Harper Court now LEED-ND Gold
 

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Harper Court Chicago/ Facebook
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Harper Court Chicago/ Facebook

Harper Theater marquee went up recently, looks good
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53rd Street Blog

Some bad news
 

Unrelated, but the University is going to build an 8 story, 1800-car parking garage at 57th and Cottage Grove next to the new hospital pavilion. Terrible that they're going to destroy the older fabric of the neighborhood for a giant garage.

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Also, City Hyde Park has changed. Antheus has scrapped plans for the second taller tower. The number of units hasn't changed and the remaining tower is now a few floors taller.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4384/cityhydepark1.jpg
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^ Booooooooo.

Can't really complain though. Studio Gang's design looks slick no matter how you dice it. Great addition to the area. This question most likely has already been asked (so please forgive my ignorance), but is there a preliminary start date in place for groundbreaking on CHP? The official site calls for a 2014 opening, but...

^The high-rise still an excellent design, but that podium sucks; really destroys the whole aesthetic of the project. Studio Gang needs to find a more elegant solution to this. No parking would be nice, but that's not going to happen.

For all the good that UC has done, and is doing for the neighborhood, the new hospital pavilion and its requirements sure are mucking things up.


Is is scrapped completely or is it possible they could be following the lead of Harper Court and keeping the option open for a second stage of construction?

I think they're still aiming to start construction early next year but I suppose that's all dependent on finalizing the TIF (now a smaller amount than before) and financing.

Well the parking is all underground. The second floor is actually retail, possibly TJ Maxx and Michaels (apparently they don't like or need windows?).

Completely I believe. The orientation of the remaining tower has changed and I don't think there is any space left for a second lobby/elevator core.

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The Akira in Hyde Park on 53rd Street opened today! :)

Article here.

http://fiftythird.uchicago.edu/sites...ra.opening.jpg

Today
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^Nice photos. I still wonder if they'll do anything with that old Starbucks building...

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Harper Court Chicago/ Facebook

Kilwin's shop now open across the street next to the new theater
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53rd Street Blog

CorePower Yoga has signed a lease for the remaining space on the second floor of the old Borders building (now Akira).

And kind of unrelated, but an awesome photo of the new University of Chicago campus:
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Tom Rossiter

Great shot of the campus. UofC is an impressive place.

That photographer has some really fantastic work, I recommend everyone to give it a quick look.

Studio Gang does seem to have issues with podiums. The podium of Aqua is really abysmal from ground level. The entrance is understated for such a beautiful tower. They had similar issues in the Prentice competition entry.

It reminds me a lot of Lake Point Tower. These podiums are great when you're on top of them, but from the street they are monolithic and anti-pedestrian.

I quite like Aqua from ground level:

http://www.arnewde.com/wp-content/up...ts-500x330.jpg
source

Even if you're not thrilled with it, "abysmal" seems like an exaggeration. (And since when does "understated" have negative connotations?)

Huh? Studio Gang completely preserved the existing building (Miesian "podium" and all) in their concept rendering for the NYT.

Trying to lessen spyguy's load...

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All images from Harper Court's Facebook page.

I really like how this one is turning out. The glass and precast both look top notch. Nice to see a different color of glazing than all the blue we've been getting for years. I really like the mint and seaweed green colors of the glass and how "flat" and relatively non-reflective it is. The whole facade so far has very fine, clean details.

^ Couldn't agree more.

The precast is too fussy IMO. They have a huge variation in panel size and relief; the color variation is too much. Love the glass though, especially how they're using butt-glazed and mullions together.

Hyde Park.... beautiful!

:sly: You'd prefer the boring, derivative stylings of the Ritz-Carlton residences variation? Frankly I think it's nice and it's pretty accurate per the renderings which have been released, and once those rectangular gaps have been filled in it will add a nice touch of color along every facade.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1630/hc4a.jpg

Oh crap, I thought those were windows. Eek.

Yeah, I'd prefer a subtler effect. I like the staggering of panel sizes and depths, just not the array of different shades. I don't know what that has to do with Ritz-Carlton, though?