CHICAGO | The 78 Site

[Mr Downtown]

Because Wells-Wentworth includes speed tables, I don't expect actual drag racing to be the issue. More likely: motorcyclists doing little jumps on the speed tables, and other foolishness.

[left of center]

Not a fan of the speed tables. No other major street leading into-outside the Loop has them, and Wells-Wentworth is supposed to be a major connector between the Loop and Chinatown/Near South side. I feel like the speed tables would have been unnecessary if Wells-Wentworth had more intersections and cross streets with stop signs/light signals to slow traffic down. Not all if this is the developers fault, with the Rock Island Metra tracks along Clark being a large and expensive obstacle to work around. Dearborn Park to the east did a lot of the heavy lifting in severing the street grid in this part of town as well.

[ardecila]

Not true, Harrison has two of them thru the UIC campus.

I think that stretch of Harrison is exactly what the designers want Wells-Wentworth to act like; it is specifically NOT supposed to be a major collector. Wells-Wentworth is a through route to Chinatown, but it is not intended for fast speeds or commuters heading to the expressways. We already have one auto sewer like that (Clark) - we don't need a second one tearing through what should be a vibrant, walkable neighborhood at The 78.

Also FYI, the "speed tables" on Wells are actually raised intersections just like Harrison/Morgan, they just won't build the cross-streets for awhile. I assume they will be stop sign controlled at first with signals to come later, although they've probably probably put in the footings and conduits for signals already.

[left of center]

^ Thanks for the clarification! Yeah the raised intersections like the ones on Harrison by my alma mater sound much better than what I was imagining, which I guess was more of crude asphalt speed humps you find on some side streets.

My gripes on the lack of connectivity and extending the street grid remain however.
Although again, this isn't the developers fault. The site is frankly isolated and difficult to connect to, from all sides really. The RI tracks/Dearborn Park to the east, the river to the west, and the mess of rail lines/St. Charles Airline to the south. The north end has the best access, but even then Roosevelt is elevated and you ramp up to it in the case of LaSalle St.

[ardecila]

Yeah during busy times the speed tables on Harrison don’t actually slow drivers down much, not like a full speed bump.

It’s mainly just a way to discourage drivers from flooring it when the road is empty, because on a uni campus there are likely still some pedestrians around. And the color change at intersections provides a warning to drivers and peace of mind to pedestrians. They should really do more of these across the city…

[i_am_hydrogen]

A photo of one the new streets from Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/com...ning_thru_the/

[thegoatman]

seems like this project is dead not gonna lie. I did see an article that said after they didn't get picked for the casino they were gonna pause on this. Haven't seen any difference between now and last year.

[lakeshoredrive]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

seems like this project is dead not gonna lie. I did see an article that said after they didn't get picked for the casino they were gonna pause on this. Haven't seen any difference between now and last year.

It seems like the only thing that will get built soon is the DPI.

[Klippenstein]

It's not happening fast, but the work that has happened lately on the road is on the South end. The two underpasses below the train tracks are pretty much complete now. Last we heard, Related transferred land to the University of Illinois and DPI is set to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Klippenstein

It's not happening fast, but the work that has happened lately on the road is on the South end. The two underpasses below the train tracks are pretty much complete now. Last we heard, Related transferred land to the University of Illinois and DPI is set to be completed in late 2025 or early 2026.

Yep they ripped out the little culdesac that was poured on Wentworth in Phase 1, which is a good sign that they are doing the final sewer tie-in and then pouring the road pavement soon.

I did see a plan of the underpass area and it looks like the sidewalk bike lanes will extend through the underpass zone, which is good…. Underpasses are especially dangerous for cyclists if they have to mix with traffic. The road itself is also quite narrow, just two lanes with no parking lane or turn lanes. So that should encourage drivers not to speed.

The plan also showed a new path from the new road to the riverside half of Ping Tom Park, so it would be possible on Day 1 to walk from The 78 or even the Loop down to Chinatown on a greenway.

[ardecila]

I'm a little disappointed too, but this is how Chicago works. Things go in cycles and the most ambitious projects usually don't get off the ground, or if they do then it takes decades.

Opening up the site with a new road is huge though. Even if The 78 never gets built per the original vision, developers can still start chipping away at the site one project at a time. And the earlier plans for the site, with townhouses and suburban strip malls, seem to be dead and buried.

As for DPI, I think the new CHIPS Act that Congress just passed will put them over the top for funding and they can get underway.

[ithakas]

Perhaps Related Midwest's only got the scale to focus on 1-2 development projects at a time? Right now they're building 900 W. Randolph, but they also have The 78, 400 N. Lake Shore Drive and 725 W. Randolph.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I'm a little disappointed too, but this is how Chicago works. Things go in cycles and the most ambitious projects usually don't get off the ground, or if they do then it takes decades.

Is this really that ambitious? Maybe SF-wise sure but to my knowledge nothing supertall was ever envisioned here, at least seriously.

Most of Chicago's existing supertalls didn't take decades.

Opening up the site with a new road is huge though. Even if The 78 never gets built per the original vision, developers can still start chipping away at the site one project at a time. And the earlier plans for the site, with townhouses and suburban strip malls, seem to be dead and buried.

