CHICAGO | General Developments

[J_M_Tungsten]

I’ve been driving by this one everyday since it started. The base is horrendous in that it is a blank brick wall, but the quality of the pre cast is actually decent. Kind of an oxymoron, I know.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by maru2501

do you have to climb a rope ladder to get in?

The entrance is on Washington.

[Kumdogmillionaire]

But remember guys, midrises make for a better urban environment. That's what our resident Europhile keeps telling us, and no way he could be wrong! *rolls eyes*

[King of Chicago]

Wait a minute - this building has a blank brick wall for the base?? What the hell??

Cant be. Cant be. Maybe its just temporary?? Who the hell would design something like that??

[Randomguy34]

Why is everyone surprised that this building has a crappy base? The renderings of this building showed how bad it was

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

wtf is that base. awful.

That base is why the West Loop is blowing up! Haven't you heard how midrises are the sole reason for lively street life? Buildings like this and Circa 922 are why there are Michelin star restaurants all over the place in the West Loop.



This is one of the buildings I was referencing the other day. The majority of residential Midrises in the West Loop are dirt. We are lucky to get one with chain stores in the base because most of them just have grade level parking. The only contribution midrises like this make to street life are driving all the pedestrians away from wherever they are built and over towards the historic building stock (which has nothing to do with why the West Loop is a popular successful neighborhood of course) on Fulton and Randolph.

[the urban politician]

Blank ground level.

Yeah, I'll take a parking podium over this

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

"Honey I Blew Up The Six-Flat"

This is one of the funniest comments I've seen on SSP. So true, they want to be a Rodgers Park front porch six flat but what they got instead is the bastard child of OBP and a Belmont Ave jumbo happy brick six flat. This is easily one of the worst buildings in the entire city, i would say comically bad if it weren't totally destroying what was shaping up to be quite a handsome intersection between MCDs and the nice lowrise project across the street.

[KWillChicago]

Anyone want to buy a bridge for their backyard?

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/6/21...ridge-for-sale

[woodrow]

HOLY SHIT I just realized where this is. They couldn't even activate the the NW corner of the building? Cater corner from McD's, with their 1000's of employees and visitors? What a shit box. Look how squat the ground floor is!!! Ugh.

[aphedox]

Originally Posted by KWillChicago

Anyone want to buy a bridge for their backyard?

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/6/21...ridge-for-sale

Is the bridge in bad shape or do they just want to widen the street? If it's in good shape and just isn't big enough, why doesn't the city just move it to Erie St so they can knock out two birds with one stone?

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Originally Posted by aphedox

Is the bridge in bad shape or do they just want to widen the street? If it's in good shape and just isn't big enough, why doesn't the city just move it to Erie St so they can knock out two birds with one stone?

I could think of a handful of reasons why that would be impossible without major adjustments in the bridge's size and shape, effectively rendering the project pointless and cost ineffective

[left of center]

Originally Posted by aphedox

Is the bridge in bad shape or do they just want to widen the street? If it's in good shape and just isn't big enough, why doesn't the city just move it to Erie St so they can knock out two birds with one stone?

The size is the issue. Chicago Ave is a two lane street, and like many of the north branch bascule bridges, it was built allowing only one lane of traffic in each direction. They all are (Chicago Ave included) notorious choke points, which is why these bridges are unfortunately biting the dust.

I really wish the city found some feasible way to keep the bridge superstructure and somehow widen it. Looks like even 4 or 5 feet would allow for two lane traffic, since its already a lane and a half in each direction. I imagine the reasoning is that it is immensely more expense as compared to demolishing it and starting fresh.

We've lost too many historic bridges in this city (as well as historic buildings, but that's another story...). Considering how proud Chicago purports to be about having the largest number of movable bridges in the world, the city certainly doesn't act like it.

Anyone have any ideas as to what will happen to the historic east bridgehouse when the bridge is demolished?

[ardecila]

Wait, the Sun-Times' coverage of the story mentions that the historic bridge will be replaced by an "interim" bridge, probably another Bailey bridge like the one on Division.

