CHICAGO | General Developments - Page 1723

r18tdi · #**34441** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 2:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChickeNES

Spotted a soil testing rig at 174-180 West Randolph today:

Yessssss

BVictor1 · #**34442** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 1:40 PM**

Base of tower crane in place for the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue.

SamInTheLoop · #**34443** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 2:06 PM**

Nice catch, ChickeNES! Would be a real treat to get an infill high-rise to materialize here this cycle.....many will likely recall there was a residential proposal that surfaced for the parcel last cycle....really unfortunate design....for sale sign certainly suggests that we'll encouragingly get a new developer for whatever new proposal comes forward.....

Near North Resident · #**34444** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 3:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlw777

No thanks. Casinos come with way more negatives than positives. Studies have found that when a Casino moves in property values fall, foreclosures rise, violence rises, and communities within 10 miles of a casino have twice the rate of gambling addiction. Casino's also prey on lower income folks and increase income inequality. High income upper class individuals almost never make gambling a weekly habit. It's almost always low income folks who contribute the large share of their income to casino revenues.

Yeah we should just let all those free tax dollars flow to Indiana instead and other nearby municipalities like Rosemont...

I mean clearly the city is flush with cash right now and doesn't need it

poor people are going to continue to gamble whether we have one in the city or not

they spend billions each year on lottery tickets and billions in nearby casinos

LouisVanDerWright · #**34445** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 3:41 PM**

Yeah, I don't see the point of not having a casino, it's really not the city's role to play moral compass police. There are already tons of poor tax factories around the area and we may as well have our share. It's better to have gambling out in the open and regulated than have people doing it underground and risk organized crime get their fingers in it. Same thing with liquor and weed. If you try to stop illicit behavior you usually just make the associated negative externalities worse by driving it underground. So yeah, maybe there will be slightly more petty crime in the vicinity of a hypothetical casino, but it's not like Chicago doesn't already have much bigger crime issues. Any petty crime near a casino is likely negligible to the average resident of the city's daily life and will simply blend into the background noise. If the location is chosen correctly good design and planning can also help reduce issues. I mean that's really the key here, putting it somewhere contained, yet still accessible and designing it in such a way that it isn't an affront to the city at large.

Also I think pushing for it to be higher end a la some of the top stuff in Vegas would be key. Let the surrounding states have their depressing penny pusher palaces for the elderly. Any casino in Chicago should be a true entertainment destination integrated with and diluted by other active attractions like clubs, bars, venues, etc. Honestly my vote would go for something connected to McCormick Place, maybe over the IC tracks and staging yards where the village was supposed to go. Bridge it over I-55 to McCormick which would basically connect it with Soldier Field and the new arena plus the convention hotels as well. Maybe even a revitalized Motor Row entertainment district. If handled properly give it limited access from the Bronzeville side and use it to spur more development on that side of the freeway as well. It wouldn't be a blight if it were targeting high end cartel and it would differentiate itself from all the other chintzy trash in the Midwest. We need a Monte Carlo, not a Pottawatomi or Horseshoe.

the urban politician · #**34446** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 3:45 PM**

^ I just came back from Vegas, and while I'm not huge on gambling, casinos (when incorporated into a really nice hotel) are great.

McCormick is the precise place where it belongs, though, not South Works

SamInTheLoop · #**34447** Posted **Aug 3, 2016, 3:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

The facade looks so similar to the Studio Gang dorms in Hyde Park.

Yeah, at least part of the building's facade.......talk about a curious split personality on this thing.....

emathias · #**34448** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 3:03 PM**

Wish list for River North:

The former Pearl/former Walmart at Franklin/Chicago become 15-story office building.

The surface parking lot across the street become a 20-story office building.

The surface lot between Wells and Lasalle on Chicago become mixed-use with a residential wing fronting Wells where Yolk is and the Chicago aide being office space.

The currency exchange at Lasalle/Chicago become a residential tower.

The surface lot at Superior/Clark become a residential midrise.

SW corner of Lasalle/Illinois become an office building. The small surface lot across illinois from there become small-scale residential.

Residential midrise for the Catholic Charities lot on SE corner of Erie/Lasalle.

Convert Catholic Charities building at Huron/Lasalle into some sort of center for cultural non-profits - for example it'd be cool to see Aliance Francais, Goethe Institute and Instituto Cervantes join forces and all be in one location and that building might make a useful place to colocate them. A small garage could be built where their rear parking is now, and their chapel would be useful for films and such.

