Apparel Mart is the ugly building behind Merchandise Mart and Salesforce.

East Bank Club is the warehouse looking fitness club.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeO7rHOWAAAR-1h.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeO7rHLXoAIbkQi.jpg

according to Wikipedia, the Apparel Center/Mart is 2 million square feet. If torn down a super tall and even another skyscraper or two could be constructed to replace the square footage. I’d be happy with that.

And Salesforce will be what, 1.2 million sqf? Something like that?

The Apparel Center, as catastrophically ugly as it is, is still in good structural shape, mostly fully leased and profitable. Unlikely its going away anytime soon, unless a big time corporate entity wants to build a trophy tower here.

The ECB on the other hand probably has a more realistic chance of getting redeveloped at some point. I could see them voluntarily moving if the price is right. Probably wont happen until all available lots in the immediate vicinity have already been developed, however. There's still tons of land north of Chicago Ave, although those come with costly affordable/subsidized housing strings attached that is keeping development at bay there for now as well.

[QUOTE=galleyfox;9750699]Apparel Mart is the ugly building behind Merchandise Mart and Salesforce.

East Bank Club is the warehouse looking fitness club.

Thanks for the clarification

No way EBC moves! I believe they've owned that land for a very long time and speaking from being a member myself, EBC is an absolute gold mine. The number of members paying $250+ a month is absolutely ridiculous and that's not changing as there's essentially zero competition. I can't think of a business case where it'd make more sense to sell/build elsewhere.

^ yeah, i don't see EBC going anywhere anytime soon.

the big shame of EBC is that it was built back in the era when the river was something to turn your back on; a dirty, smelly open sewer to be shunned and scorned.

imagine the golden opportunity they'd have if they were designing one of the city's most high-end health clubs from scratch on that riverfront site today.

Perhaps if a high-heeled developer went into a joint agreement with the EBC that incorporated a new updated EBC complex as part of a 2 or 3-tower complex perhaps? Just spitballing obviously. I could see how that would be beneficial for both. The logistics of development would be a nightmare of course. It would probably be staged so that the EBC would remain partially open in that scenario.

Should have ALL been incorporated with Wolf point in my opinion. Just need a few billion dollars that's all.

I could definitely see that but I just don’t know how it’d be possible keeping EBC open while concurrently building a high rise on the same land. I guess you could throw up a high rise on the lot on the south part of the site which is basically a drive lane but that’s essentially it. Just seems like it’d be a nightmare of a project and a MASSIVE cost.

October 3, 2022

I'm essentially doing this for a YMCA in another city right now. A developer is building a residential tower on the site and the YMCA is contracting into half of their existing building while the new tower and new, more compact YMCA addition are being built on the other half. Knowing nothing about the interior arrangement of EBC, something similar could be done here.

That’s the problem.. EBC has over 5 (I’ve never checked so maybe more?) tennis courts, 3 pools, 2 basketball courts, restaurant & bar, hair salon, massive weight room, etc etc. It’s an entire compound. I just don’t see how you fit that into a new high rise, let alone temporary relocate.

Yeah a lot of those spaces (tennis court, pool, basketball) require long-span structures. Extremely costly to build a highrise on top of a long-span structure.

I think East Bank Club is there to stay, but it may be possible to extend the riverwalk along the frontage and renovate the lower level so it opens to the river.

EBC did sell their parking lot to Habitat a few years ago and they put up a highrise, so they aren't opposed to more development around them and gradually shifting to walk-in members from the neighborhood instead of driving/valet members.

Don't mean to get off topic, but I heard East Bank Club is one of the best fitness/lifestyle clubs in the country, is that true?

10.02.22
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1665064353

10.03.22
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1665041119

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1665041119

Today

^100% agree. Even if the structures were all glass, they definitely could have done something more interesting with them.

Such an underwhelming and boring building.

Not to add to the negative views on this project...
But am I the only one that gets bothered by WPW? I know it was designed by a different team and it's pretty much blocked by WPS, but it just seems so out of place. Different facade and design elements from WPE AND WPS.
The development would look somewhat better if all three buildings were similar in design.