CHICAGO | General Developments

[Skyguy_7]

This is the section that will be steps from Wacker down to the water.

[ChiTownWonder]

I love how the river walk was designed, its not just a stretch of public walkways along the river, each section as a different little theme to it, and whoever designed or came up with the idea is genius. maybe the river walk will go down to south branch someday! but ill just keep dreaming

[george]

7/13

151-155 N Michigan Ave

[SamInTheLoop]

^^ Couldn't agree more - it is going to be our next great public space, and a major league attraction

^ Someone mentioned it before, and it's worth repeating - this redevelopment is taking forever......you'd think this was a two person construction crew with the pace it's been clocking....

[the urban politician]

Hmm.. I'm gonna take a wait and see approach on the river walk. Yes I'm sure it will be very nice, but I'm not sure how much it will be used. Will it be on the order of a Millennium Park? That's asking for a lot of this space, especially in the depths of winter.

[woodrow]

^^I can tell you right now that the sections of the Riverwalk that are completed are heavily used, more so in the summer. It will probably not be on the order of Millenium Park, but I don't think that should be the comparison.

[Rizzo]

I was on goose island this evening and noticed the division st bridge near halsted is now gone.

[ardecila]

Yeah I saw them scrapping it last Friday. Still no word from CDOT on what the replacement will look like. A few years ago, the plan was to clone the Halsted arch design...

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by Hayward

I was on goose island this evening and noticed the division st bridge near halsted is now gone.

Yeah, and it's a major fucking inconvenience too! I use Division often, and the detour over the river via either Chicago or North fucking sucks. Counting the days till it's replaced.

[Mr Downtown]

I'm puzzled that they're going to build a temporary replacement bridge and sometime later build the replacement. I don't even know if they've identified funding for the new permanent bridge yet, nor do I know how they can have a fixed interim bridge but need a moveable permanent one. The old one must have been in really bad shape. From the city press release:

Built in 1903, the double-leaf bascule movable bridge has reached the end of its useful life and is in need of a full replacement. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is undertaking a $6 million project to demolish the current structure and replace it with a fixed-span interim bridge until a permanent bascule one is constructed.

[wierdaaron]

Maybe that can be the first thing they make in their "digital manufacturing lab". 3D printed bridge.

[Kenmore]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Hmm.. I'm gonna take a wait and see approach on the river walk. Yes I'm sure it will be very nice, but I'm not sure how much it will be used. Will it be on the order of a Millennium Park? That's asking for a lot of this space, especially in the depths of winter.

just looking at the plans, the area further west near the confluence is going to be epic in a few years once it and the nearby high-rises are complete. I work at 333and already look forward to eating my lunch down there

[Skyguy_7]

^I'm sure you share the sentiment of many in your office as well as those in the buildings (and future buildings) nearby. People don't congregate at the river now because it's dirty and disorganized. I'm referring specifically to the section between Lake and Franklin. Once the project is complete, you'll have a tough time finding a seat at noon!

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Hmm.. I'm gonna take a wait and see approach on the river walk. Yes I'm sure it will be very nice, but I'm not sure how much it will be used. Will it be on the order of a Millennium Park? That's asking for a lot of this space, especially in the depths of winter.

I won't be surprised if it gets as much use as Millennium Park. The best views in the city are on that river. As long as there are some cool things to do there this park will be packed.

[wierdaaron]

I like this Sun Times piece that examines the riverwalk construction and potential strategies for keeping it attractive.

Don’t spoil Chicago Riverwalk work; serve beer when it opens

He says they should make it a semi food destination with popular local things that you wouldn't usually see downtown like rainbow cone, and also sell beer like they do in millennium park. I think that's a pretty good idea. If they had real local stuff rather than tourist crap like they do on navy pier, then it would get used by both tour bus people AND people who work/live downtown, rather than just the first.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by woodrow

^^I can tell you right now that the sections of the Riverwalk that are completed are heavily used, more so in the summer. It will probably not be on the order of Millenium Park, but I don't think that should be the comparison.

Agreed. For one thing theres very little public space to begin with in that portion of the Loop. Even finding somewhere to just sit and have lunch on a nice day is tricky unless you want to walk down to Daley Plaza. Look how heavily the promenade at 300 N. LaSalle is used on nice days...this will basically bring that level of design to the south side of the river and offer pedestrians and office workers an escape they never quite had before. Cant come soon enough.

