CHICAGO | General Developments

[sukwoo]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can leave buildings like this at will in old neighborhoods. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.

Perhaps the building would look better with some shrubbery?

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can leave buildings like this at will in old neighborhoods. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.

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[Tom Servo]

Mr. Downtown, what are you referring to?

[Mr Downtown]

^1601 West Division, where someone has mistaken novelty for creativity.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

^1601 West Division, where someone has mistaken novelty for creativity.

The single story drive through bank that was originally going to be plopped here was certainly much more creative....

I'm not totally in love with how the design turned out but the overall package of the development fits exactly in the envelope of how land around mass transit should be used.

[george]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

^1601 West Division, where someone has mistaken novelty for creativity.

Golly, here I was just thinking it's both novel 'and' creative...

[sukwoo]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Oh, what sad times are these when passing ruffians can leave buildings like this at will in old neighborhoods. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred.

Did anyone else get the Monty Python reference?

[thewaterman11]

Stumbled upon a WBEZ article this morning about Union Station and some of its unused and underdeveloped areas.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/lee-bey/20...evealed-108035

The Metropolitan Planning Council also has some photos of spaces like the old Women's Lounge, the roof, and tons of potential retail and restaurant space.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropl...th/9246715189/

With a good planner, I could see Union Station becoming a larger tourist attraction than it is now, with perhaps a flagship Apple store in the Women's Lounge and a couple good retail outlets... maybe even a restaurant off the Canal Street arcade. It would be nice to see Union Station be more than just an entry and exit point for commuters.

[wierdaaron]

This page doesn't have any pictures on it, so..

GEMS school LSE has reached "pile of dirt" phase.


Click to embiggen.

Last week there were pile drivers.

[woodrow]

^^ off topic, but what a cheapo addition SwissHotel tacked on. Deadly dull at street level and crap from above. I know that there are higher costs with building out a green roof, but honestly it looks like crap and it makes me think poorly of the hotel.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

I like it and definitely welcome more avant-garde, daring architecture, but am I the only one that thinks it would look much better if it had two floors of commercial, with a more substantial looking and proportioned base?

Yes, yes and mas si. And, in addition - the previous version with more glass coverage on the facade was superior.

With that stated, I still like it a lot, and it's a fantastic improvement for this neighborhood....hope it really begins a trend and we soon start to see a lot more like it here and elsewhere...

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

^1601 West Division, where someone has mistaken novelty for creativity.

Testing out a new self-parody here or a good faith critique?

While I hope for the former, given history of strange, almost obsessive outspoken disdain for anything approaching irregular and/or random fenestration pattern, I expect and fear the latter....

[killaviews]

According to its Facebook page, phase 1 of Backyard Andersonville has started. Backyard Andersonville = 23 townhouses.

http://backyardandersonville.com/

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by killaviews

According to its Facebook page, phase 1 of Backyard Andersonville has started. Backyard Andersonville = 23 townhouses.

http://backyardandersonville.com/

Yep, a building permit was issued for it on June 19th. Speaking of other small but sizable development like it.. Building permit issued yesterday for 2008 N Whipple (Armitage and Whipple) in Logan Square near Humboldt Park, down the street from Parson's Chicken and Scofflaw. 24 detached units w/first floor retail ($3.6 million). This is currently a vacant lot and I believe it may be advertised as 3058 W Armitage too.

[wierdaaron]

It looked like they were starting some work on the randolph side plaza of Prudential. Could be minor, but it looked like they were pulling up tiles.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yep, a building permit was issued for it on June 19th. Speaking of other small but sizable development like it.. Building permit issued yesterday for 2008 N Whipple (Armitage and Whipple) in Logan Square near Humboldt Park, down the street from Parson's Chicken and Scofflaw. 24 detached units w/first floor retail ($3.6 million). This is currently a vacant lot and I believe it may be advertised as 3058 W Armitage too.

Yep, Armitage W of the Kennedy is really seeing a lot of infill.

I don't know what it is, but for some reason the E-W streets in Chicago have been filling in much more than the traditional N-S streets.

I'm thinking North Ave, Belmont, Armitage, Division, Chicago

Whereas favorites such as Clark, Lincoln, Broadway have done very little. I'm floored that the old Dominick's site (the one that burned down) still hasn't been developed. Absolutely prime real estate, sitting there empty.

[i_am_hydrogen]

[wierdaaron]

Originally Posted by thewaterman11

Stumbled upon a WBEZ article this morning about Union Station and some of its unused and underdeveloped areas.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/lee-bey/20...evealed-108035

The Metropolitan Planning Council also has some photos of spaces like the old Women's Lounge, the roof, and tons of potential retail and restaurant space.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metropl...th/9246715189/

With a good planner, I could see Union Station becoming a larger tourist attraction than it is now, with perhaps a flagship Apple store in the Women's Lounge and a couple good retail outlets... maybe even a restaurant off the Canal Street arcade. It would be nice to see Union Station be more than just an entry and exit point for commuters.

I missed this because we posted at about the same time. A few years ago I saw some kind of promising-looking proposal to re-do Union Station, but I guess that vanished.

The biggest thing preventing Union Station from being more convenient is the flimsy connection it has to local transit. The nearest L station is several blocks away across the river and not very tourist/first-timer friendly and no signage directing you there, and you're on your own for figuring out how to get a bus to or from there. With an L stop nearby or some kind of bus terminal with easy information about how to get to different places in the city, Union Station could easily be a major artery to get people flowing in and out of the city.

Also, the modern areas of the underground station are a huge confusing mess of identical-looking hallways and corridors and escalators that somehow take you to the same place you were when you got on them. I think they'd have to gut the whole thing and re-lay it out for it to be usable at all. Definitely needs more signage. Grand Central is huge and kind of labyrinthine but there's good signage and indicators to reassure you that you're at least headed in the right general direction.

[ardecila]

^ A bus terminal is forthcoming on the lot south of Union Station. It probably won't be able to berth all the bus routes, but it will be an easily-identifiable spot for buses that visitors might want (151 to Mag Mile, 124 to Navy Pier, 28 to Hyde Park). There will be a tunnel beneath Jackson to the station concourse, but I question how many people will be able to find it.

[Mr Downtown]

All the CTA routes will use the new facility, but the underground access will be through the "Track 0" baggage tunnel rather that a new tunnel. Still, it will help to have one bus boarding location rather than four. RTA has recently lettered the stops in an effort to make things a little easier to find, but Amtrak wouldn't let them put up any new signs inside, just mysterious red stickers saying "A" or "C."

There are signs on Clinton pointing the way to the Blue Line. But overall Union Station is one of the most incomprehensible interiors in the world—that's not a hospital.