I don't know, it definitely feels like a failure to me.
The neighborhood of the future, the 78th newest community area, a they couldn't manage to stick their brand new subway station in their brand new neighborhood?
I mean, it might be a stretch, but this is almost like Millennium Station being the closest station to the Illinois Center / Lake Shore East.

Not having an entrance on both sides of the street is nothing but shear cheapness. They need to have both and not cop out. This is infrastructure that will be around for 100+ years, build it right.

Curt Bailey said work should be starting within 90 days on the third phase that runs through the 78 site. Wells-Wentworth will be long open by the time ground is ever broken on a Red Line station. I think I mentioned somewhere that Clark can be closed off to divert to Wells, and they can dig up the whole intersection for a year or more if that’s what it takes to get an entrance west of Clark. Still, I don’t think it’s a huge deal to have one entrance, especially when the headhouse will be pretty spacious. After streetscaping, Clark will be greatly tamed from the auto sewer it is now.

It's also not uncommon in New York and London to have a subway station in the central district that only has one headhouse, with no additional entrances. Even with crossing the street, most of the 78 will be a 5 min walk from the station.

The real transit problem to address for the 78 is how to get more East-West access to the site. Multiple bus services being channeled through 18th St would do wonders with connecting Pilsen & Little Village to the 78 and the rest of the South Loop. If service is frequent enough, I can also imagine passengers at the 18th St stop using the buses to get the the 78.

^I don't know that east-west transit access is really an issue, as the #12 and #18 buses both currently run on Roosevelt. For the U of I DPI, or even a big new employment center, a new Red Line station should be more than adequate.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliabr...os-south-loop/

Dec 27, 2018, 05:04pm

Lendlease Launches Southbank, A New Neighborhood In Chicago's South Loop

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Lendlease, a leading international property and infrastructure group, recently celebrated the grand opening of The Cooper at Southbank, a 29-story, 452-unit luxury high-rise located at 720 S. Wells St. in Chicago’s South Loop. The Cooper marks the first of five new luxury residential builds Lendlease has planned for Southbank, its new South Loop development project.





https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/9...k-1200x790.jpg

Southbank, Chicago’s newest neighborhood on the south branch of the Chicago RiverLendlease

Located along the south branch of the Chicago River, the new Southbank neighborhood includes five residential towers situated around a soon-to-be-opened two-acre public park and riverwalk. According to Justin Patwin, project director for Southbank at Lendlease, the team took inspiration for Southbank from neighboring Printers Row, an iconic Chicago neighborhood and the bygone hub of the nation's printing industry. Patwin notes that the team sought to develop Southbank as a dynamic urban neighborhood with active connections to the vibrant Chicago art scene and to surrounding communities.


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^No mention of when the next tower will start.

^ Also that's not part of The 78. We have a thread for Riverline where that belongs.

Technically Riverline is now the parcel south of River City only, and the north section has been rebranded as Southbank... so I guess we need a Southbank thread? Lol.

^Probably makes more sense to just rename the Riverline thread. I see no signs of the CMK portion starting anytime soon. He's focused on quick easy highrises like the one next to Palmer Printing instead.

^ The south parcel was slated for at least half townhomes, I was involved in a minor way with an early version of that plan.

But the for-sale market continues to be sluggish, so vacant it shall sit. I think CMK's sales job will be easier once Wells-Wentworth is finished and that area feels less like the end of the world. With the new South Loop elementary opening up, there may be some more demand for family-sized units down there. It's a shame the NTA high school plan was scotched, that would have definitely lured more families to the area and not just the young or old singles and couples who are filling up all the rental towers.

Ideally CPS should start planning for a neighborhood high school campus elsewhere in the South Loop. There is land at 18th/Canal, or maybe a vertical school on the Hilliard campus that could share athletic facilities with NTA and Jones.

All this branding is out of control. Can we not just use addresses?

Seriously, it's almost always just pretentious and try-hard. It (almost)never sounds good.

The next tower there is under construction now. The core is about 3 floors high. They're moving dirt around for the riverwalk everyday.

That's an ALTA development from an Atlanta developer, and separate from Southbank, even though it's in the same plot of land.

Crossing the street is a safety issue. Not always an enormous one, but one that needs to be weighed along with every other relevant issue. :P Not everyone is as healthy and virile as you are.

I'll take the compliment :D

Drove past Southbank today. The Cooper is already showing its presence, when those other towers are built it will make a great impact on that part of the skyline.

This is getting a little confusing. I put together a crude map to see if I understand what is going on along the South Branch. Is this right?

https://i.imgur.com/zNzUbkAl.jpg

That looks about right

The 78 only extends south to 16th (actually to the railroad), and Roosevelt Collection extends north to 9th. Alta is a brand name already in use for several buildings; the two at Harrison & Wells will be Alta Grand Central.

See the map at southloopupdate.