CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by joeg1985

^ Isn't the obvious place for these brands to locate in the Oak/Rush area?

Not really – it's a small distinction, but Chicago lacks a high-end retail corridor that has both the brands you'd find around Oak Street and the ones that might open in a hipper neighborhood like the West Loop.

Oak Street is our Rodeo Drive or 5th Ave/57th Street.

We don't have a Soho or Melrose Avenue.

[rlw777]

Originally Posted by emathias

There's actually going to be somewhat of an excess of retail space with all the new buildings.

675 N Wells will have a lot of commercial space and in addition, Exhibit has commercial space both on Wells and on Lasalle, 707 N Wells has a restaurant on Wells, the retail building on the west side of Wells south of Huron is being renovated soon and currently has empty units, Gallery will have commercial space, 640 North will have commercial space, the renovation of the Olympia Building into a boutique hotel will return commercial space to the street, the building on the NE corner of Ohio and Wells has a restaurant opening soon for the first time in a long time, the former Crofton on Wells has been vacant a long time, The 676 N Lasalle building will have commercial space on Huron between Lasalle and Wells, and the condo tower on Huron between Orleans and Franklin will have commercial space at least on the side fronting Orleans. There will be first-floor commercial space in the buildings on Hubbard at Wells, too. The condo tower for Carsons Ribs will continue to have Carsons as the ground floor That's a LOT of commercial space that'll be hitting the market in the next 1-3 years. And there are available storefronts already right now.

Don't get me wrong - if it does all get absorbed, I'll be really happy since I live on Huron between Wells and Lasalle and the more the merrier. But I'll be surprised.

I don't think it will be a problem. Wells St in that area used to be all tourist trap restaurants and parking lots... Not the most pedestrian or retail friendly location. Combine that with all the current construction and it's not surprising to me that there's currently some vacant space.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ithakas

Yeah, though the new space means it could easily become the cool retail corridor that downtown really needs, particularly with proximity to the design district and the couple dozen art galleries still nearby. Brands like APC, Acne, COS, Opening Ceremony don't have an obvious place to open downtown.

That would be very much welcomed. I was kind of sad when LDRS moved their store from Wells Street to somewhere in the West Loop. Some trendy clothing shops would be most welcomed and maybe with all the new construction there will be the critical mass to make it happen.

I kinda hope that in that condo building between Franklin and Orleans they put in a grocery store. If all those damn condos in the Kingsbury district hadn't been built with so much damn parking, there would already be another grocery store in that area, but since all the residents just drive everywhere there's not enough demand for one in that area. Thankfully a lot of the new apartment buildings have lower parking ratios, plus renters tend to be less likely to own a car so all this new population will be keeping a significantly larger percentage of their disposable income in the neighborhood. Even so, I'm wondering just how much crazier the traffic will get - I don't drive, I walk, bike or use transit for most trips, but I do sometimes take a cab or uber in inclement weather.

I hope that gas station at Wells/Chicago disappears in the next decade and that the 808 N Wells lots gets built on relatively quickly, those two things would do a lot of make Wells from the River to Chicago smoothly transition instead of just sort of melting.

Even with all the under-construction and proposed projects in the general Wells corridor, there are still a ton of places that could use some love going forward. My personal list of places I'd like to see (re)developed between Orleans and the east side of Clark, the River and Institute Place:

0) Turn that triangle lot at the NW corner of Franklin/Chicago to a pocket plaza
1) Al's Beef at Wells/Ontario and everything east to the former Sports Authority
2) Parking lot on SW corner of Franklin/Huron
3) Parking lot between Wells/Franklin on Chicago
4) Parking lot between Wells/Lasalle on Chicago
5) BP station at Wells/Chicago
6) Binny's on Grand
7) Chase across the Binny's
8) SW corner of Lasalle/Illinois
9) Lot on north side of Illinois east of Wells
10) Lots of both sides of Franklin/Ohio
11) Lot on SE corner of Erie/Lasalle
12) Lots on the west side of Franklin between Huron and Erie
13) Lot on NW corner of Superior/Clark
14) Lot on NE corner of Erie/Orleans
15) Lot on SE corner of Institute and Orleans
16) BP station at Lasalle/Ontario
17) McDonald's parking lot
18) Best Western and associated parking lot at Ohio/Lasalle
19) Walgreens at Clark/Ontario
20) Hard Rock Cafe
21) SW corner of Chicago/Clark
22) Rainforest Cafe
23) Midas
24) NW corner of Huron/Lasalle
25) SE corner of Franklin/Chicago
26) SW corner of Franklin/Chicago

