenue is a destination for wealthier tourists and suburbanites. There's constantly outsiders cycling through that business district and bringing in money. Hell, I'm one of them - I have to go there to pay my rent even though I live 4 miles east in Pilsen, and I usually eat a taco or pick up some beer at Moreno's.

It's not possible to have that level of economic activity if you're only serving local neighborhood demand, whether that neighborhood is lowrise Little Village or skyscraping Lakeshore East. Likewise, it's not possible for every neighborhood to be a destination. That gives people a choice, they can live in the center of the bustle at a place like Marina City, or they can live in the quiet environs of Lakeshore East. Having that range of choices makes downtown living more appealing for everybody.

[LouisVanDerWright]

LSE will NEVER have that kind of hustle and bustle and it has nothing to do with being a planned development or highrises or any of that crap. It's got the park to the South, LSD and the Lake to the East, the River to the North, and Illinois Center to the West. In what world is that conducive to a vibrant retail or restaurant scene? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here, what about a totally isolated residential only community dovetailed into an overly complicated multilevel street system is screaming "vibrant retail environment" to you guys? This is like asking why no one builds a Walmart fronting a cul du sac in a suburban subdivision. It simply makes no sense, Walmart wants ease of access and visibility to traffic, they aren't going to tuck it away in some quiet tree lined street. They are going to plop it down at the biggest intersection of 8 lane suburban "mini highways" where the street light creates a 20 min backup so you may as well drop in to Walmart when you wait.

Same with LSE, the restaurant and retail industries are tough enough as it is. These owners are not going to build multiple competing businesses in a sleepy corner of downtown in hopes of making a buck off the residents immediately adjacent to their store. That's not what drives retail or hospitality period. These uses want to be next to a busy subway stop, the largest high street in the area, or just off the on/off ramp that feeds all of downtown. That's why all those uses stick to River North and Michigan Ave.