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al32richards · 3 years

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Fulton River District In Line For Another Skyscraper

January, 2022 rendering of 527 West Kinzie Street

There are plans for another new skyscraper along the Chicago River.

The latest proposal is at 527 West Kinzie Street. You may know this location as the pie-shaped surface parking lot favored by 20-somethings taking gritty urban pictures of their avant-garde fashions to fill out their art school portfolios. Or you may know it as the pie-shaped surface parking lot just behind the Harry Weese’s beloved River Cottages along the North Branch of the river. Or you may have stood in this parking lot taking pictures of the old William J. Cassidy Tire Company warehouse, back when we we thought it was going to be replaced by a new skyscraper at any minute now.

The new plan is from Vornado, the company that used to sell me rust-colored corduroy dungarees when I was a child, but is now a billion-dollar real estate developer.

Vornado’s new building on the southwest corner of West Kinzie Street and North Canal Street is expected to be 26-stories tall, with 288 new homes for people, and 81 new homes for their cars. This is significantly smaller than the maximums that City Council approved for this space back in June of 2020, so the design does not need any further approval.

Because of the curving Chicago and North Western train tracks bordering the south side of this property, the building footprint will retain the parking lot’s pie shape. This will be most visible in the parking podium pool patio’s prow. Believe it or not, that rail line is still not officially abandoned, and there are people who still believe that one day it will live up to its potential ferrying commuters and tourists between Union Station and the Magnificent Mile. The Cubs won a world series, so anything can happen in Chicago.

So what ever happened to the 33-story SCB-designed residential skyscraper that was supposed to be next door replacing the tire warehouse? According to a recent e-mail from 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, that is still coming. It was approved by City Council almost 20 moons ago, but as far as we’ve seen, no permits have been issued for it yet.

Address: 527 West Kinzie Street

Developer: Vornado Realty Trust

Architecture firm: Pappageorge Haymes

Floors: 26

Size: 249, 338 square feet (330,000 maximum allowed)

Floor area ratio: 9.5 (12.6 maximum allowed)

Height

Maximum: 290 feet (365 allowed)

Mechanical penthouse: 285 feet (340 allowed)

Roof: 275 feet, 11 inches

Residences: 288

Average residence size: 833 square feet

Parking

Automobile: 81 spaces (228 maximum allowed)

Bicycle: 200 spaces

Loading docks: One

January, 2022 rendering of 527 West Kinzie Street

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/30/fulton-river-district-in-line-for-another-skyscraper/

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al32richards · 3 years

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West Town Skyscraper Plan Gets 124% Taller, Better Looking

Four months after the Bridgford Foods building in West Town was turned to dust, plans for its replacement have hit City Hall. Again.

The plan for 170 North Green Street has been tweaked before; most recently in 2017. The 2022 version is much taller, and better looking than what was presented back then. Much like your high school boyfriend.

January, 2022 diagram of 170 North Green.

The building’s height has gone from 210 feet to 470 feet. The number of apartments has been reduced from 314 to 275, but a hotel and office space have been added. Also, the new architect on this one is the Lamar Johnson Collaborative. Here’s the revised details of this revised project:

Address: 170 North Green Street

Zoning: RBPD 1354 → DX-7 → RBPD 1354 (amended)

Architecture firm: Lamar Johnson Collaborative

Net site area: 62,600 square feet

Floor area ratio: 11.5 (7.0 base + 4.5 bonus)

Floors: 40

Height

Maximum: 470 feet

Roof: 455 feet

Tower setback: 14th floor/182 feet

Maximum residences: 275

Affordable housing obligation: 55 units

Parking

Automobile: 235 spaces

Bicycle: 97 spaces

Loading docks: 2

January, 2022 diagram of 170 North Green.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/26/west-town-skyscraper-plan-gets-124-taller-better-looking/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Naysayers Take Note: 1000M About to Go Vertical

It was just last week I was in a discussion with some residents of one particular southern American city who refused to believe that Chicago kept building skyscrapers throughout the pandemic. When I told them that work was underway on a 73-story residential building, they said “Prove it.” O.K., McHugh Concrete just did.

January 22, 2022 concrete pour at 1000M. (Courtesy of McHugh Concrete.)

McHugh just spent nine straight hours pouring concrete into a hole at 1000 South Michigan Avenue, completing the foundation for what will eventually be a 788-foot-tall apartment building. Suck it, haters.

