So is anybody at this meeting?

Anyone go to the meeting? Anything new/different than what we've already seen?

Only addition to CUS headhouse will be a new penthouse level on the existing roof, set back so it isn't visible from immediately surrounding streets. Improvements to Clinton side, new retail, restored entries will all be done as previously discussed. The 400 hotel keys will be divided between two hotel operations, one entered from Adams with about 60 percent of each floor, and another entered from Jackson. All hotel valet operations to use the original taxi entry/exits.

Office tower not yet fully designed, but very much about trying to integrate with the landscaping at the base. That's why piers on 30-foot centers will be tied together into diagonals on ~90-foot centers. At ground level, building lobby is pulled in to be tight around the elevator core, giving a sort of enormous arcade into which the landscaping continues.

A direct entry from the transit (bus) center and a primary path through the landscaping from northeast to southwest will offer—in good weather—a nicer way to go from CUS to the Blue Line. The 400 parking stalls will be entirely below the grade of Canal St. A passageway through the garage will be open to the public, offering all-weather access to Clinton & Van Buren. Won't quite get you to the Blue Line, but doesn't foreclose a future connection that might be done by CDOT or others.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. It's not hypocritical to think a public planning body with, you know, actual experts in urban planning, design, and preservation could both resist destructive proposals like the union addition while also eliminating the wanton desire for limitless private plazas.

I'm not really sure where you are going with this. We don't dislike perogative because bit prevents "shiny new skyscrapers" we dislike it because amature armchair architects like Reilly have no business being involved in the urban planning and design choices of a world class metro. That isn't any different because he occasionally shoots down the mutilation of a historic building or allows a supertall.

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BORING

COPY, CUT, PASTE, REPEAT...!

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was there anything about a floor count mentioned at the meeting?

Garbage.

I'm for open space in this development but...yeesh that park.

Tower is real meh but you're never going to get the kind of top rent paying tenants here that will pay for something distinctive like you might right on the river.

Best news is the head house IMO.

And to think that proposed sloping tower a while back could have added some real muscle and excitement to that area of the skyline.

I think floor count was 50-something, but the architect may have been vague because the design isn't yet finished. The slides should go up on Reilly's website by tonight.

I don't understand the bitching. Not only will the historic headhouse not be marred by an incompatible addition, and 1700 parking stalls reduced to 400 invisible ones, but the new tower is integrated with street level and plaza in a very promising way. From an urban design perspective, it's doing lots of good things.

I see your point but i just wonder how many of these bland office towers we’re going to see until finally someone with vision and a sense of stewardship to the city’s arch legacy says let’s do something bold. Wolf Point is a step in the right direction.

No bitching from me. I of course agree it's not some sort of stellar design, but there is so much good that comes out of this project that there's really very little to complain about...

That's true.

I can imagine them moving their "front office" jobs to the new building and maintaining some space at the existing complex at Monroe / LaSalle for operations, including jobs coming in from the suburbs, which would align with the claim in the Sun-Times that this will result in new jobs for the city. The building on Monroe is Harris Bank's original home and literally has its name and logo in stone on front, so they could want to maintain a presence there.

In the initial GP proposal wasn't there an office or residential tower across from the Old Main Post Office? Is that still a thing?

Yeah, there was a residential tower planned as well. A little disappointed that all of the residential has been removed from the plan. It would have been nice to see this area evolve into one with a bit more of a mixed-use feel...

...

im all in favor of more green space in the areas surrounding the loop but this park looks awful. reminds me of Pritzker where you have all these pointless lawns on raised cement beds that no one realistically wants to sit on. combined with the traffic and diesel exhaust, no one is going to want to linger in this spot.

building is one big nothing.

I don't think there was any chance that the bus terminal would ever get 'whacked'. What would have been a superior design would have been to build over the bust terminal which is what I thought an earlier proposal had suggested...

Completely agree with you guys.