Seriously, CDOT? This bridge is in such bad shape that it has to go, now, but we still can't scrape up enough money to actually replace it? Bailey bridges are literally the bridges they put up in struggling third-world countries like Sudan or in war-torn regions to preserve an important supply line. Not the kind of thing we should have in the vaunted North Branch Corridor.

Meanwhile we're building flashy new replacement schools and remodeling L stops all over the South Side, not to serve a need but just so Rahm can grab some sweet South Side votes.

[Randomguy34]

The 260 unit Salvation Army Site got approved by the plan commission. NIMBYs were mad that there were only 9 parking spots. Block Club Chicago reported the story, and this is my favorite quote from it

Jeannine Norlander, a West Loop resident who moved to the 1500 block of Monroe from the suburbs three years ago, said the rapid redevelopment and growing traffic congestion in the area may cause her to move.

“We figured we’d get out now before the next mess started,” Norlander said. “We are really unhappy with this development going up across the street.”

https://blockclubchicago.org/2018/06...-key-approval/

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

This is one of the funniest comments I've seen on SSP. So true, they want to be a Rodgers Park front porch six flat but what they got instead is the bastard child of OBP and a Belmont Ave jumbo happy brick six flat. This is easily one of the worst buildings in the entire city, i would say comically bad if it weren't totally destroying what was shaping up to be quite a handsome intersection between MCDs and the nice lowrise project across the street.

I'm going to reserve judgment on this one until they install the steel cladding and windows, and clean up the precast. It is a Booth Hansen building, after all.

It's definitely nicer than an '00s Lakeview precast facade in my opinion. The 'brick' is a deeper red with less-pronounced mortar lines, and no arbitrary fake beige stone breaking up the pattern.

The base treatment has always been awful...

[10023]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

But remember guys, midrises make for a better urban environment. That's what our resident Europhile keeps telling us, and no way he could be wrong! *rolls eyes*

Modern highrises make a bad street presence obligatory (garage bays, etc).

This is just shitty design for no reason, and there should be something in the code that prevents things like this.

And it has nothing to do with Europhilia, just a desire for good urbanism... which Europe tends to do better than America for a whole host of historical and contemporary reasons, and so it would be silly not to take lessons from European cities.

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Street presence isn't popular in the West Loop because of overhanging fears of store fronts or first floor homes getting robbed. If they had fences giving them some breathing room then it would be more likely for them to have first floor residences, but that would mean a significantly smaller floor plate and less return on investment. I think the blank walls are ugly, but they do make sense, especially the older ones. Chicago can't pretend to be a city without gang violence like London and Paris can. Certain privileges come with being an ancient city. For the second time today I will tell you to live in the real world. In the real world, many side streets in Chicago will not be attractive for retailers, and are just dangerous enough that they are not going to have sidewalk fronting homes at the prices they are trying to rate. This is why high rises win out for me in this city on an urban design level. Real world is > fantasy Euro land

[moorhosj]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

Street presence isn't popular in the West Loop because of overhanging fears of store fronts or first floor homes getting robbed.

This is a painfully weak argument. Buildings all around this one have residences on the first floor. You can see them in some of the pictures already posted. You can see more of them from streetview.

Chicago can't pretend to be a city without gang violence like London and Paris can. Certain privileges come with being an ancient city. For the second time today I will tell you to live in the real world.

Take your own advice, this area is one of the nicest, fastest growing parts of the entire city.

[JK47]

Originally Posted by Kumdogmillionaire

Certain privileges come with being an ancient city. For the second time today I will tell you to live in the real world. In the real world, many side streets in Chicago will not be attractive for retailers, and are just dangerous enough that they are not going to have sidewalk fronting homes at the prices they are trying to rate. This is why high rises win out for me in this city on an urban design level. Real world is > fantasy Euro land

Yeah I scared away a burglar using a claw hammer when he tried to force his way through a window of a basement unit I was renting in Cambridge, MA. Really nice place on a quiet leafy residential side street. Since then I don't do units at or below ground level.