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Old Posted May 21, 2022, 3:20 PM
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ardecila ardecila is offline
TL;DR
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: the city o'wind
Posts: 16,356
I don't know what you mean by "unacceptable" but if you remember the decades that this property sat as a crumbling eyesore, a plaza like this is perfectly acceptable. I don't know the long-term plans of 601W (the developer) but I'm sure they don't want to give up their development rights for the riverfront parcels so they have to call this an interim landscape. I assume they want to preserve maximum flexibility to adapt to the changing market, but it could be 5, 10, 15 years before they build something. Office development in Chicago tends to be highly cyclical, and only a few big projects move forward in each cycle. It's even harder now that office tenants are increasingly looking outside the Loop to Fulton Market, River North, Lincoln Yards, etc.

The long-term but vague plans for Union Station add another wrinkle, because it's not clear where Amtrak will expand platforms, add vertical access down to the platforms, etc. Nobody really knows when that project will move forward.

Honestly the OPO plaza is a huge improvement over the crumbling loading area that used to be here. If the plaza sticks around for awhile and they maintain it properly, I won't complain. It works as a part of the building (outdoor dining for the food hall, riverside event space) and it preserves views of the OPO itself from the river and Wacker Drive. There's a similar "temporary" landscape that they put next to the ABN-AMRO tower on Washington/Jefferson, but it looks unlikely they will develop there anytime soon either. If it turns out Amtrak doesn't need any of this space, then 601W will probably plan an office tower on the Sugar House site with some kind of bridge over 290 and an entrance pavilion in the plaza. At that time they will probably invest in a more attractive wall facing the river.
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