CHICAGO | General Developments

[george]

8/24

Riverwalk

[chris11]

Originally Posted by harryc

From 111 W Wacker ?

A friend's place at 115 W. Kenzie Street

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by harryc

IIRC the food trucks can't operate withing 1000' of a brick and mortar (property tax paying) food place. The days are numbered for the Nigerian guys on Park.

The side street right outside 600 W's office entrance was one of the official approved food truck locations, which supersedes the rule about distance from restaurants. Somebody would have had to complain to the city or their alderman enough to get that revoked. The new location isn't that far from the building but it went from at least 4 to 5 food truck options right outside the front door to having to walk a block and cross an intersection twice.

[Chi-Sky21]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Wow, that's a real letdown. If that corner doesn't improve it's going to stay isolated from the rest of town until improvements on Chicago Ave spread from the east, which will be seriously hampered by the housing project. The huge success of food trucks and fooda pop-up restaurants at 600 W Chicago shows that building alone could sustain significant retail expansion in the area, but they punk out and go with a bank branch?

I don't know if that area can be saved.

I do not think this area will take as long as you think, you already see multiple towers being built and planned on Chicago. With that open land near there, should be easy to get some more projects going and there should really be no NIMBYs to stop it. And most important....that brown line stop will help spur things.

[wierdaaron]

Blair Kamin was on Chicago Tonight this evening, talked about this new design trend demonstrated by 111 W Wacker, Loews hotel, and Optima. He calls it sliced minimalism. Video here. I've been seeing it a lot lately in cities all over, but it's too new to have had a name before.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Skyguy_7

Less foam = progress

I was kinda down on this park at first—IMO, you can activate a space without making it look like an oversized elementary school playground—but, seeing these photos, I'm starting to warm up to it; it really looks like they took Gehry's pedestrian bridge and just ran with it. The bridge is still key though...

Originally Posted by ardecila

Privately-owned green space. Minoru Yamasaki designed the Montgomery Ward skyscraper surrounded by green space.

When it was converted to residential, the developers built a parking garage bustle on the east side and intended to build a retail pavilion on the west side before the recession.

This was actually a good urban design move - it brought the building up to the sidewalk but preserved some of the mature trees and manicured lawns as little pocket parks.



The above speculative plan died in the recession, and the owners (not the condo building) switched to a build-to-suit. Chase Bank took the bait.

I'm not really sure that is a drive-thru, I'm having a hard time figuring out how the site circulation will work. They're not building a driveway off Chicago and there's not enough room for a U-turn maneuver like a McDonalds. Maybe the driveway will have an entrance on Superior? What a waste.

Yeah, it is a shame. The design of the original proposal plays off the curves of the "bustle" kinda nicely. It also better addresses the tower-in-the-park problem. I'm assuming the replacement won't connect to the building? It's hard to tell. If that's the case, then we'll have a tower AND a bank in a park.

That said, the eastern garage addition looks tacked on (from Google Street View, anyway), and the rendering you provided doesn't lead me to believe it would have turned out any differently.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Oh, and the Google complex is beautiful. Reaction gif worthy. Can't think of a suitable one off the top of my head if anyone wants to spot me? It seemed like we were waiting forever for this thing to progress once they denuded the original structure and then in the blink of an eye it sprouted glass and budded off a child. Anyway, really stunning.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

BTW, I was looking through this very topical article in Chicago Magazine when I came across an entry for the Lycée Français de Chicago and remembered their old plans for a new campus. If you recall, Krueck+Sexton had been selected. They had proposed this elegant, restrained design:







(Here's an article from The Architect's Newspaper describing it and announcing their selection.)

Well, it appears the Lycée has gone in a different direction. Here's what they're advertising on their website:



I did some digging and it looks like STL Architects, with whom K+S had initially been paired, have been given full/free reign. Well, that's my take, anyway: the Lycée has been scrubbed from the project list on K+S's website and STL makes no mention of them on theirs. They do provide these additional, updated renderings:

















I like STL a lot, and I'm sure this will turn out well, but I preferred the original design.

I'm guessing the dearth of hot air balloons is what did it in.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by harryc

This has turned out to be disappointing. The whole value of the west wall was to be a structural exhibition as a counterpoint to three walls that were restored (and how disappointing those restored walls have turned out...). I wish it were glazed more like how the rendering had portrayed (though, I shouldn't have been that naive, I suppose). And what's up with those stubs of piers on the annex building?

[patrick84]

Haven't seen this mentioned in awhile... But there is scaffolding all around the building.

http://m.chicago.curbed.com/archives...evelopment.php

A notice was sent out which appears the original structure will remain.

