Thursdays are best - Thursday night out on Marion captures the "villiage" vibe.

I feel like Oak Park needs a signature tower to top off it's skyline. Maybe Gang or Optima can hook us up with a 30-35 story tower?

Make no small plans ......

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...130b0228_h.jpg

I happened to be at Waukegan and Oakton in Niles today. And 8000 North Lincoln in Skokie is very visible east down Oakton. It really stands out.

From my kitchen:

https://i.imgur.com/CRSlVVRh.jpg

That's the goal...

Jesus that tower was so ahead of its time

I couldn't get a picture while sitting in traffic, but I passed by the Uptown 500 in Wheeling on Dundee and it's coming along well. The back portion looks topped out and the front portion elevator core is built.

https://www.krdevelopments.com/uptown-500

Hines oak brook development start!!!
 

Heneghan is on site as of today with the wreckers to demilish the 15 floor old brown ugly mcdonalds hq! Nice to see that eyesore go and be replaced with multiple new midrise buildings!

Not wasting time, I'll have to get pictures.

I'm hoping it's just a hiccup or something, but the One95 development on Addison in Elmhurst was quiet today, no workers on site. Plenty of equipment and materials on site, no labor. They're a few floors up already. Anyone hear anything? I'll keep tabs on it.

The medical building next door looks to be empty now, lots of signs saying they've moved. Elmhurst city docs show all zoning changes were approved, so that should be moving forward. See my earlier posts in this thread for renderings.

232' tall, 18 floor office tower proposed in downtown evanston.

this is proposed on the same site as an earlier 33 story residential proposal that was axed by the city council for being "too tall/not enough parking".

we'll see if this one fares any better, but i don't hold my breath for anything over 10 floors in evanston these days. the NIMBY's have more or less won.

https://evanstonnow.com/files/styles...?itok=mYZG_ezS
source: https://evanstonnow.com/story/real-e...o-office-tower

also, this 19 story residential tower was recently proposed in downtown evanston for a site on chicago avenue currently occupied by somewhat forgettable single story retail buildings.

https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/33....jpg?width=705
source: https://patch.com/illinois/evanston/...housing-legacy




but again, this is evanston we're talking about, so who knows........

I don’t know, 33 to 18 is a real drop. And with the other one at 19, seems they’re drawing a new line.
Office has a better chance. It means jobs, less parking, quiet on weekends, no kids.

The NIMBYs should take this. They’re getting a lot.

It's crazy how hard developers try to build in Evanston even with the extreme NIMBYism... imagine how more high rises they'd have if the pearl clutching wasn't so constant

My first impulse was a snarky comment about shading the drive through banking - from the article......

Evanston Ill. by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Wow, citizens complaining about the height of buildings in a downtown area the size of Evanston is just simply amazing, or nimbys being just spiteful.....amazing.

Evanston is a strange creature. Absolutely gorgeous, walkable downtown core, of course Northwestern University as well. On the opposite side of the coin, it literally was the foundation of the Temperance Movement, and was/is still extremely religious. Stuck in the middle are the NIMBY's complaining about taller buildings and such. As I said, very strange... ;)

Aaron (Glowrock)

huh?

what do you base that on?

i've been involved with evanston for my entire life and it's never seemed like and extremely religious place to me.

Interesting. Kind of ugly, reminds me of 2000s South Loop stuff. Great location for this sort of density though. I will say that I actually quite like that stretch of single story retail even though there's nothing particularly unusual about it. It's pleasant.

The office building on Davis looks great! As long as the historic building on the NW corner of Davis and Church is being spared (which it looks like it is).

I just moved from Ravenswood to Evanston about a month ago so maybe I'll try to go to the meetings to be a voice of reason. If nothing else, these would be great for the tax base - hard not to see that as a positive.

Well back in the 80's there were NO bars, and you could only buy alcohol with food at 3 locations, the Holiday Inn, Poly Kai (sp ?) and The Keg. BUT that was the rule in Oak Park as well until a decade ago, and nobody accuses us of being overly religious.

right, i have fond memories of going to evanston restaurants in the 80s with my parents who would always bring a bottle of wine because they were all BYO's back then.

but those anachronistic rules haven't been in play in evanston for decades.

still scratching my head over glowrock's "extremely religious" comment.

It's why I said is/WAS, Steely. ;) I was making reference to historical Evanston more than current Evanston, to be fair.

Aaron (Glowrock)

I still love how you didn't see the "is/WAS" part of my comment, Steely. ;)

Aaron (Glowrock)

oh, i saw it, i was just confused why you would use the present tense when speaking of evanston being an "extremely religious" place.

if you were strictly talking about the past then you should have stuck to the past tense. when you said "was/is still extremely religious", i read it as you saying that evanston is still an extremely religious place today, which it most definitely is not.

So I went to a community meeting at the Evanston Public Library where Vermilion/SCB presented their planned office tower for Chicago/Davis, and the folks from Northlight Theater also presented their plans for a new theater building at Church/Oak.