Yea, Related should just sell it to someone else. Amazon campus anyone?

As for DPI, I think the new CHIPS Act that Congress just passed will put them over the top for funding and they can get underway.

Is the bubbly design hub building the only thing DPI would be building on the site as of now? It's a cool looking building that'll hopefully kickstart something better. Kind of underwhelming on its own though.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Chicago_Forever

Lastly, not all developers are created equal. People seem to not take this into account when talking about the viability of a project. Related has always been a shitty developer, at least here in Chicago. Had sterling Bey, JDL, or even Onni, own the Spire site and the 78, I bet we would have seen construction underway already. Every project Related touches turns to shit or dies a slow death.

This is a little unfair IMO - most of it can be explained by the fact that their work is split between market-rate and affordable/subsidized housing.

They are not a typical for-profit developer like Sterling Bay or JDL. Nor are they a non-profit community developer like Holsten or Bickerdike. They're kind of a weird hybrid, so their projects have unusual financing structures, unusual community/labor relations, etc and tend to move slower.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Is this really that ambitious? Maybe SF-wise sure but to my knowledge nothing supertall was ever envisioned here, at least seriously.

Most of Chicago's existing supertalls didn't take decades.



Yea, Related should just sell it to someone else. Amazon campus anyone?



Is the bubbly design hub building the only thing DPI would be building on the site as of now? It's a cool looking building that'll hopefully kickstart something better. Kind of underwhelming on its own though.

It's a - forget exact figure - $7 or 8 bil. mixed-use project (could of course be more by the time it's finished). So, yes, it's a quite ambitious project.

[Mr Downtown]

Guys, you don't start with the supertall condo towers. You wait until the area is desirable and then maximize your profit. See Central Station.

Once Wells St. opens, I predict Related will do a ~200-unit highrise on the east side of the street around 1400, just to show that things are happening. Some of the units will look good to DPI staff and students. That close to Chinatown could attract others, especially if it's a condo project.

Remember that Related is not the money partner; that's still General Mediterranean, which has the reserves to wait until they can make good money on this investment.

[moorhosj1]

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/educ...ns-78-unveiled

University of Illinois officials today are releasing final renderings and a construction timetable for the $250 million-plus headquarters of its Discovery Partners Institute—a long-awaited action that will bring an academic and research facility to the South Loop and potentially kick-start work on the huge but slow-to-advance The 78 development.

This news will apparently kick off work on 4 other buildings in the neighborhood.

Bailey said Related now will “immediately launch work” on four other buildings, including a wet lab that would count the university as a major tenant, an incubator for start-up companies, a retail structure and a university gathering center that Bailey hopes will serve as center of sorts for the eastern part of UIC's campus.

Bailey pegged the cost of those four buildings at $400 million. He said he hopes to begin construction around the time work on the headquarters begins in early 2024, with construction complete by 2026.

[r18tdi]

Woah! Pretty substantial design changes to DPI too (VE'd?).
Probably belongs in The 78 thread...

[ardecila]

Cross posted from General Developments.

Originally Posted by moorhosj1

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/educ...ns-78-unveiled





This news will apparently kick off work on 4 other buildings in the neighborhood.

Bailey said Related now will “immediately launch work” on four other buildings, including a wet lab that would count the university as a major tenant, an incubator for start-up companies, a retail structure and a university gathering center that Bailey hopes will serve as center of sorts for the eastern part of UIC's campus.

Bailey pegged the cost of those four buildings at $400 million. He said he hopes to begin construction around the time work on the headquarters begins in early 2024, with construction complete by 2026.

I'm curious where the new buildings will go. Maybe we'll know more after the gov's press conference today. Significant changes to DPI building - but now it looks more German or Swiss, and less like Dubai. The facade system is oddly similar to the Ally building at Lincoln Yards. I'm a little concerned we will end up with a field of low-rise buildings (>6 stories) around the DPI midrise - less Hudson Yards, more Philly Navy Yard.

The building in the foreground of this image (south of the SCAL bridge) looks quite fleshed out - and that site was supposed to be an expansion of Ping Tom Park. Although if you zoom in the forest of bonsai trees on the roof is kinda funny... The four story timber midrise north of the bridge looks fairly developed too. Is Related jumping on the mass timber bandwagon like Sterling Bay?

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Cross posted from General Developments.



I'm curious where the new buildings will go. Maybe we'll know more after the gov's press conference today. Significant changes to DPI building - but now it looks more German or Swiss, and less like Dubai. I'm a little concerned we will end up with a field of low-rise buildings (>6 stories) around the DPI midrise - less Hudson Yards, more Philly Navy Yard.

The building in the foreground of this image (south of the SCAL bridge) looks quite fleshed out - and that site was supposed to be an expansion of Ping Tom Park. Although if you zoom in the forest of bonsai trees on the roof is kinda funny... The four story timber midrise north of the bridge looks fairly developed too. Is Related jumping on the mass timber bandwagon like Sterling Bay?

Hmm. Presumably a similar plan as listed under the casino renderings, with heights tbd.


https://chicagoyimby.com/2020/08/inf...outh-side.html


https://chicagoyimby.com/2022/03/dev...in-the-78.html