[wierdaaron]

Speaking of places to sit, there's a pretty definite shortage of them in river north. Needed to kill about half an hour with some friends before a bar opened a few weekends ago, and I kept thinking surely there's a small park or something around here I just never noticed... nope. I actually thought about the Vietnam memorial park across the river but I didn't want to have to backtrack just for a place to sit down.

The river north post office will fake you out because the front of it has trees and landscaping, but no benches or anything. I think the closest actual park to where we were and within river north would have been Montgomery Ward Park, probably a mile or so away. Since it's parking lot whackamole in that area these days, I hope someone can turn at least one of those into a public space.

More parks pls.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Speaking of places to sit, there's a pretty definite shortage of them in river north. Needed to kill about half an hour with some friends before a bar opened a few weekends ago, and I kept thinking surely there's a small park or something around here I just never noticed... nope. I actually thought about the Vietnam memorial park across the river but I didn't want to have to backtrack just for a place to sit down.

The river north post office will fake you out because the front of it has trees and landscaping, but no benches or anything. I think the closest actual park to where we were and within river north would have been Montgomery Ward Park, probably a mile or so away. Since it's parking lot whackamole in that area these days, I hope someone can turn at least one of those into a public space.

More parks pls.

Yup. And I mean inevitably when this discussion comes up there will be those who cry "its the Loop, this isnt the place for a park!" but I mean really, its those little escapes that make a city livable and downtown chicago/river north has very few options unless you happen to be near the lake or the government buildings. i would kill for more pocket parks in the core. a few wrought iron chairs, tables, and handful of shady trees...its not rocket science.

it does seem like once this project as well as the incoming office buildings along wacker get finished things will be much better.

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Speaking of places to sit, there's a pretty definite shortage of them in river north. Needed to kill about half an hour with some friends before a bar opened a few weekends ago, and I kept thinking surely there's a small park or something around here I just never noticed... nope. I actually thought about the Vietnam memorial park across the river but I didn't want to have to backtrack just for a place to sit down.

The river north post office will fake you out because the front of it has trees and landscaping, but no benches or anything. I think the closest actual park to where we were and within river north would have been Montgomery Ward Park, probably a mile or so away. Since it's parking lot whackamole in that area these days, I hope someone can turn at least one of those into a public space.

More parks pls.

Yeah I feel like they should just move the post office someplace else and turn that whole block into a park

[emathias]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Speaking of places to sit, there's a pretty definite shortage of them in river north. Needed to kill about half an hour with some friends before a bar opened a few weekends ago, and I kept thinking surely there's a small park or something around here I just never noticed... nope. I actually thought about the Vietnam memorial park across the river but I didn't want to have to backtrack just for a place to sit down.
...

Yeah, River North definitely needs more parks and/or plazas.

Ward Park is a decent park but not exactly near much most people are going to.

When the HoJo building is complete it will have a small park-like area at Wells/Superior.
When 212 W Illinois is done, there will be a little space on the northeast corner of Illinois/Franklin.

Other places that are not parks, but you can also sit:

Lasalle/Kinzie, southeast and northwest corners, by those two apartment buildings there
Lasalle/River, west in the landscaping of the 350 N Lasalle building
Huron/Rush, southwest corner, plaza behind St. James Episcopal church
State/Grand, southeast corner, plaza by the AMA building
Superior, between Franklin and Wells, north side of the street a few benches
Wells, block north of Chicago Ave, east side of street, benches with Moody Bible
State, just south of Chicago Ave, Holy Name steps
Orleans, between Ohio and Ontario, around the sculpture by the highway exit
Carroll, between Clark and Dearborn, plaza-ish
State and the River, IBM plaza between State and Wabash
Clark/Ohio, benches outside Rainforest Cafe
Ontario/Clark/ benches outside McDonalds
Lasalle/Erie, parkway landscaping on west side of Lasalle outside 630 N Lasalle
Ontario and Dearborn, northwest corner, Castle nightclub steps (during the day)
Huron/Clark, southwest corner, windowsills just west of entrance to Hotel Felix
Illinois south side between Clark and Dearborn, by fire house

Places I think public plazas should be installed (maybe not all of these sites but a good chunk of them, well-distributed):

Kingsbury/Hubbard, that triangle parking lot across from the East Bank Club
The entire block where the Post Office is bounded by Dearborn, Clark, Grand and Ohio
The loading dock on the north side of Illinois between Lasalle and Wells
The half block on the east side of Wells between Huron and Erie
Parking lot on southwest corner of State and Huron
Parking lot on southwest corner of State and Erie
Long plaza built over lower Carroll from Wells to Clark
Something among the surface lots between Huron and Erie, Sedgwick and Franklin