Not that there hasn’t been plenty of 1000M angst in the Windy City. We’ve all had the oogies watching the building get repeatedly redesigned, resized, and re-started. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the Waterview Tower, and the Chicago Spire, it’s “don’t count your skyscrapers until they’re built.”

Still, it’s a major step forward in realizing the late Helmut Jahn’s vision for this space, and if it’s completed as he intended, its location will make it one of the most prominent buildings in the city’s skyline, even though it will only be 18th in rank.

“But wait,” we hear you say. “It’s only 788 feet tall now? And only 73 stories?” Yes, those are the numbers being used by McHugh Concrete. Apparently revised downward once again. And since McHugh has its hands on the plans, those are the numbers we’re working with right now.

Until the building is complete, and we can be certain of its stature, concentrate on these concrete factoids instead:

The foundation pour involved 4,000 cubic yards of concrete.

The concrete came in 400 truckloads.

The foundation includes 685 tons of steel rebar.

The foundation’s caissons are 87 feet deep.

January 22, 2022 concrete pour at 1000M. (Courtesy of McHugh Concrete.)

January, 2022 rendering of 1000M (Rendering by Pictury. Courtesy of JAHN.)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/25/naysayers-take-note-1000m-about-to-go-vertical/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Another West Town High Rise Tops Off

Sterling Bay and SOM have put yet another feather in Chicago’s West Town skyline. 345 North Morgan topped off recently at 11 floors.

Rendering of 345 North Morgan (Via Sterling Bay)

Eleven levels isn’t all that much when it comes to Chicago construction, but being hard up against a set of Metra tracks and a block-and-a-half off of Fulton Market, 11 stories is pretty good for a piece of what is essentially urban infill.

Since this is a SOM design, we shouldn’t be surprised that mere “infill” has been elevated to elegant. Like many of its neighbors, it is reminiscent of the repurposed brick warehouses and soft lofts that have opened in the area recently. But 345 manages to be better. The renderings show it with lots of glass and natural light. The double-height archways of the first floor are repeated at the top of the building, below a rooftop event space. Instead of wide expanses of glass, we get more human-scale grouped panes. It could be a bank. It could be a bookstore. It could be anything, and that’s reason enough to like it. It is sophisticated without being stuffy.

About the only place this building falls down is at the lower level brick wall facing the train tracks. It’s punctured by a half-dozen uneventful windows, seemingly located at random. From the outside, it’s a branding opportunity missed. From the inside, seeing the passenger trains creep by (because at this point in the ride, they do indeed creep), would have injected energy and whimsy into the space in a way that few other things could.

To be sure, the gulf between renderings and reality is as wide as Upper Peoria Lake, and twice as ugly. But we have high hopes for this one, simply because of its pedigree.

Rendering of 345 North Morgan (Via Sterling Bay)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/18/another-west-town-high-rise-tops-off/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Three Building Plan Brings 600-Foot-Tall Skyscraper to Fulton Market

When we first started this publication almost 20 years ago, 15 stories was considered to be a huge building for Fulton Market. Now, people don’t even notice when a 25-story tower goes up. But they will notice the newest skyscraper planned for what used to be Chicago’s meat packing district: a 50-story apartment/hotel block designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.

January, 2022 drawing of 1200 West Fulton Market.

The new structure will climb to 600 feet, and house 500 apartments, and a 200-room hotel. It’s part of a three-building complex expected to wipe away any memories of the food distributors who used to call this block home. Many of them decamped for the Pilsen/Bridgeport area when the property was put into play back in the year David Bowie records suddenly became very hard to get.

The other two buildings are 25-story and 10-story office buildings. The smaller of the two sports a gabled roof that is kinda-sorta reminiscent of the Loyola University Law Center. The larger one is the stack of glass blocks atop a soft loft podium that is becoming a recurring theme in downtown Chicago.

This new plan replaces a much smaller three-building plan that we told you about back in 2016, and another three-building plan that we told you about in 2019. With a new developer, and new architecture firm, we’ll see if the third time is the charm for three-building plans.

January, 2022 drawing of 1200 West Fulton Market.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/13/three-building-plan-brings-600-foot-tall-skyscraper-to-fulton-market/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Shedd Aquarium Splashes Half-Billion Dollar Renovation Plan

One of Chicago’s best attractions wants to shell out big clams to lure in new visitors. The Shedd Aquarium has announced its Centennial Commitment, in which it plans to spend $500,000,000 renovating the aquatic life museum. It’s called “Centennial” because the idea is to have it done in time for the aquarium’s 100th anniversary.

