So how tall will the tallest building be?

I bet that patio used to have fantastic views.

And a large hobo encampment right below it.

The view will improve as more and more of the West Loop and Fulton Market are developed.

Any chance of that rail complex across the river getting redeveloped?

In like 20 years, sure. Downtown still has plenty of developable sites before we need to start capping railyards. If One Central can't do it without subsidies, then I doubt the railyards along the river will be developed soon.

Other than the ones that have already been capped, that is.

150 N Riverside says hello.

You forgot a zero.

Amtrak will eventually move some of their operations from Union Station Yard to Canal St Yard, so this could free up some of the real estate. Not all of it, but maybe enough so that a few tracks can be removed and the river edge landscaped with a walkway.

I'm still hoping the Power House can be stabilized and turned into an art facility as an outpost of MCA or the Art Institute, sorta like PS1 in Queens.

That's a great idea. A bit like the Tate. Also, need to have a floating balloon pig nearby.

^Well, first you'd have to build a building inside. And then you'd have to enclose that new building with something to keep out the rain and snow. So what do you end up with? A new building that sort of looks like an old building, but isn't very good for the purposes to which it's put.

The Union Station steam plant is not a huge empty hall like Battersea or Fisk power stations. It's a big boiler hung within a purpose-built steel frame, and then enclosed by century-old brickwork that would mostly have to be relaid brick by brick. So if you're building a new frame and hanging a new skin on the outside, what exactly are you preserving?

https://i.imgur.com/EYPMRtoh.jpg
Today

I was on the lake this weekend and was pleasantly surprised how visible The Reed is, poking up nicely above the South Loop plateau. The top floors should have decent views of the water.

Maybe I'm not understanding the condition of the building, but I don't see why you can't take apart the boilers with a torch one bit at a time, and leave the steel frame intact. It won't be huge open art galleries, so any work exhibited there would have to be small scale work or site-specific installations working around the steel frame (that's why I brought up PS.1).

This building proves that you can fix mundane blue boxes by just making them black. I like it. :cheers:

that parking garage right on the river is ghastly, but atleast the tower itself looks decent.

Yeah, no kidding. The black cladding looks great on there. Bumps up the building's visual appeal a couple notches for sure!

From this morning
 

https://i.imgur.com/Ah7MkiX.jpeg
A hazy/cloudy day out today down at Ping Tom Park

The Reed at Southbank - 234 W Polk
 

July 12, 2022













July 14, 2022