[wierdaaron]

Here’s a post I made about this site 4 (grumblegrumble) years ago when the deal was just being made:

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

All images from Apple Maps all rights reserved to whoever owns them don't sue me or burn down my house please.

Here's what we're dealing with:



I'm not sure where exactly the southern boundary of the property is because it transitions into Tom Ping Park pretty gracefully. I'd guess the east/west train tracks.

Observations:

1. While this is a nice chunk of riverfront property, the view directly across the river is pretty much garbage. I'm not sure how much they would want to maximize views of the river when just beyond is a sea of train tracks. Given that, I wonder if they wouldn't want to try to cut an inlet in from the river (an homage to the original path of the river), treat that as their "riverfront", and use tall landscaping to hide the industrial wasteland beyond. Mocked up below:
   
2. Holding the corner of Clark and Roosevelt would be very important for integrating the development with the neighborhood and not feeling like a suburban, auto-centric thing-in-a-park project. The elevated grade of Roosevelt, the Clark underpass, and the Metra tracks pose a huge obstacle to this, however. To tightly hold that corner they'd need the city to rework the whole intersection most likely.
   
3. The Metra tracks abutting Clark for almost the whole property will also be a constraint, since it all but restricts pedestrian and auto ingress/egress and forces an ugly buffer between any kind of development and the street. No street/sidewalk activation whatsoever.
   
4. If built tall enough, the eastern side of a building here could have a lake view. This wouldn't be guaranteed indefinitely, but the nature of Dearnborn Park residences would mark it fairly unlikely for the heights of the immediate neighboring blocks to change very drastically, creating a pretty optimal skyline view situation to NW, N, NE, and E directions.
   

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔



CMK, I will accept credit for inspiration in the form of money.