Shedd Aquarium (file)

We waded through the “advance solutions,” “authentic conversations,” “springboards to inquiry,” and “informed conservation solutions” nonsense in the Shedd’s press release about the renovation, and here’s the facts distilled in plain, non-Medill, English:

New exhibits

Modernized galleries

“Dedicated community spaces” — Which could be anything.

“Digital engagements” — Which probably means streaming video and maybe some web stuff. VR, maybe, if that really does become a thing in a decade or two.

“Advancements in… animal care and welfare” — This should have been first on the list.

Improved animal habitats for the 25,000 things that live there today.

Better accessibility

“Increase Shedd’s capacity to respond to more wildlife in crisis” — You’re gonna need a bigger boat.

More research

Better landscaping

Restoration of the historic galleries

We’ll be sad if any of the historic galleries are changed too much. Walking through them with wide eyes, you see more than the fish. You can discern the way that people of the Shedd’s founding era viewed wildlife and brought it to the middle west. Some of the Shedd’s interiors are as much time capsules as the exterior is.

Also of significance to building nerds like us is the promise that the Shedd is going to re-open the windows that formerly allowed skyline views of downtown Chicago, and of Lake Michigan, from the Museum Campus.

The building renovation is being designed by Valerio Dewalt Train. Thinc Design is on critter patrol.

Don’t get your flippers in a flap just yet. The renovation is expected to take six years. Or eight years. We’ve heard both from the Shedd. So mark down both 2026 and 2030 to see the shiny new Shedd.

January, 2021 rendering of the Shedd Aquarium renovations (By Thinc/Visualized Concepts/Valerio Dewalt Train. Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium.)

January, 2021 rendering of the Shedd Aquarium renovations (By Thinc/Valerio Dewalt Train. Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium.)

January, 2021 rendering of the Shedd Aquarium renovations (By Valerio Dewalt Train/Visualized Concepts. Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium.)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/11/shedd-aquarium-splashes-half-billion-dollar-renovation-plan/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Harrowing Hancock! Chunk of Big John Impales Mag Mile

We’ve been in a cheesecake-induced coma for most of the extended Christmas holiday, and only just now crawling out from under the cozy warmth of six quilts, two afghans, and a cat. So what greets us as we fire up Netscape Navigator for the first time in a long time? A story in Blockclub Chicago that Big John has a major dandruff problem.

Long story short: A piece of the 100-story building’s facade broke off and fell onto the sidewalk below. It’s natural to try to rationalize that kind of behavior with thoughts like “Well, it’s just metal fatigue…” or “It’s an old building, things happen.” If you’re the kind of person who thinks this is not a big deal, take a deep breath. Close your eyes. And repeat after me: “A chunk… of a 100-story skyscraper… fell on the sidewalk.” Yes, it’s a big deal.

How big a deal this is will be left up to 875 North Michigan’s tenants, residents, insurance company, and hopefully the City of Chicago.

Stuff falling off of 875 isn’t unheard of.

On March 9th of 2002, high winds tore apart a scaffold hanging on the side of the building. The debris killed two woman, hurt eight other people, and crushed two cars.

Also, in the winter, sometimes ice accumulates on the side of the building, and on the two antenna masts on the roof. When the ice starts to melt, sometimes great avalanches of ice will slide down the sides of the sloped building, breaking windows. According to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling, the air at the top of the building is six degrees cooler than the air at ground level.

Replacing the windows in the former John Hancock Center is pretty straightforward. Most of them simply unbolt. Such a window replacement is how we were able to lean out of an apartment window and take tummy-tingling pictures of the street below.

Just hanging out… of the John Hancock Center. (file)

Checking our sister site, Chicago Architecture Info, yields the following interesting information about 875 North Michigan:

57 of this building’s caissons are sunk 200 feet into the ground, almost to the locaL bedrock. The other 182 go down as far as 88 feet.

In 1966, construction was halted for six months while the building’s caissons were inspected for flaws at a cost of $1,000,000. Two of the caissons had developed voids in them. Three others had foreign material in them. All five had to be repaired.

Comedian Chris Farley died in his apartment (#6002) on the 60th floor of this building on December 18, 1997.

A 20-foot-tall star used to be suspended between the building’s antennae during the Christmas season.

The exterior of the building’s 98th floor is lined with 500 eight-foot-tall lights. Colored tubes are put over them by hand to change the colors.

There is a time capsule at the top of the building. Among the items inside is a piece of Paris’ Eiffel Tower, sports and space memorabilia, and a letter from Mayor Richard J. Daley.

In the film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, this was the location of Mr. Shirley’s office.

