Miller/Hull is based in Seattle, so they need a local architect of record...

The article quotes Northworks because they were at the meeting.

^^Better rendering:
http://s29.postimg.org/kxolp6usn/Oak...evelopment.jpg

Other developments

5-story condo building planned for South Boulevard


Lake-Lathrop development gets the green light

WOW, love that OP proposal.

So much development coming to Oak Park, most of it within a few blocks of my house. Can't wait to see how they turn out over the next few years. I'm especially looking forward to more and better restaurants within walking distance. Its interesting the generational split between long-time Oak Parkers and relative newcomers. The old-timers constantly refer to Oak Park as a village (which it is technically according to Illinois law) and how they don't like all the new density, lack of parking, congestion, etc. And at the same time they decry how the limited shopping options. Most of the newer families that I've talked to moved to Oak Park appreciate the (relatively) dense development in downtown Oak Park.

So he's proposing recreating the village of Versailles in Winnetka, sans the palace?

Much better, not as bad when it's not in sketchup. :tup:

7th & State - Geneva
202 apartments, retail, parking garage
http://s16.postimg.org/isn5m3bol/website_photo.jpg

4-18: Elmhurst 255
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...8/IMG_0356.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...8/IMG_0359.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...8/IMG_0361.jpg

The brick looks good. It's set too far back from the street. And I don't know what the point of the shingled roof sections is. The slope is so shallow they can't even be seen from across the street. Could have just gone with a simpler flat roof.

There's also the fact that the building isn't done yet and there should still be two retail sections that need to be completed plus a public plaza
• Video Link
(And shouldn't this be in the suburban downtown thread?)

I didn't know there was one. Just searched for it, didn't find it.

Another Elmhurst development...that actually looks good.

^ A welcome change indeed - thanks spyguy.

I've been exploring Elmhurst a lot lately. The lot for that 6-story Opus proposal is right next to the Metra lines, and won't even be close to being the tallest in the downtown area. And it replaces a boring one story bank building plus massive parking lot. It continues to amaze me that anyone would vote against such a project.

Elmhurst is really nice. Yesterday I went for a lunch walk around downtown and walked through the Elmhurst College campus and surrounding neighborhood. Never even knew it was there. Will have to make that a regular thing, I do love a college quad.

Some interesting tidbits in the Tribune article on Opus
Nice to see some of the burbs moving to more explicitly allow TOD around the Metra stations and fixing out of date zoning.

Yeah I think Elmhurst aspires to something like downtown Oak Park with a liberal dash of downtown Naperville.

Culturally it sits in this sweet spot of having rising incomes but not yet too stuffy and old-money like Hinsdale or Clarendon. I know quite a few people including my cousin and her husband who wanted access to decent suburban schools without moving to a cornfield. Elmhurst is a nice balance of being dead center in Chicagoland with good access to the city, airports and other job centers. (I've also seen young parents moving to Skokie... similar factors I guess but the downtown is a snoozefest)

^ I'd really like to see something of an outright outpouring of TOD development in the suburbs. The suburbs have been somewhat stagnant for a while, and home sales have kind of petered out.

We need a region and a homebuilding industry that actually captures new trends and tastes, and while there will always be a market for traditional SFH in the burbs, there is also a lot of demand for multifamily housing within a walking district to the Metra, and adjacent to a walkable commercial district.

I'm not necessarily just talking about multiunit apartment or condo buildings, but even townhomes or, heck, even SFH's built in rows with little yard space. There is a proportion of the population that doesn't mind, and in fact even embraces, a little bit of density.

This is the burbs after all, so you're unlikely to get a lot of 20-40 story towers, but at least with the above kind of arrangement you provide a form of housing that I suspect is in great demand.

Some of Elmhurst is to close to O'Hare. As long as you live on the southside of the tracks on the wealthy side it is great, but not on the Bensenville side. If they ever close runway 22R it would be better for Elmhurst.

New TOD planned next to Naperville 4th Ave Metra station (east side of Burlington Square)

http://i65.tinypic.com/2435nbr.jpg

The Marquis on Maple - 55 units
940 Maple, Downers Grove
http://s32.postimg.org/4fz4nt6hh/Marquis2_600x300.jpg

^ What the hell, is that the Ghostbusters car parked in front of the garage?