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No, the CN is at +8 or +10 where it would cross. Wentworth will have new underpasses under both railroads.
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South Loop developer aims to fill 4 million square feet of offices
Danny Ecker, Crain's Chicago Business "Unveiling new details of the vision for "The 78"—named to define itself as next on the city's official list of 77 neighborhoods—Bailey laid out a tentative plan for 1.2 million square feet of offices in the center of the property in so-called "sidescraper" buildings that are relatively short with massive floor plates "that allow for collaboration between floors," he said. Depending on the needs of tenants it is able to land, that development could take various shapes ranging from several 200,000-square-foot office properties to a single structure filled with one or several companies." That first rendering looks new to me: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/apps/...20180613221428 |
Looks really cool! I hope they do it like the renderings!
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Initially I was quite positive (about everything except the name). Now I'm having second thoughts about the urban design aspects. We know that urbanism works best when big sites are broken into small parcels with a traditional street-and-building framework. What these renderings show is an architectural free-fire zone of objects in an overscaled landscape, à la Pudong or Isle of Dogs. Of course, no buildings have actually been designed, but the master plan should impose more discipline than this one does.
If we want a new Chicago neighborhood, we have to cook with the right ingredients. I think the site needs smaller blocks, and a kit of parts or pattern-book drawn from traditional Chicago urbanism that would guide designers of the buildings. |
It'll only be a neighborhood in the same way that Printer's Row or Lakeshore East are neighborhoods, the name is silly. It'll be fine, and since it'll take 20-30 years to be fully executed, I'm sure they'll be able to snuff out any issues well in advance and make adjustments as need be
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Even assuming a highly pedestrian oriented environment, development needs streets to be functional. As it stands, this development just seems like a rehashed version of the same mistakes le corbusier made. |
The name sucks, but that can be changed. I doubt people will even call it 'The 78' from the get go, since it sounds so awkward to say. The sign outside the Sears Tower says Willis on it, but find me a single Chicagoan who calls it that? ;)
As for the street layout, I'm not sure if they will change that as the development is built out. The LSE streetplan is the exact same layout as the initial plan stated. While the buildings are all radically different from the initial proposal (save for the first few... The Lancaster, the Shoreham, etc) streets are harder to change, especially with all the necesarry infrastructure that needs to be put into place (sewer lines, water mains for hydrants, etc). I do think (and have mentioned several times) that they need to go back to the drawing board and add several more east-west streets. Not only for the easing of traffic (and in keeping Wells/Wentworth from becoming a mini-autobahn for commuters to/from the Loop), but also to keep the development from having a "superblock" feel. The pedestrian experience is enhanced when there is more variety on the street level, and that includes having smaller buildings on smaller blocks. |
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Dearborn Park's superblocks and big sites is what I'm trying to avoid. Even more relevant is the area just west of DP1, which was planned in the 1990s as "LaSalle Park." With no commitment to a small-block street grid, compromise after compromise was made, and it got parceled out into a series of objects on cul-de-sacs: Amli, some more Amli, a Target store, the antiurban Roosevelt Collection, the isolated British School, an Alta highrise with too much parking and land around it.
Battery Park City is probably the best example we have of how to extend a traditional American city fabric, rather than always thinking we're the generation who can ignore 3000 years of experience and invent urbanism anew. |
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While we're at it:
We need to have alleys as well. #1: Having a designated place for garbage/infrastructure/service entrances is 90% of what makes Chicago so clean and nice compared to most other cities. The pedestrian should not be exposed to these things when walking down the street. Certainly nobody would find it acceptable for there to be dumpsters in front of stores when walking through a mall (though such things would be behind overhead doors in this case). Surely maximizing street frontage for actual commercial activity should be in the developer's interest as well? #2: Assuming equivalent density, having regular blocks and alleys with small parcels allows an area to more easily adapt over time. If, for example, the demand for retail space in the area were to go up, structures on smaller parcels are much easier to redevelop to meet demand than single huge buildings taking up the entire block are simply because the required amount of capital is much lower. The current plan is very likely to result in relative stagnation for the area for many years after completion. #3: Assuming smaller parcels were to be used, it is very desirable for infrastructure to remain in the same common easement an alley can provide. If any of the structures in the current plan were to be later redeveloped, it is likely that whatever replaces them would have to deal with a large amount of otherwise unnecessary utility relocations. |
I think the ship has sailed on a street grid here, folks. That was the plan back in the 1910s for the entire South Loop railyards, but today this site has a superblock to the east of it, a river to the west (and then a railyard still), a tangle of rail lines to the south and only one possible connection to the north.
Street grids only make sense if you have something to connect to. I'm just not convinced that all those streets are necessary for purely internal circulation, especially if pedestrian walks already divide the site into smaller parcels. |
I feel that the city should have the foresight to plan that one day DPI and II will inevitably hit the wrecking ball, as the downtown core continues to grow, vacant land disappears, and the value of the land skyrockets to the point that its feasible to buy out and redevelop the existing low density properties. Creating 13th and 14th Streets, that would currently end at Clark, will eventually be connected to their counterparts east of State St.
Also, there are two connections to the north (Wells & Delano/Lasalle) |
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