From personal experience, we can say that the former John Hancock Center is one of the best-maintained buildings we’ve ever lived in. And we lived in more skyscrapers than Liz Taylor’s had husbands. But as we’ve written before, the tower isn’t without its flaws. Primary among them, for residents, is the fact that it’s on the lakefront. Where it’s windy a lot. And the building sways in the wind. And when it does, the residences creak like the galley of a wooden pirate ship. Many a night’s sleep is lost to the creeeeeak… pause… creeeeeak… pause… creeeeeaking of the building. Fortunately, we didn’t live far enough up in this galleon to get seasick. But the urban legend about water moving around in the toilets is absolutely true.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2022/01/10/harrowing-hancock-chunk-of-big-john-impales-mag-mile/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Chicago Preservationists Get a Present From Pritzker: The Thompson Center Lives

The Thompson Center, once widely considered to be an ex-parrot, has gone from “stick a fork in it” to “put a ring on it” faster than reality TV dating show.

Governor Pritzker announced that he’s in talks with a Prime Group to buy and rehabilitate the office building at 100 West Randolph Street. It is one of the most loved and hated buildings in downtown. We haven’t seen such mixed emotion from the public since the Mr. Submarine renovation nearly a decade ago.

December, 2021 rendering of the proposed Thompson Center renovation

In a statement, the state’s head of state stated that selling the former state building will save the state $800,000,000. Which is interesting, because demolitionists have stated that imploding the building and selling the land would raise a similar amount of money.

Because of its age and poor stewardship by the State of Illinois, it’s estimated that renovating the property will cost nearly a third of a billion dollars. In essence, Prime Group is buying a trashed party house, then bringing the fraternity back in as roommates.

It looks like one of those sale-leaseback deals that the casino industry is so into these days. The State of Illinois will sell the building for $70,000,000. Once the building is renovated, the state will spend $148,000,000 to buy 425,000 square feet of office space in the building which it abandoned just months ago because it wasn’t suitable for offices anymore. So, where does the $800,000,000 in savings come from? Pritzker says it’s because the state will consolidate office space from other locations where the state has employees into the building it currently owns, and will once again own a third of after the renovation.

December, 2021 rendering of the proposed Thompson Center renovation

If you remember reducing fractions in fifth grade, the state will spend $78 million to buy office space in a building it couldn’t afford to spend $325 million renovating, ending up with a snack, instead of the whole enchilada.

As for Prime Group, it plans to replace the exterior glass, and separate the offices from the atrium. It might also install a hotel, but that’s not certain yet. The renovation is being designed by JAHN, so even if the numbers get your undies in a bundle, you can feel relieved that the project is in sympathetic hands.

December, 2021 rendering of the proposed Thompson Center renovation

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/19/chicago-preservationists-get-a-present-from-pritzker-the-thompson-center-lives/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Sterling Bay’s Latest Skyscraper Gets Liked and Hearted by Plan Commission

You may have noticed that the freight train bringing new skyscrapers to Chicago has showed up empty in recent weeks. Things usually slow down around Christmastime, so we’re not revving up a klaxon just yet, but keep an eye on this just in case one thing ceases to lead to another.

December, 2021 rendering of 1245 West Fulton Market

In the meantime, enjoy the skyscraper that Sterling Bay stuffed in your stocking just before the man with the bag comes to town: 28 stories loaded with 350 new homes at 1245 West Fulton Market in West Town.

While you were making a shopping list and trying to remember where the mall is because everything you ordered for little Timmy and Tammy is bobbing around on a cargo ship two time zones west, the Plan Commission decided that this building a good thing, and voted to approve the project. Other approvals are needed, but not considered obstacles at this time.

In a sign of peace on earth, goodwill to men, the building will bring 70 — count ’em, 70 — units of affordable housing to a neighborhood that went from “really quite affordable” to “not affordable at all” in just a few years. It brings joy to the world to see all of the units mandated by city ordinance located in the actual building, instead of being bought off with cash or slagged off to other buildings in other places. (If you haven’t already, see our earlier piece about the state of affordable housing development in Chicago.)