Near North Resident · #**34449** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias

Wish list for River North:

The former Pearl/former Walmart at Franklin/Chicago become 15-story office building.

The surface parking lot across the street become a 20-story office building.

The surface lot between Wells and Lasalle on Chicago become mixed-use with a residential wing fronting Wells where Yolk is and the Chicago aide being office space.

The currency exchange at Lasalle/Chicago become a residential tower.

The surface lot at Superior/Clark become a residential midrise.

SW corner of Lasalle/Illinois become an office building. The small surface lot across illinois from there become small-scale residential.

Residential midrise for the Catholic Charities lot on SE corner of Erie/Lasalle.

Convert Catholic Charities building at Huron/Lasalle into some sort of center for cultural non-profits - for example it'd be cool to see Aliance Francais, Goethe Institute and Instituto Cervantes join forces and all be in one location and that building might make a useful place to colocate them. A small garage could be built where their rear parking is now, and their chapel would be useful for films and such.

Add bulldozing that methadone clinic at 310-322 W. Chicago and adding a tower there to the list as well

r18tdi · #**34450** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 4:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias

Wish list for River North:

- The full-block post office at Ohio and Dearborn replaced with a much needed park ...or a new supertall.

UrbanLibertine · #**34451** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 5:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

Add bulldozing that methadone clinic at 310-322 W. Chicago and adding a tower there to the list as well

Rock and Roll McDonald's will always be #1 on my list (Rainforest Cafe will be #2)

Jibba · #**34452** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 6:59 PM**

Sure enough, no terra cotta. Just lovely precast panels. That totally sucks. Too bad the trail-blazing TOD that had to compromise for entree into the neighborhood didn't happen at a less-prominent intersection.

the urban politician · #**34453** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 7:41 PM**

Yeah I would've preferred brick over this

emathias · #**34454** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 7:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Near North Resident

Add bulldozing that methadone clinic at 310-322 W. Chicago and adding a tower there to the list as well

For that building I don't really mind the building itself - if it were renovated with active spaces it would add a lot in its current form. The top half of the building is nicely vintage and the first floor could probably be brought back into line with that as part of a renovation. It's a small enough site that the lack of density isn't a deal-breaker for me, especially if a midrise were put on the north half of that block.

Maybe if the American health system gets more tolerant of Suboxone maintenance instead of methadone maintenance, the need for methadone clinics could be reduced enough to eliminate locations in high-profile locations like this one. To that end, recent rules changes by the Obama administration are at least a start in that direction.

At any rate, once the laundry list of locations is completed, the remaining surface lots along Franklin and Orleans could be built out nice and densely.

prelude91 · #**34455** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 7:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jibba

Sure enough, no terra cotta. Just lovely precast panels. That totally sucks. Too bad the trail-blazing TOD that had to compromise for entree into the neighborhood didn't happen at a less-prominent intersection.

And don't let the images fool you, this looks really bad in person, IMO.

The massing is great, but the facade is just god awful.

Via Chicago · #**34456** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 8:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jibba

Sure enough, no terra cotta. Just lovely precast panels. That totally sucks. Too bad the trail-blazing TOD that had to compromise for entree into the neighborhood didn't happen at a less-prominent intersection.

theres nothing trail blazing about this building. its just been a lazy, uninspired effort from day 1

Ned.B · #**34457** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 8:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Yeah I would've preferred brick over this

I think the brick that is being used on the alley and north facing sides of this building is actually nicer looking. Wish that if they were going with precast that they had maintained the tight horizontal grooves shown in the renderings. Precast can be done very well; I think most often when it isn't trying to look like limestone.

maru2501 · #**34458** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 10:38 PM**

the one at Paulina brown stop is way better with brick etc

BuildThemTaller · #**34459** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 11:44 PM**

The disappointment about this is a little confusing. This appears to look exactly like the renderings.

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2...tzlake-render/

prelude91 · #**34460** Posted **Aug 4, 2016, 11:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuildThemTaller

The disappointment about this is a little confusing. This appears to look exactly like the renderings.

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2...tzlake-render/

At the two community meetings I went to, the developer said he would incorporate terra cotta into the facade, that appears to have been VE'd out. Also, the facade in the rendering you posted looks more white to me than river north beige, which this tower definitely is becoming. I think these are very valid reasons to be disappointed.