In accordance with Section 17-13-0107-A of the Chicago Zoning Ordinance, Title 17 of the Municipal Code of Chicago, please be informed that on or about May 22,2014,1 filed an application for a Special Use with the Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Chicago under the zoning ordinance for the property located at 678 Kingsbury Street, Chicago, Illinois,
The applicant seeks a special use to allow a residential use on the ground floor of an existing 5-story building to be converted to residential with a total of 39 dwelling units. The proposed will also have a proposed 2-story addition above the existing building and a 4 and 6-story additions to the south of the existing building. The proposed will also have the required 39parking spaces within the building with additional provided parking spaces for a total of 76 auto parking spaces with some being proposed auto lifts.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Jibba

This has turned out to be disappointing. The whole value of the west wall was to be a structural exhibition as a counterpoint to three walls that were restored (and how disappointing those restored walls have turned out...). I wish it were glazed more like how the rendering had portrayed (though, I shouldn't have been that naive, I suppose). And what's up with those stubs of piers on the annex building?

agreed. it seems to me they could have just demolished the entire structure and started over for far less hassle, i dont see much "re-use".

also agree about the new Lycee design...dosent feel as elegant as the original. whats with all these proposals that get sold to the public one way and always seem to turn out entirely different once the earth begins to move.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Prepare to be royally disappointed: Crain's is reporting that the old Lake Shore Athletic Club is being demolished to make way for a fenced parking lot.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...883H3247467E8W

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

From Lynn Becker's blog:

[harryc]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Prepare to be royally disappointed: Crain's is reporting that the old Lake Shore Athletic Club is being demolished to make way for a fenced parking lot.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...883H3247467E8W

Not just another lot - a Double Fenced lot !


Looks like the walkway will be saved - cut away from building here.

[the urban politician]

^ While disappointing, I certainly wouldn't want all of the prime lots to be used up during a single cycle. You've gotta save space for future proposals with future designs, right?

[ardecila]

A full block site right between the Mag Mile and the busiest part of River North won't stay vacant for long. We can just hope that another mega-garage like Greenway is not part of the plans.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Jibba

This has turned out to be disappointing. The whole value of the west wall was to be a structural exhibition as a counterpoint to three walls that were restored (and how disappointing those restored walls have turned out...). I wish it were glazed more like how the rendering had portrayed (though, I shouldn't have been that naive, I suppose). And what's up with those stubs of piers on the annex building?

Except to the piers. Yes to that.

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Prepare to be royally disappointed: Crain's is reporting that the old Lake Shore Athletic Club is being demolished to make way for a fenced parking lot.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...883H3247467E8W

Check out Lynn Becker's eulogy. No idea how he managed to extract so much history out of that site but I'm giving him a standing ovation in my head.

Originally Posted by Lynn Becker

Brawny and overbearing at the same time, its scored facades, framed within borders that clearly expressed the structure within, were like a Claes Oldenberg-scaled homage to aluminum siding.

If anything I designed were ever built and described thus, I could die a happy man.

[cbotnyse]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Prepare to be royally disappointed: Crain's is reporting that the old Lake Shore Athletic Club is being demolished to make way for a fenced parking lot.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...883H3247467E8W

Def disappointing, but there is no way this is a long term replacement.

What do you guys think is the most optimal use of this site?

Personally I think a building rivaling Trump's height, with hotel/office/condo with green space

[pilsenarch]

Originally Posted by Jibba

This has turned out to be disappointing. The whole value of the west wall was to be a structural exhibition as a counterpoint to three walls that were restored (and how disappointing those restored walls have turned out...). I wish it were glazed more like how the rendering had portrayed (though, I shouldn't have been that naive, I suppose). And what's up with those stubs of piers on the annex building?

As I mentioned in another thread (and was removed, apparently, for being off topic (!!??)), that completely transparent glass depicted in the rendering would not meet Chicago's energy code... some sort of tinting or reflectivity is required...

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

Except to the piers. Yes to that.

I don't know man, the facade has no depth, the courses/mouldings at the bottom look too-yellow and cheap, and the spandrel glass is terrible.

Originally Posted by pilsenarch

As I mentioned in another thread (and was removed, apparently, for being off topic (!!??)), that completely transparent glass depicted in the rendering would not meet Chicago's energy code... some sort of tinting or reflectivity is required...

I actually thought of what you had said in that other thread when writing my post. Still, even with strict energy requirements, they could have used glass that had thin-film coating that provided more transparency (maybe?). The opacity and hue of the spandrel glass is also awful.

We were proposed something like this:

source

...which, like I said, I was a little naive about. But they should have gone with something like:

This:
source

Or this:
source

[wierdaaron]

It's pretty rare for glass to match the renders. See 111 W Wacker for more details.

That's the problem with this glass and steel design trend, it puts almost all of the building's looks in the hands of your glass vendor.

That said I don't see the problem with 1k Fulton. It looks exactly how I expected it, and with tenants and lights on it should look better.