Here’s what this lick of peppermint stick looks like:

Address: 1245 West Fulton Market

Developer: Sterling Bay

Zoning: C3-3 → M2-3 → DX-7 → R-BPD

Floor area ratio: 9.0 (7.0 base + 2.0 bonus)

Floors: 28

Height: 314 feet

Residences: 350

Retail space: 9,615 square feet

Parking

Automobile: 95 spaces

Bicycle: 199 spaces

Two blocks from the proposed new Ogden Metra station

Predictable pool on the parking podium

December, 2021 rendering of 1245 West Fulton Market

December, 2021 diagram of 1245 West Fulton Market

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/19/sterling-bays-latest-skyscraper-gets-liked-and-hearted-by-plan-commission/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Chicago’s Affordable Housing Drought Finally Gets a Sip of Water

It’s not a secret that Chicago has an affordable housing problem. And while Chicago is not alone among large (and small) American cities in this fashion, it’s Chicago that we’re most interested in here. Which is why it was interesting to see a few affordable housing projects pop up on the Chicago Plan Commission’s meeting agenda last week.

In recent years, affordable housing has come to Chicago is dribs and drabs. Five units here. Three units there. Nothing compared to the thousands of units that have been lost in the last decade, leading to all of the economic, social, and business problems that always follow this kind of trend. We’ve been to this rodeo before, but forgotten how to ride.

December, 2021 rendering of 4737 North Sheridan

But on Plan’s list for its most recent meeting was not just one, but five projects of a scale that they may actually do some good. And four of them even passed!

Here’s a look at what’s coming:

1203 North California in Humboldt Park: 64 units at the corner of California and Division

835 West Wilson in Uptown: 73 units for senior citizens

4737 North Sheridan in Uptown: A 28-unit S.R.O.

9619 South Cottage Grove in Pullman: 70 units for senior citizens

In addition, a 95-unit S.R.O. at 3150 North Racine in Lake View was initially expected to be presented to the Commission, but got delayed at the last minute.

That’s 235 new units of low-income housing coming to Chicago, assuming the rest of City Hall’s cogs continue turning in the right directions. Plus another 95 that might surface again next month.

December, 2021 rendering of 835 West Wilson

A lot has been written about garage conversions, basements, casitas, granny flats, Accessory Dwelling Units and such being the solution to the city’s housing woes. But so far, it’s been mostly words words words. Very few permits have been filed to convert very few small spaces into new places to live.

Granny flats and other small conversions are a good start, and part of a larger solution to the housing puzzle. But they aren’t a magic wand that will instantly flood the city with places to live on the salary earned by a barista, or a cleaning lady, or a shoe shine guy, or a doorman, or a courier, or a food delivery guy, or an Uber driver, or any of the thousands of other human beings the skirts-and-suits crowd relies on every single day to make their lives bearable. We say, bring back the S.R.O.’s. Bring back the boarding houses. Bring back the solutions that worked, but got a bad name for no other reason than they were from a generation past. Just put people in homes so the City That Works can go back to working as a city once again.

December, 2021 rendering of 1203 North California

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/19/chicagos-affordable-housing-drought-finally-gets-a-sip-of-water/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Construction About to Restart for 73-Story South Loop Skyscraper

One of the late Helmut Jahn’s last designs may get built after all. Time Equities, JK Equities, and Oak Capitals have announced that the construction of 1000M is going to restart any day now. How is this possible? Money.

December, 2021 rendering of 1000M (Courtesy of Time Equities)

The development trio has closed on a $304 million construction loan, which will be used to get things moving again. It was last year that local media were talking about financing problems with this project, but as of today that all seems to have been resolved. Construction is scheduled to be completed in three years, so December 2024, which is adjacent to January, 2025. By then I should be out of the habit of writing “19” on my checks.

More importantly, the developers of this project have released new renderings, which is good because the design has changed several times since the last batch. Here they are for you to enjoy:

December, 2021 rendering of 1000M (Courtesy of Time Equities)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/08/construction-about-to-restart-for-73-story-south-loop-skyscraper/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Suburban Light Show Lands in Chicago’s Gold Coast

We (among many others) have long bemoaned the transformation of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile from one of the nation’s premiere shopping districts into pretty much a suburban mall — except with more kids banging empty buckets. Now the suburbanization of Chicago’s retail experience has crept into the one remaining outpost of high-end shopping in the city: The Oak Street District.

Sure, Oak Street has been in decline for a while now. A lot of the high-end stores moved over to Walton or Rush Streets. But Oak is still Oak, even without Barneys and the real Kate Spade.

But empty storefronts and mid-range chains don’t bring in foot traffic, especially with the memory of summer looting fresh in people’s minds. So what do you do to tempt potential shoppers to crack open their wallets? Bedazzle them!

Gold Coast Spy B sent in this video of the new Christmas lights on Oak Street. They’re the same tasteful white lights etching the patterns of oak trees into the darkness. But if you wait a bit, you’ll find out that they’re animated.

