I do have a soft spot for the boiler building, but it has so many strikes against it. Access is the biggest issue IMO, which I why I think the data center concept was considered less absurd than some of the other long-shot preservation ideas.

It would be great if they could move part or all of that huge eyesore ComEd substation into the power house somehow, thus solving two problems with one stone. Although that's almost certainly impossible, given the size of that infrastructure vs the size of the building, and the cost of moving it.

As accessibility is a problem, and there is no good way to reuse the building since its basically a big shell with no floorplates and a huge boiler in it, maybe the city can just light it up at night and have it be an attractive piece of architecture along the river? As there's no ROI on doing something like that, I would guess that option would be a moonshot as well.

Welp, data center it is :haha:

The Reed at Southbank - 234 W Polk
 

February 7, 2022

I'm confused. This podium is already really unfortunate, but it looks like the design was changed again because in the rendering the windows extend all the way to the eastern edge of the north face where there is now a blank concrete wall. On top of the fact that the floors are not flat guaranteeing this will stay a parking podium it seems. It's possible they will just hang the windows as a facade to imitate the rendering, but if that is the case it will probably look weird.

Even in a garage with flat floorplates, you still need ramps between floors obviously. In the case of a large garage, you can still have most of the floor be flat and suitable for future conversion, but in a compact podium like this there's no way to avoid sloping large portions of the floor area.

I'm guessing they need that solid panel at left for shear, but they may extend the glass screen wall in front of it.

I did find this rendering which may be slightly newer, it looks like the screen wall has switched from glass to a metal mesh and is vertical stripes rather than being a randomized pattern:
https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial....-southbank.jpg

I see I am a year late to comment on the rendering, but the latest photos showcasing the 'parking bunker' on the river implored me to backtrack to this image...

...only to say, what a fucking turd. I hope Ralph Johnson takes a ride on the water taxi just to throw rocks at this civic embarrassment.

Thanks for finding that rendering. I remembered it, but couldn't find it.

I would be more understanding about the sloped floor area in the garage if it wasn't so hideous. I can only hope there's the faint possibility that those original townhomes could be added on at some point in the future. Though maybe I should hold my judgment until I see the facade treatment.

The removal of the townhomes is the worst part about the redesign. Hopefully there is still room to add them in as a future component. I would think they'd be easier to sell than the condos.

This whole project is just subpar. dissapointing.

Very

puke comes to mind

Buildings look like all those new generic apartment buildings popping up in Atlanta/Nashville/Dallas. Sunbelt-quality development on prime riverfront property, sad.

This building wasn't too bad in the first iterations, but they kept dumbing it down. The base is all parking, smh. I mean it's better than the vacant grass lot that was there before, but my point still stands...

Let's just hope the 78 nearby brings quality development and gets that casino proposal.

Yea, are the 5-600 footers even UC yet / will they be anytime soon? Kind of misleading title if not...

Nice to see this area develop in any case

In the future, when you look up the term "VE trainwreck" in the dictionary, there will be a picture of this development.

The garage looks like was designed to withstand 500 lbs. of conventional airborne ordinance... only uglier.

The wrapped the base of The Cooper with active use (townhouses), but basically said fuck it here?

The Reed at Southbank - 234 W Polk
 

February 14, 2022

Troubling is that there is much more to come.

The real shame is that this faces the architecture boat tours.

At what point does "value engineering" become "bait-and-switch"?

They released a rendering of the revised design and then appear to be building that exact design.

It's not like the west bank is anything awesome along this stretch of river. Really no reason for the boat tours to come down there other than River City? And yes, this development is underwhelming at best.

Yeah this is about where they usually turn around and they talk about River City, the 78 and the Union Station Powerhouse. There’s a pretty great view of the Sears tower and cluster coming up the river from here as well.

I get that this is a somewhat boring box on a podium, but Riverline is a very good development and possibly great. It is taking a long-empty grass lot and turning it into a very dense development with public access to the South Branch. It connects River City to Downtown and will help extend the CBD south. It's a big win even if some of the designs are meh.

Sure, long after the development was already underway, they release an "updated rendering" of this building before construction kicked off.

Of course we'll see a lot more of these late releases of "new renderings" for buildings in megadevelopments now that they need approval from the Committee on Design.

filling in this long vacant piece of land with more "city" is very much welcome.

but there's no need to gloss over how bad of a VE hatchet job this is.



where we started: "ok, this looks pretty damn promising!"

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/w...e-1024x713.jpg



what we're getting: "oh........ :uhh:" <sad trombone sound>

https://s3-prod.chicagobusiness.com/...ndlease%20.jpg

It's not an improvement, but the general form is very similar. Both have a podium. Both have a big blank wall facing the River. Both have V columns above the riverwalk. The biggest change in my view is the loss of the liner units facing north. The original design was always a placeholder, right? This has happened with Lakeshore East, The 78, and nearly every big development. We are always going to get different designs when the shovels hit the dirt.

If I were a developer and wanted to appease this forum, I'd be sure to start with a slightly boring design in hopes I could work in a better one when the building was u/c :haha::haha:

I just don't like the size of the floor plates. I feel like monstrous residential buildings like this never age well - at least visually. They feel a bit too imposing from street level. Reminds me of some of those in River North like One Superior Plaza.

I agree with that sentiment... tall and slender is much more visually appealing, both from the street as well as from overhead. But its certainly not cheaper, since a few elevators could handle residential floors, whether the floorplates are a quarter block or half block long. This is cheaper for the developers so this is what we get.

The city needs to have a development approval board with teeth, in order to enforce architectural standards. Or at the very least, hold developers accountable when they deviate from the plan that won city approval and VE the design to death.

But filling in this lot with density, extending the riverwalk and connecting everything was inevitable. It isn't like the developer took on some great challenge that compensates for a less than inspiring result

Be careful what you wish for. This is what the PD anticipated:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...IHGRoEPrh8BZbQ

Feb 18

wow that parking podium. This whole project is a disgrace.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ef73e708_o.jpg
River City and other South Loop developments by Steven Vance, on Flickr

This would have rocked.

What could have been:

http://bertrandgoldberg.org/projects/river-city/

If I am seeing correctly based on an early image viewed from the west in the link, looks like the podium has been extended northward where the lining units were to be. And maybe shorter

https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/...-at-southbank/

still my favorite unbuilt chicago tower(s) of all time:

https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/a9e8bc7.../0/default.jpg
source: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/15986...illinois-model

Very cool building. I read that his first house design was built out by O'hare Airport in the 1930's. Is it still standing?

Looks like something out of a sci-fi movie

Yesterday
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...aa8bb2b7_b.jpg

The base is almost hidden from this angle. :D :haha:

I forgot I took these ones today too.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...276f83f5_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...31376463_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fa7fb553_b.jpg

very cool. it has that "future" look as envisioned from the 1960s

Well at least this makes it a little less ugly:

Lendlease Chicago high-rise employs low-carbon concrete
Construction Dive, March 15, 2022

This is fantastic.

Maybe they area trying to draw attention to the beauty of the concrete form like Goldberg. :haha:

The Reed at Southbank - 234 W Polk
 

March 21, 2022

How tall is this one supposed to be?

To the top of the Franklin Center in this image ... ish.

CMK Companies' Riverline South Parcel
 

March 21, 2022

Hope something will be developed here eventually. Maybe a nice park and river side restaurant connected to a riverwalk allowing for some boat docking. And of course some high rises :tup: