^ Is work still going on here - no slowdown because of the condo crash?

I was thinking of worst-case scenarios: In case they ended up...

-abandoning the project now, could the Farwell be returned to some kind of use or is it too late?

-abandoning the project once they've finished dismantling Farwell, hopefully they'd at least have the facade pieces carefully stored and labelled, so that maybe someone else would be able to reassemble the facade in the future.

-abandoning the project halfway through dismantling, the only prayer would be if substitute developer(s) paid for both the rest of the facade dismantling as well as reassembly.

An interesting quandary: If the facade pieces sat in storage for years and no developer wanted to use them when redeveloping the Farwell site, would re-assembling the facade on a totally different project, somewhere else, ever be an option? Purists would say no, but wouldn't this be better than the junk most developers put up?

235 West Van Buren
 

November 3, 2008

^^ 235 Van Buren is one of the bright spots in the Chicago construction scene right now. It adds density and residents to a desolate part of the Loop, and it has a very progressive design, by one of my favorite architects. The other rental towers going up around the Loop (on Kinzie, Washington, and Lake) don't begin to approach 235 VB when it comes to design.



The developers already have financing lined up, so they don't need to stop. The financing is coming from overseas, from a German bank and a Kuwaiti bank. The sales figures have held at 40% since last spring...

However - these facade reconstructions are complicated. It's very possible that the facade is in worse shape than everyone thought, which would make the reconstruction process much more expensive. If they don't have enough money to cover the higher costs, then the project has to stop - it can't go on without the historic-preservation component.

So that's kind of good news.
What legal factor would require them to stop? Does the city yank a permit?
(Although if they do stop, we're back at the situation I mentioned.)

**swoon**

November 3, 2008



one more

Great views.

Hey photogs - Silver Tower looks rather sharp from the Ohio/Ontario ramp. We haven't really had any shots from the west, so if anyone is out there with their camera... :tup:

September 24, 2008



I never got around to posting this photo. Maybe someone can get a current picture with more glass installed.

235 is living up to its (high) expectations.

I don't see what all the fuss is about over 235. I expect that it will be a decent building - which, granted, is better than most of the concrete blunders that have been erected over the past decade. Beyond that, I'm not terribly excited.

I still think the parking garage base is a terrible mistake, particularly fronting van Buren. And the random balconies on the back (B+L is also doing these now)... Hello, 1960?

11.03

Silver Tower




Flair

I really like Silver Tower for a few reasons. One, it's (IMO) a nicely designed building, and two, the area its in, so many low rise buildings. I can only hope in the future, this area gets more towers like this. Now the Flair on the other hand...

Putting architecture aside for a second (*gasp*), the main reason I like this development is it's purpose and location. A rental building in the South-West corner of the loop? Awesome.

Taft

Woo server upgrade!

Anyways, did anyone get Obama rally pic/blding pic combos?

Not only a rental building, but a VERY dense rental building (700+ units on that itty bitty site). Awesomer.

I want to wait to see how the parking garage turns out. Ralph Johnson obviously has some ideas about expressing the dynamism and definitely-sloped floorplates of the garage, so the thing is about as honest as it gets. Johnson also set up some interesting rhythms with the air slits. The concrete won't be painted, so it will have surface texture and interest. If the base is activated properly with retail and the residential entrance, I think the building could be a great addition to the streetscape.

The random balconies also act to set up a large-scale pattern that's legible to the auto traffic passing by on Congress. The visual spectacle of the crazy balconies, in fact, might help the traffic on Congress to slow down before the light at Clark.

600 North LSD
 

Taken on 11/4:

Another shot of 600 N. LSD from last night. I can't tell if people are living in the south tower or not.

Wait, it's rental?

Anyway, obviously I can't argue with a big residential building in that area... but these aren't the "high expectations" I was responding to.

Wow, gorgeous photograph, i_am_hydrogen!

Here are a few updates from today:

tehWit
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/3...6448765ql6.jpg

353 N. Clark
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/4...6462662ck8.jpg
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7...6475996ca9.jpg
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/5...7161930br1.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5...6426823dk6.jpg

Streeter II
http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/5...7178402eb8.jpg