CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[the urban politician]

There’s also something to be said about the fact that downtown is developing subareas that each have their own distinct look. You’ve got Gold Coast with many of the older buildings, with lots of stuff built up until the 80’s. Then you’ve got River North dominated by crap from the late 90’s and early 2000s (the infamous “River North beige”). And now the West Loop and Fulton Market district with its own style different from the others.

Of course you’ve got the Loop with its own famous architecture. The only subregion left that remains a bit of a blank slate is South Loop. All in all it still doesn’t have much of an identity yet....will it ever get one? The only way to get an identity is to see a lot of construction within a short amount of time.

[rivernorthlurker]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

So is there going to be a new JP Morgan Chase tower and a new 98 story "Aussie" building in the Loop, or is this the same project? The JPMC story is obviously credible, I wonder if the Aussie building is. If so, that's GREAT news!!

The world's best skyline may be getting even more amazing!!
https://offloadmedia.feverup.com/sec...3447108152.jpg

JP Morgan acquires Thompson Center... It could happen.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by rgarri4

Touring a demo of the Chicago model is now live at the link below and will continue to be for the month of July. Let me know what you think!
https://vizfire.net/digitalcities

rgarri4 has temporarily released a demo of his model and it's been so much to play around and see what the skyline will look like

[PittsburghPA]

From early last week. K3 or whatever they are going to call it.

[gandalf612]

Originally Posted by RedCorsair87

JFC... How does something like this get designed? A blue glass box like the new tower on Montrose looks better than this.

I think they're trying to match how ugly the New York is

[Fvn]

Looks like they've got a good start with the penthouse/MEP area... now just continue that up another ~20 floors and we're good!

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by gandalf612

I think they're trying to match how ugly the New York is

they must have been trying to "contextualize" with the terrible 1970's highrise construction along north LSD

[twister244]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

19-Story Apartment Building On Lake Shore Drive In Lakeview Approved By Key City Panel
Block Club Chicago | 10:15 AM CDT on Jul 16, 2021




ChicagoYimby

Pretty? No, but I actually find it kind of interesting to see a proposed new highrise that far north along LSD.

As someone that is a bit out of the loop on Chicago zoning/etc, I have always found it interesting that most (if not all) of the highrises north of the Gold Coast are old (<1980), with hardly any new construction in this corridor over the last several decades. Is there a reason for this? It's not like there's not a lack of demand for people wanting to live on this side of town.

[ChiPlanner]

Originally Posted by twister244

Pretty? No, but I actually find it kind of interesting to see a proposed new highrise that far north along LSD.

As someone that is a bit out of the loop on Chicago zoning/etc, I have always found it interesting that most (if not all) of the highrises north of the Gold Coast are old (<1980), with hardly any new construction in this corridor over the last several decades. Is there a reason for this? It's not like there's not a lack of demand for people wanting to live on this side of town.

Lack of developable land- not to mention many of the high-rises along LSD are condo and [Insert predictable NIMBY loss of views/traffic complaint here]

[Tom In Chicago]

^This property was always intended to be developed in tandem with the existing building. . . market conditions killed the second phase and they never found any momentum to move forward until now apparently. . .

. . .

[marothisu]

1353 W Fulton Market - Fulton & Ada St.

316 units
200 parking spaces
16,296 sq ft retail space
11.5 FAR
270 feet tall

Zoning application: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=

Right next to West End on Fulton and same intersection as Fulton West. Not far from the Ashland Green Line stop. Developer is Shapack and I believe the existing building is where they have some offices even.

Current 1 story industrial building:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/22...!4d-87.6609514

[Barrelfish]

Originally Posted by twister244

As someone that is a bit out of the loop on Chicago zoning/etc, I have always found it interesting that most (if not all) of the highrises north of the Gold Coast are old (<1980), with hardly any new construction in this corridor over the last several decades. Is there a reason for this? It's not like there's not a lack of demand for people wanting to live on this side of town.

Check out the lakefront on google earth. There is a basically unbroken line of highrises along LSD from the loop up to Loyola. On the south side, most of the lake is blocked off by the museum campus or the train lines, but where that's not true there are highrises along the lake (like Indian Village or East Hyde Park).

There are some buildable parcels here and there, but for the most part the high rises aren't being built now because they were already built decades ago.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Barrelfish

Check out the lakefront on google earth. There is a basically unbroken line of highrises along LSD from the loop up to Loyola. On the south side, most of the lake is blocked off by the museum campus or the train lines, but where that's not true there are highrises along the lake (like Indian Village or East Hyde Park).

