CHICAGO | Halsted Point | 5 Towers | 691 - 309 FT | 65 - 28 FLOORS

[mh777]

I drove past today & can confirm they are digging/demoing - hard to tell what exactly they were doing but there’s a little bit of action.

[ChiPlanner]

I went past the site this weekend and Greyhound has definitely vacated the site recently

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by mh777

I drove past today & can confirm they are digging/demoing - hard to tell what exactly they were doing but there’s a little bit of action.

Looks like a tank was dug up, but the facility is empty and graffitied. The building itself is still intact.

03.21.23

[Randomguy34]

Halsted Pointe set to break ground this year

Onni Group took control of the site in February and has been prepping the building and site for demolition. Work has begun on the site to remove underground tanks and coordination with local utilities has been in progress to clear the building before demolition. Permits for the demolition have been submitted and work is expected to begin in May. Onni Group is targeting Q4 2023 to break ground on Phase 1 with a 24-month construction timeline to follow.

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/h...ak-ground-year

[Chisouthside]

the 500 footer is gonna stick out for sure

[Toasty Joe]

1,470 parking spaces is ridiculous, no?

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Toasty Joe

1,470 parking spaces is ridiculous, no?

For 2600+ residences, a 200-300 room hotel plus retail/commercial? Seems a bit high but not ridiculous, honestly.

[WestTowner]

Originally Posted by glowrock

For 2600+ residences, a 200-300 room hotel plus retail/commercial? Seems a bit high but not ridiculous, honestly.

The issue is 1400 more cars on Halsted, since that's the only street this feeds to. It is indeed ridiculous.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by WestTowner

The issue is 1400 more cars on Halsted, since that's the only street this feeds to. It is indeed ridiculous.

That's on top of the new casino and the new roadways getting built, plus Onni's potential development at 700 W Chicago, plus Shapack's megadevelopment. The Chicago & Halsted intersection is pretty much screwed for decades to come

[twister244]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

That's on top of the new casino and the new roadways getting built, plus Onni's potential development at 700 W Chicago, plus Shapack's megadevelopment. The Chicago & Halsted intersection is pretty much screwed for decades to come

I always notice traffic during rush hour heading northbound. When I walk from the West Loop up to the Grand Ave Blue Line stop, it's essentially a parking lot with people leaving the West Loop area. I suspect many folks will probably try to limit their car usage as much as possible. I would at least.....

[OrdoSeclorum]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

That's on top of the new casino and the new roadways getting built, plus Onni's potential development at 700 W Chicago, plus Shapack's megadevelopment. The Chicago & Halsted intersection is pretty much screwed for decades to come

I don't understand this kind of thinking. Take, for example, The United Center. It certainly gets busy near there with thousands of people arriving and departing one location within an hour of each other. But even though that's congested, people nearby deal with it. And nothing even approaching a fraction of that would occur due to demand from this area. Better to have 3500 more neighbors paying property taxes and patronizing nearby businesses than not having that and experiencing slightly less car traffic.

It's weird that we think of streets as needing to be built so that traffic is always free flowing. If traffic is uncongested 90% of the time, it suggests to me that we've overbuilt that road by some factor less than 90%. Show me a place that's great for cars and I'll show you a place that sucks.

[Randomguy34]

^ We're in agreement, my comment is complaining about traffic from all the new parking that will arise

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by WestTowner

The issue is 1400 more cars on Halsted, since that's the only street this feeds to. It is indeed ridiculous.

I'm not saying Chicago and Halsted isn't going to be screwed in terms of gridlock. But did you really think there wouldn't be a good amount of parking for this large of a development that isn't damn near adjacent to a rail line?

[lakeshoredrive]

Traffic concern aside, this will be a cool development and I am excited for the first phase. I hope this will spur economic revitalization at Division and Halsted. That water sport store and the huge empty lot which I think is owned by CHA are ripe for developments. Sadly those two gas stations aren't going anywhere.

[r18tdi]

Fingers crossed they get Army Corps approval for the proposed pedestrian bridge.

[HomrQT]

It pretty much feels like we'll never get any new train lines or CTA L spur routes at this point.

[lakeshoredrive]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

It pretty much feels like we'll never get any new train lines or CTA L spur routes at this point.

Yeah unfortunately. I've always imagined a new subway line under Halsted St from Bridgeport (35th) to Lincoln Park (North/Clybourn). I wish it wasn't so expensive to build new subway tunnels. I wish the city officials back then built more subway tunnels around the city when it was easier to do that.

[ardecila]

I mean, the North Branch Transitway is still an active plan and would run directly through this area.

[OhioGuy]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I mean, the North Branch Transitway is still an active plan and would run directly through this area.

This? Will it just end up being a glorified bus route with some paint on the roads but gets stuck in traffic on the Halsted Street bridge and doesn't have traffic signal priority at major crossroads like North, Division, and Chicago?


source: Curbed Chicago

[Roy_Batty]

If I understand correctly, the North Branch Transitway will improve all rail, pedestrian/bike and motor vehicle accessibilities:

1. From a rail perspective, there will be a refurbishment of the Metra Station that will transform this as a hub. Not sure what does that exactly mean, but I suppose having a bigger and better connected bus station, it also seems this will be connected to an extension of the 606 trail.

2. From a pedestrian/bike perspective, this is where this project seems to add more. Other than the 606 trail extension, there are some proposals of pedestrian bridges connecting both sides of the river plus what seems to be a new river walk connecting all the way from Fullerton to the existing river walk in the loop or what not. All of the new projects seem to be adding something here to be able to accomplish this. If this is correctly implemented, due to the proximity to the red and blue lines (1/2 hour walk down and 15 minutes bike drive between both) I would think this could really add a lot of connectivity to the residents and workers of the area.

3. From a motor vehicle perspective, there are some proposals to enhance some of the vehicular bridges to avoid bottlenecks in the major avenues crossing the river.

I certainly would like to see more details of the transitway project, not sure if that’s available or not, but I think it all sounds good. In any case, I can certainly tell you from my experience, Chicago is not a city with major traffic concerns at least compared to other major metro areas in the world. I also think whatever negative impact this will have in vehicular traffic will be compensated by all those achievements resulted from a high density neighborhood located closely enough (but not inside) the downtown, with mixed used developments, public spaces funded throughout private initiatives, etc. Do we want a TOD city or not?

I think from all of the projects in Chicago that are realistically possible to achieve (ie. excluding One Central and the 78), I do rank the set of north branch projects like Lincoln Yards, Halsted Point and River City (or whatever the name of the Casino project is) to be the best, specially if they are properly integrated by the North Branch Transitway. Looking forward for more details on this.