CHICAGO | General Developments

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

^^^ I've seen redwood beadboard under the eaves of bungalows that's been through 100 Chicago winter and looks pretty much brand spanking new. The right wood will holdup well in this shaded and water protected application.

In fact, it feels very much linked an homage to Chicago's prairie school roots in this way. Horizontal massing with wood eaves.

Yeah, a lot of the fading comes from UV light or direct rain/snow exposure which won't apply here. Still, the cold winter air will suck the humidity out of the wood and cause weathering unless it's regularly sealed and protected.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ The best treatment to keep it consistent with the interior here is probably not to seal it, but to apply frequent mineral oil treatments which will increase water resistance while moisturizing the wood which keeps the color the same. Just keep it off the glass or good luck wiping it off. Once the wood is thoroughly saturated they can probably get away with oiling it a few times a year, maybe every time they clean the glass rub the wood down too.

[pilsenarch]

Definitely this ^... I also believe that Ipe is so dense that it achieves a fire rating of some sort...

[harryc]

It would seem that in this new era of the interweb to maintain a vibrant downtown in a place like Oak park (or Evanston) an increase in population density is needed. The demand for storefronts per capita is just less than it was a few decades ago.

Does anyone have any studies, statistics, or references to back up this theory ?

[sukwoo]

Originally Posted by harryc

It would seem that in this new era of the interweb to maintain a vibrant downtown in a place like Oak park (or Evanston) an increase in population density is needed. The demand for storefronts per capita is just less than it was a few decades ago.

Does anyone have any studies, statistics, or references to back up this theory ?

Just wait till Amazon does to grocery stores what it did to bookstores.

[gebs]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but there will be an update today on the potential Lake Shore Drive expansion / redevelopment / improvement. Here are some renderings of the city's options:





Source: Crain's

[XIII]

Originally Posted by gebs

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but there will be an update today on the potential Lake Shore Drive expansion / redevelopment / improvement. Here are some renderings of the city's options:





Source: Crain's

They should just bury LSD there. As much as I'd miss the view around that corner, it would make for an awesome public space at the head of Michigan Ave.

[Rizzo]

Moar tunnel!

[emathias]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Just wait till Amazon does to grocery stores what it did to bookstores.

There can only be so many of these shops, too. Probably not enough to pick up the slack in retail districts ...
http://www.cbdkratomshops.com/

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Moar tunnel!

I disagree. The park and the highway can coexist harmoniously if designed correctly.

No need to spend extra billions sweeping the highway underground like an embarrassment, especially when the lakefront has plenty of room to spare via lakefill. If there is room to create proper landscaped buffers, berms, etc, and frequent pedestrian access, I don't see a problem keeping the highway daylighted. More scenic for drivers, the public gets additional parkland, and it all gets delivered at a lower cost than tunneling.

[JK47]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I disagree. The park and the highway can coexist harmoniously if designed correctly.

No need to spend extra billions sweeping the highway underground like an embarrassment, especially when the lakefront has plenty of room to spare via lakefill. If there is room to create proper landscaped buffers, berms, etc, and frequent pedestrian access, I don't see a problem keeping the highway daylighted. More scenic for drivers, the public gets additional parkland, and it all gets delivered at a lower cost than tunneling.

I just don't think the gain is worth the cost. This is already a fairly ambitious plan and subsurface work, especially alongside a large body of water, is not cheap. I'd rather keep if from getting more complicated than it already is.

[Kenmore]

looks dope but seems kind if pie in the sky considering the likely price tag

[emathias]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I disagree. The park and the highway can coexist harmoniously if designed correctly.

No need to spend extra billions sweeping the highway underground like an embarrassment, especially when the lakefront has plenty of room to spare via lakefill. If there is room to create proper landscaped buffers, berms, etc, and frequent pedestrian access, I don't see a problem keeping the highway daylighted. More scenic for drivers, the public gets additional parkland, and it all gets delivered at a lower cost than tunneling.

You guys are acting like the illustrations show something like Boston's Big Dig. But they don't. From the looks of it, it looks like the roadway surface may not even below the water table. And the "tunnel" portion is no wider than a typical overpass. I just don't see anything majorly expensive. It looks nice, but if they did all the lakefill first, then let it settle for a year, then built the roadway at the same elevation as the current bike path, the rest of the elevation could be accomplished with berms. Moving dirt around isn't that expensive although all those second-story condos that lose their views of the lake would be weeping and gnashing their teeth.

I think ya'll are thinking of an earlier proposal, where LSD was indeed made into an actual tunnel for what looked like about 500 feet or so. This, on the other hand, is basically a slightly depressed roadway with one overpass.

[UPChicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I disagree. The park and the highway can coexist harmoniously if designed correctly.

This is kinda the problem to start with, Lake Shore Drive is suppose to be a boulevard.....

[Mr Downtown]

A parkway, not a boulevard (nor an expressway). But it's really tough to get engineers to accept geometrics that are optimized for anything other than maximum safety. And once you've made the roadway comfortable at a design speed in excess of what's expected—to give a safety cushion—you can't keep the public from driving as fast as they're comfortable.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by emathias

You guys are acting like the illustrations show something like Boston's Big Dig. But they don't.

I like what's shown in the illustrations.

I'm saying that a (hypothetical) plan with even more tunneling would cost billions and consequently it would deliver less park expansion. Keeping the road daylighted is a good tradeoff for this amount of new parkland. The only reason the road can seem like a barrier today is because parkgoers, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers are all squeezed into a narrow strip. Expand the land and that problem goes away, without having to tunnel.

[aaron38]

Saw on the news that the Hard Rock hotel is being renamed. Owner is severing ties with the chain.

[SteelMonkey]

Sterling Bay flexing its financial muscles (potentially)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...12-column.html

[spyguy]

Retail & private residence

[Domer2019]

Originally Posted by aaron38

Saw on the news that the Hard Rock hotel is being renamed. Owner is severing ties with the chain.

Any chance another HRH springs up somewhere else in the city?