CHICAGO | Essex on the Park | 607 FT | 56 FLOORS
 

Location: 800 South Michigan Avenue
Developers: Oxford Capital Group
Architect:Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Floors: 56
Height: 606'11"

https://archpaper.com/wp-content/upl...Grant-Park.jpg

https://42mzqz26jebqf6rd034t5pef-wpe...Grant-Park.jpg
Images by HPA/The Architects Newspaper








OLDER RENDERINGS:

https://s9.postimg.org/3q7wbpbmn/Essexhotelcover.jpg

https://s15.postimg.org/tmvx3qc3v/Mi...South_View.jpg

https://s10.postimg.org/n9luyr0l5/Si..._Park_View.jpg

https://s13.postimg.org/84k1snm9z/Essex_Daccord_2.jpg

^ thanks for making the thread. :tup:

i also want to copy this insider info tidbit in here from the main thread:

Hadn't seen the updated rendering in some time, and man has it grown on me. That would be a pretty tower

From nearly stunning to mostly generic. Too bad. :/

At least it's not horrible.

^You can thank Landmarks for that... completely City driven. The generic version you now see is a more costly and more generic version of the original.
^^^We've heard the concrete/window wall package will now be released to Power Construction on Friday 10/14 and DD (GMP) set will be issued to them on 11/14.

Also demo of the garage is supposed to start in November pending the closing of the construction loan which is eminent (or that is what they are telling subs).

Height is also going to be closer to 600' than 620'.

Can someone add this thread to the Chicago Projects & Construction Forum?

This looks like a nice addition for the area. Clean, sleek, modern. Can't complain, a solid filler. Also, it's good that these 500 ft + towers are all in the pipeline and recently. Good times ahead I hope.

http://i.imgur.com/cgwfaULl.png

Soon

Permit denied by landmarks? How does that even work?
Curbed link

Is even this tame deisgn to bold for them?

According to Curbed, the landmarks commission is stonewalling the Essex Tower.

http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/10/19...ate-renderings

I think saying they are stonewalling because they denied the demo permit could be inaccurate. My guess is that they are either waiting for the development to be approved by the city prior to issuing a demo permit (which should be a general precedent in historic districts) or there was an issue with the scope of the permit that we are unaware about.

More good news, cant wait for this to get started.

http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/10/19...ate-renderings

Old news from last week bud, person above you literally posted the same thing haha

It's actually been updated:

Yes and that's what the person was talking about in the post made before. I'm still right here lol

This earthcam is a great reference to what a great presence Essex is going to have.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/illinois...am=fieldmuseum

The Landmarks hold has been lifted, the demolition permit should be issued today. Demolition is not slated to begin until after January 1, so the development team can close on the construction loan.

Can someone with administrator rights link this project to the Chicago P&C regional link?

That's a really cool stream there, will be useful to track the construction too!

http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/10/28...new-skyscraper

Michigan Avenue garage cleared for demolition, new 620-foot tower to follow

The 56-story residential addition planned for Chicago’s landmarked Essex Inn hotel is ready to move forward

BY JAY KOZIARZ OCT 28, 2016, 12:46P


https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/cho...09.51%20AM.png

Great news about the Essex Tower.
http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/10/28...new-skyscraper

Someone created a dedicated thread for this project:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225358

Does anyone know how to link it to the Chicago P&C regional group? Can an administrator help with that?

Demolition will not start until after the first of the year as the development team expects to close their loan around Thanksgiving and have a GMP by the end of the year.

Is this building going to be condo or apartments? If condo, when do you expect a sales center to go up?

^ It's all apartments.....

will they remodel the hotel?

^The hotel will be completely renovated. The renovation will take place near the end of the tower construction so the hotel and tower open roughly the same time.

Thanks to whoever updated this.

Construction loan should be closing on Monday for this project. Overheard canopies for the garage demolition should go up just after the moratorium is lifted after the first of the year. Excited to see this one rise!

^ To hell with permits, earth moving machinery, or drills I say.