Plus, these proposals seem a little shaky:
1) NW corner of Clark/Huron
2) NW corner of Erie/Lasalle
3) NW corner of Wells/Chicago
4) NW corner of Hubbard/Lasalle
5) SW corner of Illinois/Lasalle

So that's a good 30+ possible developments even after this latest round is done, and just in a relatively small area (less than 1/4 of a square mile) - still plenty of opportunity for developers to propose some cool architecture - better than what we've seen thus far. Hopefully some of them get creative.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ithakas

Not really – it's a small distinction, but Chicago lacks a high-end retail corridor that has both the brands you'd find around Oak Street and the ones that might open in a hipper neighborhood like the West Loop.

Oak Street is our Rodeo Drive or 5th Ave/57th Street.

We don't have a Soho or Melrose Avenue.

Partially agree, but higher end retail has increased on Rush and also Walton. It's not just Oak Street and the intersection with Rush that has the high end stuff. Brunello Cucinnelli, Versace, Marc Jacobs, YSL, Rag & Bone, Diesel, Intermix, Frye, Ted Baker, Warby Parker, etc are all on Rush nearby. Dior is also set to open up sometime next to Versace. On Walton, AllSaints opened not too long ago on Walton with Brioni, BHLDN, Barbour, Patagonia, Eskander, Burdi, etc there too. Tesla is taking over the whole space that was Ugg and Penguin and of course Lamborghini/Ferrari/Bugatti/Rolls Royce/Bentley is at Rush & Pearson.

So while it's not like clothing store after clothing store, I think it's more than people may realize. Add about 15-20 more retailers in the general area and it would probably be more noticeable to people. Spaces like the one at the corner of Chestnut and Rush would be perfect for a sizable high end boutique. Michigan Avenue is prime and so is Oak Street, but retailers have definitely started to break away from both but still close. I also know that the new addition built to the State & Chestnut building is going after only retailers.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

^LOL

It looks like the forms are coming off of Gallery on Wells. I guess we can consider that sucker T/O.

Jan 26


Jan 27

[harryc]

Located at the Harlem station ;-)

Jan 9 - Glass


a stressfull floor to live on

(the dots on the edge of the slab are from post tension cables)

A protected walk to .... your car


Jan 13
The view from the last big surface lot


Jan 26
Forms down

[danielschell]

One South Halsted has a foundation permit.

"DIRECT DEVELOPER SERVICE - FOUNDATIONS AND STRUCTURAL-ONLY TO UNDERSIDE OF 8TH FLOOR FOR PROPOSED 44-STORY MIXED USE TOWER WITH 375 PROPOSED PARKING SPACES."

[TimeAgain]

Originally Posted by danielschell

One South Halsted has a foundation permit.

"DIRECT DEVELOPER SERVICE - FOUNDATIONS AND STRUCTURAL-ONLY TO UNDERSIDE OF 8TH FLOOR FOR PROPOSED 44-STORY MIXED USE TOWER WITH 375 PROPOSED PARKING SPACES."

Wow, I thought this would never get built.

[Notyrview]

Lol activate the call tree! I can't believe this is happening. 🔥🔥🔥

[marothisu]

Beat me to it. Awesome news! The address on the permit is 727 W Madison

[danielschell]

Boom

http://wp.me/p7uLxw-251


Image via FitzGerald Associates Architects


Bye bye parking lot.

[Notyrview]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[the urban politician]

2004 called. It wants its massive and unnecessary amount of parking built into a soulless podium back.