Spy B calls it “downmarket,” and he might be right. You no longer have to drive to a suburban strip mall or downstate drag race track to walk through a magical moving light show.

But at the same time, what else is Oak Street supposed to do to bring people in? The people who used to drop a grand on a new pair of shoes every month aren’t visiting anymore. Even people with seven-figure salaries are buying online, instead of walking four blocks to support their local shopgirls. So, points for doing something, I guess. It’s better than doing nothing.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/05/suburban-light-show-lands-in-chicagos-gold-coast/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Big Deahl Starts Small, Breaking Ground on Two Residential Buildings

If you’re a devotee of Peet’s Coffee, you’ve probably seen the Big Deahl development developing for a while in the space between Cabrini Green, and the North and Clybourn Apple Store. The multi-phase project opened its retail space, Movement Lincoln Park, as a gym a few months ago. Now, phase two is underway.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held recently for the next two buildings: Common Lincoln Park, and The Seng.

December, 2021 rendering of The Seng. (Courtesy of Structured Development.)

The Seng is a building unlike most in Chicago. Instead of being snapped up by private equity companies, or overseas investors, the 34 condominiums will only be available to people in Chicago who meet certain income guidelines. That means the Chicago Community Land Trust, a quango run by the Chicago Department of Housing will decide who live there. It’s a small, but important, step toward slowing Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods from continuing to evolve into enclaves for the moneyed loafing class.

The building is named for The Seng Company, which used to have a furniture factory in this space. Seng claims to have invented the sofa bed, and three types of recliners. Today, Seng is no longer in Chicago. It’s in Georgia. And it no longer makes furniture. It makes buildings as real estate investment company.

December, 2021 rendering of Common Lincoln Park. (Courtesy of Structured Development.)

The second new building is called Common Lincoln Park, presumably because it will be run by a New York company called Common, and because it’s kinda sort nearish to the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Common likes to describe its buildings as “co-living” spaces. Which to salt-of-the-earth middle westerners means it’s coastal millennials re-inventing the boarding house wheel again.

In this case, the boarding house is on an unusually large scale. Big enough that you might even call it a dorm. We’re talking 400 rooms in a ten-story building, almost the exact size as ol’ McIntyre Hall from my university days, but without the R.A.’s and black light foam hallway rave nights. Hopefully.

Mike Drew, founder of Structured Development says, “Big Deahl brings true economic diversity to the neighborhood, offering a dynamic mix of affordable for-sale housing and market-rate rentals.” He’s not wrong. Sure, we make fun of Common for running a giant boarding house and marketing it as innovation. But if boarding houses and dorms help bring some badly needed mixed-income residents into downtown Chicago, we’re all for it.

Chicago now has S.R.O.’s marketed as “micro apartments.” And boarding houses marketed as “co-living” buildings. Next up: women’s hotels re-invented as “gender-specific safe housing.” I can feel the west coast venture capital money already.

Groundbreaking at Common Lincoln Park and The Seng. Left to right: Randy Thrall, Thrall Enterprises; Jeff Geier, Power Construction; Walter Burnett Jr. – 27th Ward Alderman, City of Chicago; J. Michael Drew, founding principal, Structured Development; Susan Tjarksen, managing director, Cushman & Wakefield; and Jennie Fronczak, executive director, Chicago Community Land Trust. (Courtesy of Structured Development.)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/05/big-deahl-starts-small-breaking-ground-on-two-residential-buildings/

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al32richards · 3 years

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A Look at Where All That Adopt-a-Landmark Money Goes in Chicago

For the last five years, real estate developers in Chicago have been using a city program called Adopt-a-Landmark to get things out of City Hall, and vice-versa. It’s one of the key tools that developers use to cram a little more height into a space that was meant for less. In essence, if they write a check to the Adopt-a-Landmark program, they can add a few more floors to the fancy downtown office buildings, condos, hotels, and whatnot that form the Chicago skyline.

The amount varies by project, but in the projects we track, it’s generally in the six to eight-figure range. So, not peanuts.

The city then pools the money from the height the developers bought, and redistributes it to the people responsible for the care and feeding of some of the city’s important, but less profitable, structures.

Recently, the Department of Planning and Development made a list of 12 buildings it thinks deserve a slice of that accumulated money. Here’s what it thinks is deserving:

Greenstone United Methodist Church (file)

Greenstone United Methodist Church: This Pullman church was built in 1882, and designed by Solon Spencer Beman. The D.P.D. recommends it get $1,080,000 for restoration and preservation.

Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church: This 1889 Grand Boulevard church was designed by none other than Dankmar Adler as a synagogue for the Isaiah Temple. While that would be enough to make most buildings noteworthy, this was also the place where gospel music was invented in 1931, and where Bo Diddley learned to play music. It’s in line for $900,000 in Adopt-a-Landmark money.

Second Presbyterian Church: Stunning both inside and out, time and the rigors of city living have not been kind of this building. We’ve told you about a number of preservation efforts in recent years. Now it could get $250,000 from the Adopt-a-Landmark program

Muddy Waters House: A quarter of a million dollars has been recommended for this Kenwood home which became a city landmark just a couple of months ago. If you don’t know who Muddy Waters was, you can turn in your Chicago card right now, and move to the prairie. There’s a reason this is called “The original house of blues.”

Gunnison Street Lofts: We don’t know much about this Uptown building. But the D.P.D. thinks it deserves $250,000 developer dollars. So we should eventually hear something about why.

Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church: Originally the First Roumanian Congregation, this is another of Chicago’s synagogues that later found a second life. The North Lawndale building was erected almost a hundred years ago, when the neighborhood was known as “Chicago’s Jerusalem.” After it became a Baptist church, it played a role in America’s Civil Rights Movement, and hosted Martin Luther King, Junior. A quarter million has been recommended for this one, too.

K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple: This magnificent Kenwood building is the home of Chicago’s second-oldest Jewish congregation, and was designed by Alfred Alschuler. It could get $250,000 in Adopt-a-Landmark funds.

6901 South Oglesby Cooperative Apartment Building: This South Shore building was one of the pioneers of the lakefront high-rise co-op movement that shaped Chicago, and made it what it is today, visually. For some reason this one is in line for $249,999 — a dollar less than the previous few.

Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House: There’s so much to say about this landmark Woodlawn home. You’re better off reading the city’s document about it than relying on an inadequate summary of its history from us. It’s up for the rather specific sum of $249,541.

Pentecostal Church of Holiness: You may know this North Lawndale building as Our Lady of Lourdes. It was a Czech church until 1964, and only added English language masses 30 years earlier. It was the home church of Bishop Dempsey, who founded the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The Archdiocese of Chicago closed the church a while back. It became a Baptist church in 2006, but was vacant again by 2012. It became a Pentecostal church five years ago, and is expected to get $248,000.

9401 South Ewing Avenue: We’ve written about the Schlitz tied houses a number of times, and about this specific one once. One of the official reasons this is a city landmark is because of how economically important beer was to Chicago. So if you’re a beer fan, a history fan, or a beer history fan, you probably understand why it’s on tap for $243,260.

John J. Glessner House: This Prairie Avenue building is the only one on the list with its own museum. Since it has its own museum, and its own web site, you don’t need us to tell you about it. The people at the Glessner House Museum will be happy to do so. For a fee.

Nothing is simple at City Hall, so the D.P.D. recommendations aren’t final. Other people in other committees still have to green light the list. But it’s a nice look at what may be preserved soon in a neighborhood near you.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/12/05/a-look-at-where-all-that-adopt-a-landmark-money-goes-in-chicago/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Goettsch Goes Beast Mode at Lincoln Park Cat House

“Attica! Attica! Attica!”

If the only reason you go to the Lincoln Park Zoo is for the Christmas lights display, now there’s another reason: To check out the historic Lion House.

Even we have to admit the Lion House was pretty depressing. It smelled bad. It was crowded. It was noisy. And you can’t help but feel bad for the beasts behind the wire waiting for that big litter box in the sky. The only reason to go in during ZooLights was to use the bathrooms. Which also smelled bad, were crowded and noisy, and you couldn’t help but feel bad for the people waiting in line for the porcelain litter boxes in the basement.

That’s all in the past, thanks to a $41,000,000 renovation of what is now called the Pepper Family Wildlife Center. Designed by Goettsch Partners, the old lion house has been spruced up, and doubled in size, while preserving the existing building. According to a press release:

November, 2021 photo of the Pepper Family Wildlife Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo. (© Tom Harris. Courtesy of Goettsch Partners.)

Jabari is the mane attraction at the Lincoln Park Zoo. (Courtesy of Goettsch Partners.)

The design team worked closely with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to preserve, restore and enhance the architecturally significant features of the original Arts and Crafts structure, including the masonry, clay tile roof, and copper gutter, along with windows and doors.

