EVANSTON | 708 Church St. (Fountain Square Tower) | 409 FT| 35 FLOORS - Page 7

Steely Dan · #**121** Posted **May 30, 2007, 2:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan in Chicago

Dan - the shorter proposal has been given an Emporis ID of 300671. For lack of an official name, we're calling it "1600 Orrington Avenue" for now.

thanks dan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

A month after one team of developers floated a proposal to build a 523-foot condominium tower, another team on Tuesday night briefed city officials on its design for a 421-foot condo high-rise on the same triangle-shaped block.

Each skyscraper would supplant the 418-foot Oakbrook Terrace Tower as the tallest in Chicago's suburbs.

that's cool, so if either tower goes forward as currently proposed, suburban chicago will have a new tallest, and it will be in evanston, where such a building rightfully belongs in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

but it is unlikely that both will be built.

it would have been nice if kamin had given some reference for this tidbit. is this coming from conversations he's had with folks in the planning dept./city council or is it just his own editorializing? dan coffey, architect of the 2nd proposal, says that both buildings could exist on the block; click the link to the evanstonnow.com article to read more: http://www.evanstonnow.com/node/2401

Columbian1893 · #**122** Posted **May 30, 2007, 4:01 PM**

Both towers will not coexist. See the link below...

http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/n...searchType=all

Steely Dan · #**123** Posted **May 30, 2007, 4:13 PM**

^ as per forum rules, please post a link to the source article.

BVictor1 · #**124** Posted **May 30, 2007, 6:06 PM**

37-Story proposal

Steely Dan · #**125** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:26 PM**

^ what's with coffey's penchant for the terraced wedding cake top? it didn't work for sherman plaza, what makes him think it'll work this time around?

Dr. Taco · #**126** Posted **May 30, 2007, 7:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that's cool, so if either tower goes forward as currently proposed, suburban chicago will have a new tallest, and it will be in evanston, where such a building rightfully belongs in my opinion.

Yeah, I agree. office buildings out in the middle of "nowhere" (I don't really have a definition of nowhere, but I basically mean, the middle of suburbia) look out of place. I'm looking at you, Naperville, Schaumburg, and Oakbrook :-P. I really love Evanston, and it probably comes closest to a real downtown than any other suburb of Chicago (Elgin comes pretty close).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it would have been nice if kamin had given some reference for this tidbit. is this coming from conversations he's had with folks in the planning dept./city council or is it just his own editorializing?

I think he's probably going the safe route with pessimism. But yeah, when I first read the article, I had to read it a couple times before I realized that "both" is not the same as "either", lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

37-Story proposal

Don't ask me why, but this building sort of reminds me of a luxury cruise ship. I mean, I like it, but the top of the building could probably be transplanted to a boat and it would look good. But I hope both of them get built

BVictor1 · #**127** Posted **May 30, 2007, 8:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ what's with coffey's penchant for the terraced wedding cake top? it didn't work for sherman plaza, what makes him think it'll work this time around?

It might work because it isn't painted or pre-cast concrete. Sherman Plaza is ass ugly. At least this is an attempt at decency.

Steely Dan · #**128** Posted **May 30, 2007, 9:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Sherman Plaza is ass ugly.

you got that right. isn't it just so perfect that evanston would allow a trainwreck like sherman plaza to be built while denying hovey's wicked-slick proposal for chicago & davis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

It might work because it isn't painted or pre-cast concrete.

how do you know this? those white floor-plate bands sure look like painted concrete to me. it may have a nicer flat-iron shaped massing, and the proportion of glazing has certainly been increased with the floor-to-ceiling ribbon windows, but i'm concerned that this one has sherman plaza part II written all over it. i guess i can grant it the minor improvement that is isn't that god-awful beige/brown color that's supposed to mimic stone coloring.

Columbian1893 · #**129** Posted **May 31, 2007, 12:15 AM**

I agree that Sherman Plaza is weak in design and I wouldn't necessarily expect anything different across the street. At least with the Booth-Hansen proposal you can count on a quality design similar to Momo, 30 West Oak, or Sono. How many other highrise condo buildings has Coffee completed other then Sherman Plaza?

Wild Onion Mike · #**130** Posted **May 31, 2007, 12:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVictor1

37-Story proposal

One of my best friends, a nautical architect, thinks the top of this "screams cruise ship." As for me, I wish it had a little more punctuation to it. The top just seems too passive and docile. IMHO

Marcu · #**131** Posted **May 31, 2007, 12:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Columbian1893

I agree that Sherman Plaza is weak in design and I wouldn't necessarily expect anything different across the street. At least with the Booth-Hansen proposal you can count on a quality design similar to Momo, 30 West Oak, or Sono. How many other highrise condo buildings has Coffee completed other then Sherman Plaza?