There are some buildable parcels here and there, but for the most part the high rises aren't being built now because they were already built decades ago.

Makes sense, and thanks for the insightful response. Still though, what's to stop someone from building a much taller residential building a few blocks off the lake where you get views of the lake still above a certain floor? I suspect there just isn't enough demand and market forces to justify such an endeavor for developers.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by twister244

Makes sense, and thanks for the insightful response. Still though, what's to stop someone from building a much taller residential building a few blocks off the lake where you get views of the lake still above a certain floor? I suspect there just isn't enough demand and market forces to justify such an endeavor for developers.

The lakefront is the densest part of Chicago and there is high density even a few blocks off of it. I'm not sure how familiar you are with these areas but the buildings in areas like East Lincoln Park, Lakeview East, etc are at least decently well maintained and there's always high demand to live in these areas. We are talking about tracts of 50k- 80k+ ppsm that are in high demand with not much land available. It's akin to some fairly high density places in Queens for example (like some parts of Jackson Heights for example). The real opportunities to build up are pretty much on streets like Broadway where there are 1 or 2 story commercial buildings that could probably have a much easier time being redeveloped versus a 5 story 50 unit building in totally fine condition with constant demand for tenants.

And of course this has already happened with a variety of sites in Lakeview, Uptown, etc on Broadway. Are they tall enough to see the lake? No, but they are all mid rises and small high rises popping up there.

[JN12Franklin]

Originally Posted by twister244

Makes sense, and thanks for the insightful response. Still though, what's to stop someone from building a much taller residential building a few blocks off the lake where you get views of the lake still above a certain floor? I suspect there just isn't enough demand and market forces to justify such an endeavor for developers.

There have been a few highrises built along the north lake front during this cycle (slightly inland for 2 of these examples). But yea, just not a lot of available opportunities.
2950 N Sheridan
450 W Belmont
811 Uptown

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by twister244

Makes sense, and thanks for the insightful response. Still though, what's to stop someone from building a much taller residential building a few blocks off the lake where you get views of the lake still above a certain floor? I suspect there just isn't enough demand and market forces to justify such an endeavor for developers.

My hunch is it makes little economic sense to build further in. If you build condo, those lake views from the tower need to be mostly uninterrupted. If you build rental, it’s got to be close enough to express-like transit downtown. It’s still pretty dense on residential streets, so it’s more likely than not a multi unit building would need to be replaced for something larger that costs a lot. And even if that happens, there’s likely to be neighborhood pushback where most tall stuff around Sheridan is alright but around Broadway it would be considered out of place.

[Klippenstein]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Please join 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett Jr. and the West Loop Community Organization (WLCO) two upcoming virtual community meetings.

1201-1229 W Washington Blvd
Monday, July 19, 2021
6PM
www.zoom.us
(312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 831 5589 1351


The developer will present its plans and answer any questions you may have about the project.


1245 W Fulton
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
6PM
www.zoom.us
(312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 851 6256 3348

A proposed 25-story, 350-unit residential building with ground floor commercial.
Sterling Bay

Screen captures from the 1201-1229 W Washington Blvd meeting. Sorry the quality is terrible.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Toasty Joe

see:

125 Maple

354 Union

424 S Wabash


why do they have such a chokehold on the mediocrity in this city??

424 S Wabash is OK but the others are severely mediocre, and the previous design of this Washington St one was better than the current.

[rgarri4]

Originally Posted by marothisu

1353 W Fulton Market - Fulton & Ada St.

316 units
200 parking spaces
16,296 sq ft retail space
11.5 FAR
270 feet tall

Zoning application: https://chicago.legistar.com/Legisla...vanced&Search=

Right next to West End on Fulton and same intersection as Fulton West. Not far from the Ashland Green Line stop. Developer is Shapack and I believe the existing building is where they have some offices even.

Current 1 story industrial building:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/22...!4d-87.6609514

This one will nestle in nicely into the growing West loop skyline

[SamInTheLoop]

3630 LSD - Yikes. Is this Ft Lauderdale or something?

1353 Fulton Market......maybe, will wait for renderings. SOM. Also, didn't fully realize it until checking out all the elevations but this is one broad tower

1201 W Washington - Yikes. This is just shameless pandering. Really bad stuff.


The mixed bag for the West Loop continues. I have this feeling a major reason folks have the perception that there is some sort of prevailing higher quality of design at work in Fulton/W Loop is that there is so much more construction concentrated here than any other neighborhood - so there's definitely more higher quality design, hands-down. Indeed, there's more of everything. But on a percentage basis? I don't buy that. Not for a second.