CHICAGO | General Developments

[spyguy]

The news everybody has been waiting for: Chipotle is officially coming to Hyde Park.


Harper Court/ Facebook

[ardecila]

A botched piece of mid-century modernism is not "above and beyond". I understand that retail is a more valuable use of the property than a movie theater, but the conversion should at least be sympathetic.

In part, this is a major failing of the city's preservation policy... unless a property is in a landmark district, there is no middle ground between non-contributing and landmark status, so the city has no mechanism to ensure sympathetic alterations.

I'd love it if the city allowed orange-rated properties to have some kind of oversight akin to the approvals required for contributing properties in a landmark district. Of course, the Historic Resources survey doesn't include modernist buildings built after WWII.

[Nowhereman1280]

FYI Curbed is reporting CRM Development has gotten a $19 million loan to complete the first phases of the Shops on Fremont (where we have seen varying levels of urbanity in their designs). Take a look at their site below:

http://www.crmproperties.com/futureProjects.html

They are still showing the much more attractive, more urban, designs on their site. I wonder if the will end up building those plans or the more parking lot-infested designs we saw a while back?


Edit: Maybe we are getting lucky here! They signed leases for "site B" Which is the building at the NW corner of Fremont and Weed which appears to be an 125' x 125' lot (they have alleys on each side of it in the plans which is why I don't think it is a 150'x 125'). That means the total size of that lot is 15,625 SF. The building they are going to start construction on is a 15,000 SF building according to the Crains article before. This would suggest they are pursuing the more urban plan that fills the whole lot unless they are planning to do a 7,000 SF floor plate, two floor, building. From what I've seen I don't think Anthropologie pursues 2 floor layouts like Urban Outfitters does, so let's hope for the best!

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

FYI Curbed is reporting CRM Development has gotten a $19 million loan to complete the first phases of the Shops on Fremont (where we have seen varying levels of urbanity in their designs). Take a look at their site below:

http://www.crmproperties.com/futureProjects.html

They are still showing the much more attractive, more urban, designs on their site. I wonder if the will end up building those plans or the more parking lot-infested designs we saw a while back?

Scroll down to the linked PDF at the bottom of that page to see that the other plan is still being promoted.

[the urban politician]

^ Don't get too excited:

http://www.crmproperties.com/pdfs/Fr...20Brochure.pdf

According to this pdf, they can build a 13,490 sf building and still have that front parking lot. The jury is still out, but if they are planning to build 1500 additional sf, it may be possible that they cannot have that lot. But we need more details.

[the urban politician]

Also, I'm trying to remember if Anthropologie's store in the Southport corridor has 2 levels or not...

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ No, it's a single story retail building like most Anthropologies.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Don't get too excited:

http://www.crmproperties.com/pdfs/Fr...20Brochure.pdf

According to this pdf, they can build a 13,490 sf building and still have that front parking lot. The jury is still out, but if they are planning to build 1500 additional sf, it may be possible that they cannot have that lot. But we need more details.

I'm sure it's possible, but the 15,000 SF number is higher than previously mentioned and I don't think Anthropologie likes two floor layouts.

[Swicago Swi Sox]

The one Southport is one floor, but the two newest Anthropologies in the city are two floors (the one on Chicago near Michigan Ave. and the one in Block 37). Plus I have been to one other two floor Anthropologie that was in California. My wife drags me to a lot of Anthropologies.

[the urban politician]

The "administrator at Curbed" (Hydrogen?) just made an inquiry and this is what he stated in the comments section of that website:

UPDATE: Chuck Malk, president of CRM Properties, just informed me that the plans have changed, but new renderings are not yet ready for distribution.

Ahhh, I love being an urbanist nerd. 99% of the world could care less, but we wait with bated breath to find out if a single building will be set back from the sidewalk by a small parking lot or not.

[Busy Bee]

Its either this or lusting over hooking a big mouth bass, getting maximum torque or obsessing over semi-retarded sports figures. I'll take being an architecture nerd anyday. I was born this way!!

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Swicago Swi Sox

The one Southport is one floor, but the two newest Anthropologies in the city are two floors (the one on Chicago near Michigan Ave. and the one in Block 37). Plus I have been to one other two floor Anthropologie that was in California. My wife drags me to a lot of Anthropologies.

I've seen the one on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. From the outside the building appears to be two floors.

[ardecila]

Even if the parking lot stays, I sure hope they go with a more modern design. The current renderings are atrocious, and even the strippiest strip malls in the area have fairly attractive design (the one with the NYC Bagels comes to mind, or the excellent West Elm/former Whole Foods, or Crate & Barrel, etc).

Of course, if it came down to a choice, I'd dump the parking lot and gladly saddle the neighborhood with an ugly PoMo retail building.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ It's not as if the aesthetics of 1 story retail buildings even really matter in the long run because next time the lease is up they'll probably blast whatever facade they just put on it off of it and slap a new one on that suits the next tenant. The first floors of buildings are almost inevitably going to be mutilated over and over again over the decades as tenants move in and out. Therefore the site plan is FAR more important than the design.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

The "administrator at Curbed" (Hydrogen?) just made an inquiry and this is what he stated in the comments section of that website:

Not me. I take pictures and write posts from time to time, but I'm not the editor.

