CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[Tom In Chicago]

[MODERATOR CLEANUP NOTE] I moved all the WFH discussion to the Chicago general topics thread in the MW sub forum - please keep discussions here on topic. . . I know we have some new forum members here - so if you have something speculative, hypothetical or otherwise, please take it up in the appropriate general topics threads. . . thanks in advance. . .

. . .

[harryc]

Feb 2



Feb 10

[PittsburghPA]

Originally Posted by ithakas

Probably 2003-ish. Matches Soldier Field renovation timing, and you can see Wells Street Tower in the distance.

Crazy that this was less than 20 years ago!

Insane, thanks for that. I moved here in November of 2017 and I can't believe the transformation since then. I would have pegged that picture for the early 80's!

[SteelMonkey]

Originally Posted by PittsburghPA

Insane, thanks for that. I moved here in November of 2017 and I can't believe the transformation since then. I would have pegged that picture for the early 80's!

No that looks like the renovation back in the late 80s when they initially capped the bowl and replaced the astroturf. Its somewhere circa 88-89

[The Lurker]

^that shot is from the early 00's. The highrise under construction is Museum Park tower 1, which opened in 2002.
BCBS is a good primary point of reference for dated postcard shots;
No BCBS: pre 1997
Half of BCBS: 1997-2010
All of BCBS: post 2010

[harryc]

401 W Chicago (??)
Chicago/Sedgewick SW corner







475 W Chicago (??)
Chicago/Hudson SE corner

[Klippenstein]

^the two sites are part of a development called HUGO with the addresses 751 N Hudson and 411 W Chicago.

https://chicagoyimby.com/2022/02/con...ver-north.html

At 9 stories I don’t believe they are technically high rises.

[thegoatman]

Originally Posted by Klippenstein

^the two sites are part of a development called HUGO with the addresses 751 N Hudson and 411 W Chicago.

https://chicagoyimby.com/2022/02/con...ver-north.html

At 9 stories I don’t believe they are technically high rises.

Projects like these belong in Bronzeville, Wicker Park, Lakeview, and Hyde Park, not River North.

[the urban politician]

^ They belong where they are getting built

[Klippenstein]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

Projects like these belong in Bronzeville, Wicker Park, Lakeview, and Hyde Park, not River North.

Weren’t you saying you liked infill more than anything just the other day?

[thegoatman]

Originally Posted by Klippenstein

Weren’t you saying you liked infill more than anything just the other day?

Oh I do. just in the right places tho. This should be a 150-400 footer like the cleveland project across the street, not a spruced up 5 over 1. The density in river north falls of hard once you cross La Salle.


This comment by UnionMade on ChicagoYimby summarizes my thoughts perfectly.

"This is not good in-fill considering the location. This is low-density Seattle/Dallas/Atlanta style multi-family housing. Chicago should be leagues beyond this within the core in terms of both height and quality. Buildings of this scale are what should be constructed in areas like Lakeview, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Bronzeville etc. etc."

[Randomguy34]

226 total units is definitely not low-density. These midrises will raise the immediate block's density to 75,000 people/sq mi. Looks can be deceiving

[LouisVanDerWright]

I disagree, there's too much land in that area, let's mop it up ASAP. The real growth in Chicago will only start once the downtown brownfields are dead and buried!

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

Oh I do. just in the right places tho. This should be a 150-400 footer like the cleveland project across the street, not a spruced up 5 over 1. The density in river north falls of hard once you cross La Salle.


This comment by UnionMade on ChicagoYimby summarizes my thoughts perfectly.

"This is not good in-fill considering the location. This is low-density Seattle/Dallas/Atlanta style multi-family housing. Chicago should be leagues beyond this within the core in terms of both height and quality. Buildings of this scale are what should be constructed in areas like Lakeview, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Bronzeville etc. etc."

Sorry, this is twice as dense as what you can achieve with a 5-over-1, and it has a lower parking ratio too. It looks like the architect designed the facades in a similar way, which is unfortunate, but that's only skin-deep. Outside of the facades, this building is nothing like what is built in Dallas or Atlanta.

Instead, Chicago forces pretty much everything larger than a 6-flat to be built as Type I or II (steel/concrete) or sometimes III (masonry). With a steel or concrete frame, you have the flexibility to get very creative with the facade design, it can be as glassy and open as your budget allows. Shame that the architects did not take advantage of that freedom.

[marothisu]

Rofl, yeah 226 units in that pretty small area is low density my ass. People need to get out more, especially to parts of Europe and Asia. Most of the entire European side of Istanbul is denser than Manhattan on the whole, and it's accomplished almost entirely with buildings under 10 stories.

This area has the same density as Upper West Side in Manhattan (110k ppsm) but it's over double the land area and population as UWS. You won't find a ton of high rises around. Most buildings are under 9 stories. Great levels of density are accomplished by having many residential buildings in the 6 to 9 story range.

https://youtu.be/RFUF_KYwRJs

[Chi-Sky21]

That building in between them is weird, what can they possibly do with that spot now? They should have just sold.

[west-town-brad]

personally I would give up any future high rise 1,000 footer or whatever in Chicago if that meant that every vacant lot in the city was developed with an 8 or 9 or 10 story building

the real life living environment created is so much more interesting and sustainable than some silly tall building straight from communist china or "billionaires row"

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

personally I would give up any future high rise 1,000 footer or whatever in Chicago if that meant that every vacant lot in the city was developed with an 8 or 9 or 10 story building

the real life living environment created is so much more interesting and sustainable than some silly tall building straight from communist china or "billionaires row"

As hypothetical as it may be, the current trends are clearly in your favor. . . we don't have a Billionaires Row and only 1 skyscraper being proposed at over 1,000 feet. . . over the last 20 years most of the development happening in the city has been in the infill category, but we have zoning laws which prevents every vacant lot in the city to be developed upwards of 8 or 9 or 10 stories. . . but 3, 4 or 5 floors is closer than the 1,000 skyscraper we get every few decades. . .

. . .

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Rofl, yeah 226 units in that pretty small area is low density my ass. People need to get out more, especially to parts of Europe and Asia. Most of the entire European side of Istanbul is denser than Manhattan on the whole, and it's accomplished almost entirely with buildings under 10 stories.

This area has the same density as Upper West Side in Manhattan (110k ppsm) but it's over double the land area and population as UWS. You won't find a ton of high rises around. Most buildings are under 9 stories. Great levels of density are accomplished by having many residential buildings in the 6 to 9 story range.

https://youtu.be/RFUF_KYwRJs

Well, I certainly agree that we shouldn't fetishize height = density, but it's worth noting that these areas of Istanbul (or Paris, etc) achieve those densities with very small apartments and limited access to natural light.

I don't think midrises in the US will ever be built like that again (the codes simply don't allow it). Under our laws, the only way to get that ultra-density is with true highrises. Micro-units are another option, but I don't see entire neighborhoods being built from those.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by harryc

The boom is going up right now.