That’s for the people. For the critters, it gets even better:

The savanna-style habitat includes detailed rockwork to introduce climbing features and expand environmental options for the lions while providing embedded heating and cooling elements for climate control. Tree structures and deadfall are made from trees certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and food ziplines, simulating prey, provide an enrichment opportunity for the lions.

If you think a “food zipline” is great idea for Thanksgiving dinner, remember Aunt Marjorie’s forking incident of 2008. And she’s not any faster these days.

Looking at the lions is done through 1½-inch-thick glass, to keep the kitties safe from the kiddies. And now there’s a “Lion Loop” which allows you to go underground and look up at the big cats.

The cat house is home to lions, snow leopards, lynx, and red pandas. Which aren’t pandas. They’re sorta-kinda related to skunks.

Another good reason to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo is because it’s still freaking free. At a time when taking the family to the Field Museum and lunch downtown requires a second mortgage, the zoo is a bargain, and something of which all Chicagoans should be proud.

November, 2021 photo of the Pepper Family Wildlife Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo. (© Tom Harris. Courtesy of Goettsch Partners.)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/11/21/goettsch-goes-beast-mode-at-lincoln-park-cat-house/

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al32richards · 3 years

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Evanston’s Tallest Building Gets Spruced Up

With more people heading back to the office, a lot of them are noticing changes. Things like there seems to be an awful lot of parking available these days. And that keeping a stash of fruit in your filing cabinet wasn’t such a good idea after all. If your office travels take you to Evanston, then you may find yourself in Orrington Plaza, which is also sporting a new look.

November, 2021 photo of the Orrington Plaza lobby. (Courtesy of McHugh Construction.)

It was McHugh Construction that pulled off the $1,600,000 renovation of the 20-story office block in the north shore city’s downtown. Fifteen thousand square feet of space on the lobby and lower levels was upgraded, but somehow still ended up being very very beige. Other work included the HVAC system, the fire system, and security. In addition, the building’s exterior was kitted out with color-changing LED lights.

A combination of reduced foot traffic and the need to draw tenants back to office buildings has led many building owners around the country to renovate their office tower interiors. With a sizable chunk of large companies choosing to remain fully or partially remote, it remains to be seen how effective this strategy is. When the CEO of a billion-dollar healthcare company accidentally reveals that he’s working from home in his slippers, it’s hard to rally the troops to embrace commuting and the other hassles that come with office life.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/11/21/evanstons-tallest-building-gets-spruced-up/

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al32richards · 3 years

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“The House That Bozo Built” Will Likely Meet a Wrecking Ball

A fairly anonymous three-story brick building at 2501 West Bradley Place in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood may be torn down in the next few years. It’s been sold to Houston mega real estate developer Hines.

WGN-TV (file)

This isn’t just any building. It’s the home of WGN-TV. The television station moved to this building in 1963 because the old Tribune Tower space was too small. The Trib’s building columns were too close together for a studio of the size required for television.

The Ol’ Number Nine has five years left on its lease, but it seems unlikely that it will be allowed to stay on after that. Hines is a top shelf developer that puts together big projects, and also bought the property across the street for a total of 33 acres of land, so its plans are clearly ambitious. What those plans are remains to be seen. But Hines has a habit of e-mailing us press releases about every little thing it does, so we should know sooner or later.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of artifacts are uncovered when WGN-TV moves out. There are dusty nooks and crannies in that building that haven’t been touched in decades. With any luck, they’ll find their way down to the Museum of Broadcast History for the rest of us to enjoy.

Expect lots of wailing and gnashing of sentimental teeth, including special shows about the history of Bozo’s Circus at the station. These will likely be hosted by the persistently-genial Dean Richards, who will carefully tiptoe around the inconvenient fact that Bozo was was not a Chicago invention, but a character syndicated out of Los Angeles, and that every big city is America had its own Bozo. There are still plenty of people at channel 9 who insist he was invented there.

Where the television station ends up is anyone’s guess. The Loop seems likely, as that’s where all of the other big commercial broadcasters are, and ‘GN was always at a bit of a reporting disadvantage being half-way out of town. Plus, Loop landlords are eager to bring in long-term occupants like TV stations, which (WBBM-TV notwithstanding) usually don’t move around much. But don’t count on a streetfront studio. That turned out to be a fad, and even WGN Radio’s “showcase studio” seems vacant most of the time.

Inside the WGN-TV cafeteria. Back before it was converted into merely a lunchroom. (file)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/11/20/the-house-that-bozo-built-will-likely-meet-a-wrecking-ball/

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