[markh9]

Construction underway for City Winery Chicago
http://www.rejournals.com/2012/04/25...inery-chicago/

Construction is underway for City Winery Chicago, a fully operational urban winery and tasting room, restaurant with outdoor wine garden, concert hall and private event space at 1200 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop.

...

The 1200 W. Randolph building, a former refrigerated food distribution warehouse built in the early part of the 20th century, is being renovated into a contemporary winery and hospitality facility. The project team is respecting the old brick and timber construction, while adding 5,000 square feet of new construction in the form of a two-story addition within the site’s existing courtyard. The new addition will keep with the feel of the existing building while incorporating a 30-foot high modern glass curtain wall that will showcase views of the building from both inside and out. Upon completion, the new 33,000-square-foot facility will feature high exposed ceilings, reclaimed wood beams, masonry, arched brick openings and interior glass partitions so patrons can view the daily winemaking operation.

Streetview link of the building and the adjacent ill-fated vacant lot.

Glad to see Randolph Street continue to fill in. And, as much as many of the forumers around here may hate me for saying this, I'm glad the grid breaks down on Randolph at Union Park. The finite nature of that stretch of Randolph drives up the value of every single building there....I only wish Randolph was even shorter to really pack all of those Michelin-starred restaurants closer!

Chicago Magazine has a good graphic online detailing the current (and future) state of Randolph's "Restaurant Row".

[aic4ever]

Originally Posted by Hayward

The original building was a tan postmodernish building. Nothing all that great. The sprinkles facade was a welcome improvement over the tan monotony in that area. Problem was, they divided this building. The other half is grey painted plywood. I wouldn't mind if the city permitted large banner advertising over these temporary facades. Something needs to be done with that vacant space in the meantime.

Before the Sprinkles renovation, it was Sur La Table.

The building still has a TON of empty space. The Sprinkles facade goes all the way up, but the entire second floor, along with half of the first floor, remains unoccupied. Sur La Table had used both floors in there as they had a space on the second floor for cooking classes and demonstrations. Sort of a TV studio kitchen type area.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by lakeviewer

3030 was tied up in some legal drama...
"The Alderman’s office has been told by the city law department that the proposed development at 3030 N. Broadway is on hold until the city’s differences with the Davis group have been resolved. Consequently there will NOT be any advisory vote on this project by SELVN until the hold is removed. A representative from the Alderman’s office will be at the March 12 SELVN meeting and if there is additional information available he will provide an update"

But from the minutes of the last SELVN meeting it seems to be moving ahead with a slight height reduction, I heard one floor...

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxyo...aHM/edit?pli=1

Completely forgot this was Davis Group. In my opinion, that's not a good sign for the project's chances. And I'm not just talking about the potential for the city stalling approvals because of that whole mess around the city pension funds moving to fire Davis' investment firm and any other controversy around the politically-connected Davis and any former partners of his and his investment entities. After the real estate crash and broader investment market crash of a few years ago, institutional investors are doing a lot more due diligence these days around the firms they are trusting their assets with.....just the negative publicity alone of the past few years in general for Davis and the entities he controls is in my opinion a clear net negative as far as the 3030 project's chances under current ownership. Let's hope they sell the project to another developer.....

[SamInTheLoop]

First, Village Market - Eggy's on the first floor is now open. The brasserie on the top floor making solid build-out progress now. It does need a coffee shop/cafe still (there was this "Black- something or the other Mexican cafe planned, I don't see that listed on signs anymore as opening.......so we may need a replacement coffee shop. I do see a Mexican restaurant now planned however - Mexcal something (assuming that is not same as above).

Second, on the school - does anybody have an update on the planned GEMS school? Some marketing or PR material I had seen suggested - or, maybe more bluntly, stated an opening within two years from now, which suggests a very aggressive schedule, financing may be all lined-up, etc.........this could be one that seemingly happens, virtually out of nowhere, very, very quickly..........hey, I mean it probably involves to some extent or another some mountains of oil cash, no?

[lawfin]

Loyola l redevelopment / rehab
http://www.ward49.com/site/files/322...evelopment.pdf

The 4 story building would replace an empty single story structure, formerly becks books, and an empty lot. Not too bad it seems at first glance. Not sure how I feel about the plaza, plaza seems to be magnets for homeless and pigeons

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by lawfin

Loyola l redevelopment / rehab
http://www.ward49.com/site/files/322...evelopment.pdf

The 4 story building would replace an empty single story structure, formerly becks books, and an empty lot. Not too bad it seems at first glance. Not sure how I feel about the plaza, plaza seems to be magnets for homeless and pigeons

^^^ I just heard from a friend last night that the McDonalds is already closed, is this true? That is a fairly handsome building they are proposing there, glad it's not too Pomo.

That plaza should be fine as it will be constantly filled with (normal, non bum) people. In fact, they probably need it to be there as, during peak class times, the entire sidewalk is usually filled with people waiting for a light to cross to Loyola.