But whatever. Finally this thing is getting built

[Kngkyle]

If they actually use two tones of glass in a pattern like in the rendering then it could be quite stunning. The podium isn't offensive either.

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

2004 called. It wants its massive and unnecessary amount of parking built into a soulless podium back.

But whatever. Finally this thing is getting built

Yeah... this podium could use some liner units. Hopefully the ceiling height of the parking floors is high enough for residential conversion down the line (10 years?).

[LouisVanDerWright]

I actually support the amount of parking in this location, though liner units along Halsted would be nice.

Let's be practical for a moment: you have a huge tower replacing a hotel parking lot and incorporating massive hotel ballrooms and event spaces literally next to the freeway and not all that close to the train. A lot of this parking replaces the lot and is needed for the ballroom functions of the hotel, let's face it, most wedding guests don't arrive by CTA. If we are going to have parking, is there a better spot for it? This huge podium will also help isolate the West Loop from the freeway and frankly the West Loop is going to have a huge parking shortage as office uses pile into the area on top of the already booming retail scene. I would much rather have people driving in to check out the offerings in the West Loop hop off the freeway and ditch their car in the first garage they see and continue into the neighborhood on foot. If we are going to have some self park in West Loop, this is where it should be, not at Morgan and Randolph.

The fact that this garage replaces a giant parking lot and has a huge rental tower on top of it makes this a pretty damn sweet deal indeed.

[rlw777]

I must have blacked out I thought I just read that one s Halsted got a foundation permit... Don't they still need to sample the soil?

[BuildThemTaller]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I actually support the amount of parking in this location, though liner units along Halsted would be nice.

Let's be practical for a moment: you have a huge tower replacing a hotel parking lot and incorporating massive hotel ballrooms and event spaces literally next to the freeway and not all that close to the train. A lot of this parking replaces the lot and is needed for the ballroom functions of the hotel, let's face it, most wedding guests don't arrive by CTA. If we are going to have parking, is there a better spot for it? This huge podium will also help isolate the West Loop from the freeway and frankly the West Loop is going to have a huge parking shortage as office uses pile into the area on top of the already booming retail scene. I would much rather have people driving in to check out the offerings in the West Loop hop off the freeway and ditch their car in the first garage they see and continue into the neighborhood on foot. If we are going to have some self park in West Loop, this is where it should be, not at Morgan and Randolph.

The fact that this garage replaces a giant parking lot and has a huge rental tower on top of it makes this a pretty damn sweet deal indeed.

All of this. If there is one place that needs a podium, it's along the Kennedy in Greektown. This is a destination area in and of itself. I remember trips to or from O'Hare growing up usually included a stop at the Parthenon or Greek Islands. This maintains the parking for the out-of-towners right where they need it. The curves on this and the Fulton or whatever it is called at Halsted and Lake, are welcome additions to the skyline.

[KWILLSKYLINE]

Originally Posted by danielschell

Boom

http://wp.me/p7uLxw-251


Image via FitzGerald Associates Architects





Bye bye parking lot.

I thought someone a few months back said this one was getting a "re-design". Would be a tragedy.

[danielschell]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I actually support the amount of parking in this location, though liner units along Halsted would be nice.

Let's be practical for a moment: you have a huge tower replacing a hotel parking lot and incorporating massive hotel ballrooms and event spaces literally next to the freeway and not all that close to the train. A lot of this parking replaces the lot and is needed for the ballroom functions of the hotel, let's face it, most wedding guests don't arrive by CTA. If we are going to have parking, is there a better spot for it? This huge podium will also help isolate the West Loop from the freeway and frankly the West Loop is going to have a huge parking shortage as office uses pile into the area on top of the already booming retail scene. I would much rather have people driving in to check out the offerings in the West Loop hop off the freeway and ditch their car in the first garage they see and continue into the neighborhood on foot. If we are going to have some self park in West Loop, this is where it should be, not at Morgan and Randolph.

The fact that this garage replaces a giant parking lot and has a huge rental tower on top of it makes this a pretty damn sweet deal indeed.