Quote:
Originally Posted by nomarandlee
That entry plaza really is putrid. Good lord. Was the previous iteration as bad from that direction?
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Hard to say, they never released a rendering from that angle. They showed a couple options for the entry plaza/porte cochere in the previous iteration but only in the form of plans, not renderings. It was a Vegas-sized dropoff oval like the one at
Caesars Palace, just with modernist "theming".
Honestly the new version is somewhat better in the sense of a lot less asphalt and more "park space". They have resisted the temptation to build a driveway onto Chicago, so all cars will come via the Jefferson side and the Chicago sidewalk is uninterrupted for pedestrians coming across the river. It fails as an urban space not because the landscape design/site planning is bad, but because the buildings framing it are hideous and they've made no attempt to do screening.
Other thoughts:
-the riverwalk is a wash from previous versions. It could be a lot worse. I'm encouraged that they are still activating this side with retail and restaurants. Hopefully it doesn't sit vacant for decades like the Trump.
-in the "Phase 1" rendering, the riverwalk appears to extend south at least as far as the Ohio bridge. I can't tell if it goes further, but if they can extend it all the way to Grand in Phase 1 for a continuous path through the site, that is huge, especially if it ties into summer events like LakeShake, etc. Conversely if the riverwalk just dead-ends, it will quickly turn into a weird forlorn space.
-No huge parking garage along Chicago! The city managed to get a surface lot there, which still sucks but is a lot more conducive to future highrises.
-Hard to see but looks like they are proposing a pedestrian bridge across the rail tracks to another parking lot on the Halsted side. Hopefully this is open to the public for a western access point, especially since Erie will remain a dead-end at least in Phase 1.
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