CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Two bigger projects issued permits yesterday:

1) One building for Union West issued a permit at 939 W Washington (Washington & Sangamon). 15 stories with 358 units .

2) 810 W Wayman St (Wayman & ~ Halsted). AKA 333 N Green St. 19 story office building part of the larger Sterling Bay development.

Great to see 3 West Loop projects in the past 2 days!

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by 10023

I disagree that this is better than a surface lot.

It’s actually much, much worse. A bigger, more prominent eyesore and harder to replace.

That is the type of building that the city should prevent being built through some sort of architectural review board. Hideous.

I don't know about preventing a building from being built but at least a color scheme regulation. That building is just all kinds of terrible. At least some better colors would save it a little.

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by Fvn

I'm just concerned its gonna be cheap facade panels like all of the other hotels in this brand, which I guess is better than a surface lot.

Case in point--
https://www.toyoko-inn.com/content/g...C%EF%BC%89.JPG
Toyoko Inn - https://www.toyoko-inn.com/content/g...C%EF%BC%89.JPG

I tried quickly playing around with the color scheme a little to try to make it more appealing, but these are very poorly designed buildings.

https://i.imgur.com/TqPixdV.jpg

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Great to see 3 West Loop projects in the past 2 days!

I'm actually a bit interested in the fact that the community meeting for the 333 N Green was just 2.5 months ago and somehow they've already scored a building permit. Expediting for Amazon!? jk LOL

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'm actually a bit interested in the fact that the community meeting for the 333 N Green was just 2.5 months ago and somehow they've already scored a building permit. Expediting for Amazon!? jk LOL

Watch Curbed take your comment seriously, and write an article about it

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by left of center

I
But then again, it is squeezing itself on a crazy irregular shaped block with a small sliver of street frontage, so its understandable that they wont be spending big bucks on a top notch design. But I do agree, glass would be nice, and offer some interesting contrast with the terra cotta beauty at 547 W Van Buren.

The fact that its replacing a parking lot is an added bonus.

Eh, I get what you're saying but at the same time, site constraints often lead to more interesting buildings. Additionally, the current parking lot holds probably 50 cars? The new building has parking for 120+. Not great and certainly not necessary given the location.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'm actually a bit interested in the fact that the community meeting for the 333 N Green was just 2.5 months ago and somehow they've already scored a building permit. Expediting for Amazon!? jk LOL

More like expediting for a Google expansion that's pretty much already in the bag to at least some degree.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

More like expediting for a Google expansion that's pretty much already in the bag to at least some degree.

That would be awesome if Chicago landed that expansion. Was it 5000 people?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Watch Curbed take your comment seriously, and write an article about it

LOL this is a great comment

[10023]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Screw that!

We don’t need another layer of bureaucracy stopping development in this city

If this is the development, then it should be stopped.

https://www.toyoko-inn.com/content/g...C%EF%BC%89.JPG

And the architect who designed it should go find another career.

[the urban politician]

^ Thats probably better than half the shit that’s gone up in River North already. It’s fine if you hate it, but an architecture review committee, especially the way things tend to work in Chicago (slippery slope towards pay to play and chest-thumping gatekeeper scumbags, etc) is an absolutely abysmal idea.

[10023]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Thats probably better than half the shit that’s gone up in River North already. It’s fine if you hate it, but an architecture review committee, especially the way things tend to work in Chicago (slippery slope towards pay to play and chest-thumping gatekeeper scumbags, etc) is an absolutely abysmal idea.

It was an “in a perfect world” sort of suggestion. I am well aware that Chicago is not a perfect world.

Perhaps just allow buildings to be rejected by the planning commission on grounds of being fugly, and leave it at that.

That’s how it works here. And they’ll often insist on real stone façades, rather than concrete posing as stone, as a condition of approval.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Thats probably better than half the shit that’s gone up in River North already. It’s fine if you hate it, but an architecture review committee, especially the way things tend to work in Chicago (slippery slope towards pay to play and chest-thumping gatekeeper scumbags, etc) is an absolutely abysmal idea.

No, that thing is actually MUCH worse than most of what's been going up in River North/Gold Coast, tup. I agree completely that the building posted is horrendous, no doubt about it! I also agree that an architecture review committee, while good-intentioned, adds yet another layer of bureaucratic bullshit to an already-convoluted approval process. I just wish that developers wouldn't turn everything into a game of let's see who can build the ugliest building for the cheapest cost!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[marothisu]

Yeah I agree. The buildings being shown are much worse than most of what's been going up in River North, Gold Coast, etc. The image above reminds me of a shorter version of the brutalist types of buildings that are all over Hong Kong or some cities in China like Beijing.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yeah I agree. The buildings being shown are much worse than most of what's been going up in River North, Gold Coast, etc. The image above reminds me of a shorter version of the brutalist types of buildings that are all over Hong Kong or some cities in China like Beijing.

I'm talking about the crap that went up in the late 90s/early 00s.

Grand Plaza is the single biggest piece of shit ever produced by humanity. It is a vertical spectacle of awe. One is flabbergasted by how something so ugly could have willingly been built.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I'm talking about the crap that went up in the late 90s/early 00s.

Grand Plaza is the single biggest piece of shit ever produced by humanity. It is a vertical spectacle of awe. One is flabbergasted by how something so ugly could have willingly been built.

I mean, I don't like Grad Plaza but the building shown above is one I'd probably get depressed looking at. Not exactly the same with Grand Plaza which never affected me. When I was in Hong Kong about 6 months ago and saw a bunch of buildings like the one above (but taller), it honestly affected me and depressed me. No high rise has ever done that in Chicago.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I mean, I don't like Grad Plaza but the building shown above is one I'd probably get depressed looking at. Not exactly the same with Grand Plaza which never affected me. When I was in Hong Kong about 6 months ago and saw a bunch of buildings like the one above (but taller), it honestly affected me and depressed me. No high rise has ever done that in Chicago.

I definitely get depressed looking at Lowenberg's stuff.

[left of center]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I'm talking about the crap that went up in the late 90s/early 00s.

Grand Plaza is the single biggest piece of shit ever produced by humanity. It is a vertical spectacle of awe. One is flabbergasted by how something so ugly could have willingly been built.

Grand Plaza is easily my least favorite highrise in Chicago. I honestly prefer AT&T 10 S Canal over it. At least that brutalist POS is ugly due to the important function it serves, as a massive switching station and server farm. Grand Plaza is ugly only due to lazy design...

[marothisu]

Okay so 333 N Green St (aka 810 W Wayman), the one that just scored a building permit actually has an agreement from London-based advertising firm WPP to basically take the entire building (over 250,000 sq ft). WPP is the largest advertising/communications services company in the world. They hope to move in by early 2020.

The only office they have in the US right now is NYC (Manhattan) at just over 43,000 sq ft. So the Chicago office would be 6X larger than that. Of course, NYC is the HQ of GroupM, which is owned by WPP and has over double the space as this building, but you get the point. Good to see - that will be an influx if all goes to plan of probably at least 1200 new employees. Maybe closer to 1500 in reality is my guess.

[left of center]

^ Wow, that's fantastic news! Those are all brand new jobs, that will bring people to the city/metro. Love it!