I go back and forth with Sherman Plaza. At this point, I'm convinced that my dislike for it is only limited to views from the south. From the north and northeast, it's not so bad. Almost adds a more residential image to downtown Evanston with all the surrounding balconies. In a strange way it even comes off as European.

The crown thing at the top? I don't know what the deal is. Are they even finished with it? I was sort of hoping it would look more integrated into the building once it's done. Last time I saw it, however, it just didn't make any sense. Looked like it didn't belong at all.

If I was to choose, I would definetly take the first proposal just b/c the crown thing will look awful again. Even if it means chopping it down to the height of the second.

Dr. Taco · #**132** Posted **May 31, 2007, 12:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Onion Mike

One of my best friends, a nautical architect, thinks the top of this "screams cruise ship." As for me, I wish it had a little more punctuation to it. The top just seems too passive and docile. IMHO

sweet! thats what i said

ardecila · #**133** Posted **May 31, 2007, 5:07 AM**

Okay... I saw a 3d flyaround on ABC-7 tonight, which showed some close-ups of the circular restaurant/plaza (great idea), as well as the ass end of this building (big disappointment)

The Focus/Klutznick proposal is FAR superior architecturally, but doesn't really do anything significant to the plaza. I have a feeling Evanston will side with the taller one because of the setbacks, but require the developers to include the plaza in their plans.

NYC2ATX · #**134** Posted **May 31, 2007, 1:02 PM**

I don't like the 37-story proposal. The other one was a nicer design, and this one seems like a cookie-cutter condo tower.

.....plus, the other one is taller.

spyguy · #**135** Posted **May 31, 2007, 1:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Okay... I saw a 3d flyaround on ABC-7 tonight,

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...cal&id=5353825

Steely Dan · #**136** Posted **May 31, 2007, 2:48 PM**

^ thanks for the link spyguy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

The Focus/Klutznick proposal is FAR superior architecturally, but doesn't really do anything significant to the plaza. I have a feeling Evanston will side with the taller one because of the setbacks, but require the developers to include the plaza in their plans.

if only one of these proposals can go forward, that would kind of be an ideal outcome. if evanston is smart, they'll play the 2nd proposal off of the first one to strong arm klutznik/focus into ponying the money to get fountain square refurbished. and that way, the hahn building stays wholely unmolested, so the preservation community would be happy as well.

Steely Dan · #**137** Posted **May 31, 2007, 7:56 PM**

i've added a poll to the thread to vote for which proposal you'd rather see go forward if you were forced to choose.

also, please give the reasoning for your vote here in the thread if you wouldn't mind.

ardecila · #**138** Posted **May 31, 2007, 8:53 PM**

I've already given my reason for voting Focus/Klutznick. Remember, Evanston can just as soon deny BOTH towers, or force them to wait until next fall, which may very well kill one or both proposals. On the other hand, plenty of people want to live in DT Evanston. Thus, the City of Evanston can place realistic demands on the developers and expect to see them agreed to.

Steely Dan · #**139** Posted **May 31, 2007, 11:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila

Remember, Evanston can just as soon deny BOTH towers,

oh, i don't think anyone is going to forget about that. the reason i made the poll was not to imply the inevitably of one of the designs being built, but rather to get more opinions about the relative merits of the two designs from what we've seen of them so far.

in nerdy statistic news, i discovered in looking through the emporis database that evanston has a chance to not only have the tallest building in the burbs, but it could also become home to the greatest concentration of highrise buildings in the burbs as well. currently schaumburg holds that title with 13 completed highrise buildings standing 12 floors or higher. evasnton currently has 8 completed with a further 2 under construction for a toal of 10. there are two other approved highrise proposals that will most likely go forward (1881 oak, carroll place), and a 3rd highrise proposal that is going through the approval process right now (1890 maple). assuming those 3 are all built, that would bring evanston's highrise total to 13, tied for 1st with schaumburg. and then of course, if even only one of these fountain sqaure towers should become a reality, evanston moves into the definitve role as suburban chicago's 1st skyline, both in height and number of buildings.

Latoso · #**140** Posted **May 31, 2007, 11:37 PM**

I voted #1 because #2 looks too much like a retro '90s building, and nothing '90s should be retro yet.