CHICAGO | General Developments

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Cool to see a TOD new-build on a narrow, single-parcel site like this. If it's successful it can be a new pro forma for developers to follow. There's a lot just south of the Sedgwick stop of the Brown Line that could follow suit. These can probably only be built with no parking (at this unit density, anyway).

Visually, though, it's a dog. What's with the jumbo scale of these things? Is it the result of modern code requirements (and the requisite plenum space, or something)? It makes for a lot of opaque expanses of facade material. The swimming pool illusion is an -- um -- inventive solution for that.

I’ve seen builders avoiding the TOD route even when eligible to avoid having to include affordable housing. The former MB Bank at Armitage and Western is one example. That project includes parking yet is 1,000 feet from the train station.

[harryc]

Aug 27

[harryc]

Aug 28

Rehab under way - one of the supers said it was a Hyatt conversion.





Steel - can't be naked.


Chicago Fire-proof brick - these interlocking terracotta tile fit very snugly between the steel beams to form the floor.

[harryc]

Sept 3

Continuing my tradition of partially completed Calatrava works.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Cool to see a TOD new-build on a narrow, single-parcel site like this. If it's successful it can be a new pro forma for developers to follow. There's a lot just south of the Sedgwick stop of the Brown Line that could follow suit. These can probably only be built with no parking (at this unit density, anyway).

Visually, though, it's a dog. What's with the jumbo scale of these things? Is it the result of modern code requirements (and the requisite plenum space, or something)? It makes for a lot of opaque expanses of facade material. The swimming pool illusion is an -- um -- inventive solution for that.

There's no plenum in a residential building. I honestly don't see more "opaque expanses" than the average 1910s tenement building.

Code requires a very tall floor-to-floor height on the ground floor if retail is planned... all things equal, this will boost the height of a new 4-story building over the height of an old 4-story building.

It does appear that the residential floors in this proposal also have a pretty tall floor to floor height... this is probably just a design decision to provide loft style space with enormous windows. These won't be cheap units.

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

I’ve seen builders avoiding the TOD route even when eligible to avoid having to include affordable housing. The former MB Bank at Armitage and Western is one example. That project includes parking yet is 1,000 feet from the train station.

I don't think affordable housing is part of the calculus for TOD. Affordable requirements are tied to the number of units - if you need an upzoning and you are building 10 units or more, the affordable requirements kick in (requirements vary by location). If your zoning already allows your desired number of units, then your 100% reduction in parking can be done through a Special Use at ZBA without any affordable requirements.

I don't see any rezonings for the MB drive-thru parcel, but I do see two ZBA appeals in 2020 so maybe they went for the TOD after all. I can't see the ZBA to confirm because they literally haven't posted their agendas online since 2015...

EDIT: looks like the ZBA appeals were to reduce their setbacks so they could fill the lot. I think the decision to build all the parking and not seek TOD is just a business decision that preserves the developer's ability to sell the units as condos. Even now, developers won't build condos without at least one parking space per unit.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/01...ared-them-out/

[ardecila]

Pilsen Gateway (14th/Blue Island)






Southbridge (Ickes Redevelopment)




Chinatown Hotel (Wentworth/23rd Pl)

[Skyy]

Originally Posted by harryc

Sept 3

Continuing my tradition of partially completed Calatrava works.

I appreciate his persistence with the spiral motif

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Southbridge (Ickes Redevelopment)

hmm wow I guess I haven't been over there in a while (even though I was in Chinatown today). This development will really change the feel of State/Cermak.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

hmm wow I guess I haven't been over there in a while (even though I was in Chinatown today). This development will really change the feel of State/Cermak.

The corner of State/Cermak will still be empty for awhile... these midrises are between 23rd/24th Sts.

With the way these CHA redevelopments have dragged on, I wouldn't be surprised if the highrise at State/Cermak isn't started for another 15 years... ParkSide of Old Town (i.e. Cabrini Green South) still isn't done and they started before the Great Recession, not to mention Cabrini Green North. At Ickes, CHA started kicking tenants out in 2007, so it's gonna be at least 14 years of waiting for those residents to move back (realistically, it will be a new crop of needy tenants).

[RedCorsair87]

https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/09...-in-west-loop/

Impressive

[brian_b]

Originally Posted by ardecila

The corner of State/Cermak will still be empty for awhile... these midrises are between 23rd/24th Sts.

With the way these CHA redevelopments have dragged on, I wouldn't be surprised if the highrise at State/Cermak isn't started for another 15 years... ParkSide of Old Town (i.e. Cabrini Green South) still isn't done and they started before the Great Recession, not to mention Cabrini Green North. At Ickes, CHA started kicking tenants out in 2007, so it's gonna be at least 14 years of waiting for those residents to move back (realistically, it will be a new crop of needy tenants).

A lot of students at NTA Elementary, right next door, are from former Ickes families that haven't given up on the promise to be able to return. I'd say these buildings will be full the moment they are finished, and the Alderman and community is in favor of the development.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by RedCorsair87

https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/09...-in-west-loop/

Impressive

...Impressively anti-urban. Kinda looks like a dumbed down version of those gimmicky garages going up in Miami.


Source: Streetsblog Chicago

[Suburban Shadow]

Originally Posted by brian_b

A lot of students at NTA Elementary, right next door, are from former Ickes families that haven't given up on the promise to be able to return. I'd say these buildings will be full the moment they are finished, and the Alderman and community is in favor of the development.

I don't think they can delay building these units any longer. The end the 50+ year old ‘Gautreaux’ Desegregation Lawsuit they need to complete all currently planned mixed use developments by July 2024.

I cannot find much detail, but here is the story.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...221-story.html

[ardecila]

LOL. Their entire plan relied on selling expensive market-rate units to subsidize the affordable/CHA units.

Unfortunately it's a terrible market for condos or even townhouses, and market-rate buyers are not just a pinata full of cash waiting to be busted open. They have lots of choices in Chicago and don't want to move into a bombed out urban renewal wasteland when there are actual vibrant neighborhoods available, or amenities like the lakefront.

No way they can complete all the units by 2024. If they were serious about it, they would have identified new sources of revenue to build more housing that is purely CHA. Even the developments in semi-decent locations like Cabrini, Roosevelt Square and Oakwood Shores have stalled out, places where market-rate buyers might conceivably move in. What hope do they have for rebuilding Stateway Gardens or LeClaire Courts?

[mark0]

"market-rate buyers are not just a pinata full of cash waiting to be busted open"

LOL you must be new to Illinois.

[harryc]

Sept 14

[Skyguy_7]

Beautiful vertical addition! Well done.

[harryc]

Sept 14

[jc5680]

Steppenwolf

[mark0]

Was really hoping for something better than a 90's LA styled design on the Steppenwolf. The concrete is very interesting but the whole composition seems off, will wait until complete to criticize.