Nothing generates more dancing bananas in my mind than a construction loan.

Everything else is just a display. Money talks, while bullshit....

The view looking down the Michigan Ave cliff down to Roosevelt from Grant Park is about to see some major changes

The extension of the skyline down Michigan Ave is the most exciting thing happening to the city imo. Now if we can just get 1000 Michigan going, we'd be great.

Great to see this one moving forward imminently. Now if we can get an early 2017 groundbreaking on 1326 S Michigan as well, I'll be quite happy with the South Loop's current progress in this boom.....

My buddy is an electrician, and at his company's Christmas party on Friday, his boss shared the news with the guys that they won the bid for the electrical work (from McHugh I think he said). He said they expect to be on the job starting sometime in 2017. Needless to say the union guys went wild after this announcement. I wish I could somehow share the snapchats he sent from the party. Them boys can drink!

I used to work at 208 S. LaSalle while they did the JW conversion. Seemed like the timeline of that renovation spread much longer than the inital due date. Should we expect the same for Essex? Also, the cost of these hotel conversion projects is absolutley rediculous, aside from the fact that JW charges $400 a night. Marriot spent 450 million to renovate 12 floors plus 3 basement floors. Plus they picked up the tab for the elevator and lobby renovation for the office space. They could have built a 60 floor state of the art hotel for that cost. I understand the point of fixing up Classic, Beautiful, Old buildings, but at what what point does cost take over tradition? Couldnt Essex save a butt load by just tearing down the old hotel and make one massive building instead.

Well there's certainly no going back now, since the developer had the Essex landmarked.

I think you are downplaying the importance of how much money these hotels make in rooms AND in food and beverage from their associated bars and restaurants in their downtown location. Also note that most of these recent conversions have happened in landmark buildings that cannot be torn down and have recently shown to have little use as office except as class C or D. Add to that that redeveloping in a landmarked building provides significant Class L tax credits. These projects wouldn't be happening if the numbers didn't make sense.

But specifically in the case of Essex, the fact that they have landmarked the original building suggests that they are planning to use historic tax credits. Plus I'm assuming that they are using the FAR/air rights of the Essex parcel to build higher on the new tower parcel. If they tore the existing building down and filled the entire site they either wouldn't be able to build as tall, or would have to purchase additional FAR in order to achieve a building of the same height with larger footprint.

Per a source:

606'11"|56 floors

essex construction loan

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2...ney-gets-busy/

RentEssex.com

great news!

someone with seemingly insider info mentioned somewhere else on the forum that Case will be starting foundation work on this project in early march.

EDIT:

here's the post from the 1200 S Indiana thread

how in the world are people getting construction loans for hotels? there are so many articles out there about room glut downtown.

^ This is not a new hotel, just a reno.

Even then, a new hotel can still get financed.

Ah, my bad. I should actually read the article before posting. :D

Now if we can just get 1000 S going, Chicago's skyline will be changed forever.

January 3, 2017

Is that East-West University building going to continue unchanged as far as we know right now?

I don't think the design is bad. The vertical columns on the north/south facades save it and remind me a bit of Inland Steel.

Doe's anyone have a link to the schedule of this project. Just wondering if the hotel rehab is going to shut down the whole hotel or if they are going to do a floor by floor type of thing? Also will that portion coincide with the tower portion or after the tower is finished?

"Is that East-West University building going to continue unchanged as far as we know right now? " ^^^^

I wouldnt be surprised that east/west wouldnt try to build something like Spertus did with the prime location in the next 10-20 years. Then again I have no idea about enrollement of east/west or their financial situation. It would be sick to see another Roosevelt U type of highrise along mich.

When I Google Essex Inn and this pops up, I get so sad. Hopefully HPA re-introduces it somewhere else down the road...in Chicago of course.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/...20150928125127
Via Crains.

I'd been thinking the same thing. I miss the original stilts, but prefer the new tower.

I prefer the newer tower as well.

I prefer the current version as well - the stilts were a bit gimmicky.