In terms of parking at the office tower, they're only planning a single parking floor with ~40 spots, with the possibility of converting the floor to office/other usage should that become programmatically needed down the road. This is apparently becoming much more common as parking demand, especially in TOD zones, is dropping dramatically.

For the "required" drive through, they've kept the footprint inside of the structure, with the possibility of eliminating this down the road and returning the "cut-through" to the lobby/retail portion of the first floor. Drive through ATM's won't be a thing for too much longer seems to be the general consensus.

Public comments were mixed, with a bit of NIMBY bullshit about increased traffic and parking and the like (no "wind-tunnel" comments this round). But there were a number of voices, including my own, voicing support for increases to the tax base, downtown density, and to the number of transit/bike-friendly workplaces. My hunch is the Council will support this one, assuming the market holds up that long (especially after the Library Parking Lot debacle).

This tower also has a much better chance the the transitional/retirement expansion on the east side of Chicago Ave, which will face intense opposition from nearby residents over concerns over alley access, disrupted views, shadows, etc. I would be surprised if that one was approved as a Planned Development.

Everyone loved the Northlight proposal (except one lady asked if the new building would block the view out her third floor window). The new theater is basically the same size as the existing structures on Church Street that it is replacing. This is such a weird town.

Homewood Suites in downtown Skokie (4930 Oakton Street)
https://i.postimg.cc/kgycdcrZ/Document.jpg
141 rooms, rooftop bar, retail, conference space

Other adjacent projects include renovation of an existing building at the Illinois Science and Technology Park
https://i.postimg.cc/0Nsy7Yb8/8030-L...s-brochure.jpg

And building a new parking garage to support both (along with other future nearby developments).

^ The design might be pretty meh, but a hotel with street fronting ground floor retail is not something you see everyday in suburbia.

And thanks for the report from the Evanston meeting, aaronrosen. :tup:

Ive been in Boston for the past 2 or so weeks. That building describes much of Boston's new construction but it is pleasing from a pedestrian perspective which in the end is more important than something like One Halsted which is more impressive from a distance and more architecturally stunning by far but as a pedestrian experience it's terrible in my opinion.

And perhaps most importantly, it will provide amenities for the science park workers & visitors which will hopefully drive more companies to open / expand there.

That Homewood has an excellent location. There are not many offerings in the area. Its either Old Orchard or downtown Evanston if you're looking for a new, nicer amenity hotel. I predict it will be busy.

Good to see Skokie keeping the momentum

OKW is the architect for that project. They're very good at retail / hospitality, so I expect this project to activate the area very well.

I just drove around Oak Park for the first time in about 5-6 years.

Amazing how much some of the new highrises have transformed the feel of the downtown. It's beginning to feel more and more Evanston-esque, although it still has a long ways to go.

On that same trip I made my first visit to downtown Elmhurst. Lots of modern new infill there as well, and it was absolutely teeming with life (on a summer Friday evening, of course, but still..)

No doubt, downtown Elmhurst is great!

Aaron (Glowrock)

Downtown Elmhurst is helped a lot by having Elmhurst college right there, to boost the retail and entertainment businesses. There isn't much vacant land left, so it will always be small by comparison. But the new projects are giving a nice density boost.

Evanston - Albion Tower
today

https://i.ibb.co/3kX9sCb/20190904-180641.jpg

Evanston - 1727 Oak
today

https://i.ibb.co/DLhPbCg/20190904-111630.jpg

I had no idea this actually got off the ground. It's great to see it so far in the construction process, and so close to the renderings (from what I can recall).

It has a huge impact on that area. Creats a mini canyon opposite the Holiday Inn. Its a big building and pushes the DT Evanston skyline south.

https://i.ibb.co/fCx7dfC/20190904-112210.jpg

Large apt project with ground level retail starts construction in downtown Tinley Park. Other similar projects in the works:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...ikm-story.html

Glad to see some of the south burbs joining the TOD train

Evanston - 1727 Oak St.
https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e...psogoq5l00.jpg

Huge century old Highland Park mansion sells for $800k!

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/resi...g-price-800000

I know there is a lot of vitriol for the burbs here, but is this entirely a good thing?

Some of the Chicago’s most beautiful historic building stock is in its older suburbs, I would hate to see this market totally collapse

^ reading the article, it sounds like a special case of money pit.

the article even said that developers would have likely paid millions for the property alone had they been able to demolish the existing mansion and start over, but it's a monster 14,000 SF protected historic landmark that apparently needs $3M - $5M in repairs.

it takes a very special (and rare) buyer with both the means and interest to take on a project like that.

That's an absurd renovation price...

Evanston- 811 Emerson

https://i.imgur.com/DmQd2tk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1SvDDCd.jpg

Oak Park | Elven33
 

Oak Park | Eleven33 by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

Oak Park | Eleven33 by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

^ I can understand why you might turn NIMBY after they build that next door.

Well, somebody didn't want to sell

That building not only abuts the two flat on the side, but wraps around the rear of the property too. FWIW, its a rental property.

They seemed to take the extra step to stick it in their eye with the cinder block and chain link fencing. It's overwhelming as any large building on the neighboring lot would be and are all over the city, but that little detail could have been handled with a bit more courtesy.