Aug 26



Aug 30



It will be interesting to see how these look in the ice and snow
[



Sept 2



300 N LaSalle on the far right

The facade is pretty disappointing, frankly. Ugh.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E9-a1HoX...jpg&name=large
Credit: Mayadupreeworld

Wayyyy to early to say something like this. This picture doesn't even show any facade that's not being shadowed.

The details are just as intense as the other buildings in this complex which turned out above average. Also, the glass is definitely looking more clear-green in that photo than reflective blue that everyone constantly frets about...

The glass is certainly different than it appears in the renderings. Darker for sure. I wonder if this had to do with the building's east/west exposure - like WPW (also dark glass.) 300 LaSalle and WPE are oriented north/south.

08.14.21
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...055199/enhance


08.29.21
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...055638/enhance


08.31.21
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...055967/enhance


09.06.21
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...055145/enhance

Nice! Gonna look tall from this angle.

Also the clouds reflecting on this will be stunning when more height is completed. :)

Thanks for the great pics, BVic! The view from the Lake St bridge is fantastic!

It projects out into and fills the confluence, as it should.

she was always meant to be a background wall-flower at the party.

it's too bad that it took an extra 4 decades for the A-listers to arrive.

but at least they're finally now here. better late than never, i suppose.

To have such an ugly duckling bookend a world class architectural street like Wacker was such a travesty. Many decades of shame driving/walking north on Wacker and looking at that barf-beige embarrassment.

I'll gladly take late over never :)

Agree 100%. It's a missed opportunity at such a pivotal site. WPE is handsome, but not groundbreaking, I think the white fins on WPE help. The curtain wall on WPS is pretty bad. I expect better in Chicago, especially at this site.:uhh:

Not to go too far off topic but ...

I'm not here to sing the Apparel Mart's praises as an architectural masterpiece, but it always amazes me to see all the hate for this building at this point in its life. Owners have invested tens of millions of dollars refreshing the building with new windows, interiors, and paint over the past decade to 1) attract new teants and 2) make it less of an eye-sore.

I actually think it looks much better than it did 15 years ago. Every time I see it, rather than think 'What a POS ...,' I appreciate that at least some effort went in to making it just a little more palletable. I wish I could say the same about every building (and it's owners) in the city.

(I have no vested interest in this building or its owners) :shrug:

PS. Merch Mart looked like it needed a scrubbing badly back then.

A reminder of what once was ...

https://i.imgur.com/66J1ssZ.jpg

I wish something like One Vanderbilt could've been built here instead of what we got. I feel like that kind of building would made WP site such a meaningful presence in the city.

What has happened with Wolf Point fits the location very well in my view. A signature office tower - and One Vanderbilt is the 6th tallest tower in the United States by roof height and 3rd tallest office tower - was just not going to work there. The tallest office towers are adjacent to train lines. Sears is next to Union Station; 1WTC is next to the Oculus; One Vanderbilt is next to Grand Central; and so on. Wolf Point is not an ideal location for a pure office tower of 1,000+ ft in height. Once the hotel was scrapped, it just wasn't going to get that tall. I wish the hotel remained, but it's not my money footing the project.

As it is, the project is very good. It's a triple if not a home run. There is public space that extends that allows people to walk all around the confluence. It has dramatic views from the main and south branches. The design should age well. I think it's very nice and huge, huge improvement over the eyesore of a parking lot that used to be there.

Echoing BuildThemTaller - I get why people want this site to have a signature building because of its visual prominence. But from a transport accessibility perspective, this site is actually a bit of a cul de sac. Let's go through the options:

• The only auto access is from one street, Orleans. And Orleans is one-way northbound, which means you have to drive through Wacker side and then take a left turn to get into the site.
• To get to the L you have to walk around the Merchandise mart to the brown line - one of the largest buildings in the world. Or walk 5 blocks and cross a river to get to Clark/Lake.
• The 2 closest bus routes are the 125 and the 37. The 125 only goes to river north, mag mile, and ogilvie/union station. 37 goes to lincoln park, old town, and the clinton blue line. The connection to metra is nice, but that's really not great accessibility. And if you are coming in from the north, you run into the one-way Orleans problem again, which means you are dropped off on the other side of Merch mart.
• There are other buses too of course, but they are even further away. 156 is another block past the merch mart, 22 is one more, and the closest the 13X buses get is Lasalle and Wacker.
• I even checked the water taxi. It's not close either (closest stop between Clark and Lasalle)

Though it looks very central, this is actually not a very convenient site for lots of people to come and go to. And you would need lots of people coming and going to economically justify a One Vanderbilt type signature building. Given those constraints, I'm happy with what we got.

FYI - Orleans is two-way up to WPP - but your other points are correct. The traffic in that area is already bad and will get worse.

There are 2 entrances off of Kinzie - and you can drive along the south side of the Merch Mart. Of course only losers drive downtown. But even recently when I have joined that group I have had no problems driving right up for some photos. That is for the drop off - for parking you would be using Kinzie.

Spet 7

9.11.2021
Photo from this morning from the 41st floor of 300 N. Lasalle
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zX...huB5IvACk=w600

^ awesome shot!

And just look at the AC, now relegated to just slinking around in the shadows, as God intended.