My buddy just relocated from Chicago to San Fran. The city council there is packed with NIMBYs and if even so much as a 3 unit condo gets proposed in an area where it is already allowed you can expect public protests.... yes, protests.

I find our system here to be "broken" but "functional".

Looks like Onni pretty light-up crane at Old Town Park is ready to come down. I wonder if they'll just move it to over the next tower...

Chicago is pretty good about development, actually. If anything the city should be more strict in enforcing aesthetic standards and protecting the pedestrian environment (and relaxing or completely getting rid of parking minimums).

Paul Krugman even calls it out as an example here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/o...velopment.html

Sterling Bay has submitted zoning applications for their three-tower proposal where Green t meets the railroad tracks. Specifics for each individual towers were rarely specified, but the NW tower will be 298 ft and have 256 parking spots. The SW & SE towers will 295 & 280 ft respectively and will have a total of 531 parking spots. That means the project as a whole will have 787 parking spots. The applications don't say how much office space there will be, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's well over a million sqft. Also there's gonna be a ton of retail, so don't be surprised if you see this corner of Fulton Market become pretty lively in a few years.

Map: https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/...for-west-town/
https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/...M-1024x579.png

NW Tower: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=
https://i.imgur.com/IEJKzlm.png

SW Tower: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=
https://i.imgur.com/2aOTYBB.png

SE Tower: Same link as above
https://i.imgur.com/GIiVLgO.png

Wow. That's a lot of office space. They must be getting a ton of interest.

787 parking spots is a lot and I hope they lower it. But the number of people employed in all 3 buildings I imagine would be in the thousands, so that's still 1 on site parking spot for every 3-4 employees (my guess), so with that perspective a majority of people would still need to find another means to get there.

It could also be that these are longer-term plans, the lot at Kinzie and Green is currently being turned into a proper parking lot, so it might be a while before they tear that back out to build.

This kind of feels like Sterling Bay is arming for something. Like a major corporate relo or expansion.

All three by SOM?

Amazon? :shrug:

Either that or Sterling Bay is literally swimming in cash after breaking of a long string of ridiculous corporate adaptive reuse projects which are basically just pure profit. Think of it, they started with Hillshire Brands and have just doubled down their profits from that deal into grabbing every huge prime property they can tie down in the downtown periphery. Hillshire, Google, now McDonalds. They've rolled huge profits from those deals into grabbing up all of the North Branch and most of the rest of the West Loop. They don't need to have tenants for all of these projects because they are swimming in cash and probably buying half of these properties cash with investor money. It's not like land between the West Loop and Wicker Park or Wicker Park and Lincoln Park is going to crash in value any time soon.

^ If they really dump that much office into the market on spec, then it's truly game on with Loop landlords. They could cannabilize the Loop.

I think they will create a new office district that will, for a short run, weaken the Loop and other markets. But in the long run everything will equilibrate and I'm betting we will have a much broader and healthier downtown, and I would argue a much more interesting one.

Possible but not necessarily. If they were scooping up more land I’d think that’s usual for them but locking in the zoning and doing plans costs money and reduces flexibility. Money that I doubt would be spent without at least the strong prospect of a tenant. Maybe someone moving from the loop or suburbs. Or an out of town player.

But, but, I thought no one would EVER want to have an office in the West Loop! ;)

Montrose & Clarendon

12/07/17

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...313762/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...313745/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...313746/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...313741/enhance

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...313761/enhance

Huh, I kinda just realized how the shape the new downtown office locations are gonna take over the next decade. Fulton Market is becoming an emerging hub to the west, while the Tribune Redevelopment in River West is seeking large tech anchors, the Old Post Office/Union Station is probably gonna be similar to Merchandise Mart, and The 78 is also intent on having some of the big tenants in the Loop move to the area in addition to the Discovery Partners Institute. There effectively will be a new continuous "ring" of offices surrounding the Loop, geared towards tech firms and businesses that want to abandon the Loop. More specifically, this new "ring" is along or close to the Chicago River, creating what is effectively a second waterfront district, after the lakefront.

If this migration continues I think we'll eventually see more of the 60-80s office towers converted to residential (Imagine the bitching views a corner apartment in the top portion of the Sears Tower or 333 Wacker would have)

You're making quite a leap to assume that businesses are migrating from the Loop to the new developments. If anything, those tenants are coming from outside Chicago. McDonald's and vendors from the suburbs, ADM corporate staff from Peoria, and if we're lucky, Amazon from Seattle. This new ring around the Loop is only going to expand the business district with some parts becoming truly 24-hour zones of residential, business, and commercial activity.

^ I agree, but there is no doubt that these will poach tenants from the Loop. It’s already started. The problem is, the central Loop is still the most well served by transit. So if your going to expand the office zones, we need better transit connections. And still nobody is taking about this. We need the Clinton Subway and something akin to the Times Sq/Grand Central Station shuttle in New York

Obviously took a long time for the Montrose/Clarendon development to break ground, but it’s rising rapidly now. Good to see!

Cladding on Montrose/Clarendon is tops!