CHICAGO | General Developments

[nomarandlee]

I put the Tribune's #2 proposal idea (Northerly Island) in the new museum subsection which could help avoid another five pages worth of discussion in this thread.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...72#post3498972
Chicago Children's Museum thread

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,7667668.story
Option 2: 'Children's Island'

[BVictor1]

For anyone interested:

OUR FEATURED GUESTS:

JOEL M. CARLINS AND JAMES R. LOEWENBERG, co-chief executive officers of Magellan Development Group LLC
Joel Carlins, upper left, and Jim Loewenberg, lower left, are the developers of Lakeshore East, a $4 billion mixed-used project underway between Grant Park and the Chicago River. After teaming up on many deals, in 2006 they merged their separate businesses into Magellan.
Mr. Carlins, an attorney, once represented professional athletes and entertainers. He began focusing on real estate development in 1987, with the founding of Magellan. In the late 1990s, he became one of the leading condominium developers in River North.
Mr. Loewenberg, an architect, has designed more than 30,000 high-rise residential units, beginning in the 1960s with a series of towers along North Lake Shore Drive. An experienced developer, he is also the founder of the property management firm NNP Residential LLC.
May 21, 2008 | 7:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
The Chicago Club, 81 East Van Buren Street
Tickets: $60 in advance

[wrab]

More critical reaction on the Chicago Children's Museum.

Kamin:
Children's Museum releases aerial view of plan, says more drawings could be made public
Apparently stung by criticism that it has been withholding information about its plans for a controversial, mostly underground museum in Grant Park, the Chicago Children's Museum made public an aerial view of the plan today and a member of the public relations firm representing the museum said he hoped more drawings would be released.....
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....ens-mus-4.html

Becker:
Kamin Joins the Chorus: CCM - Stop Hiding Your Museum!
Blair gets it. Months after we began talking about how the Chicago Children's Museum is deliberately withholding all but the most deceptive images of the large structure they want to muscle into Grant Park, the Chicago Tribune's Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic Blair Kamin blasted the museum and its architects, Krueck and Sexton, for withholding all but the most abstracted images on the proposed structure from the public.....
http://arcchicago.blogspot.com/

[wrab]

Just a general plug, apropos of nothing, for Lee Bey's super awesome The Urban Observer blog. His pics of Chicagoland architecture make me drool.

http://leebey.com/

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by VivaLFuego

Just to continue as the counterpoint, gridlocked traffic also impedes buses (perhaps worse than it impedes cars), unless buses are given some sort of bus-only lanes, queue-jumping/signal-priority, etc. I would argue that traffic isn't what scares people out of their cars; rather, only parking does that. Traffic in LA is awful, but there is free parking everywhere so everyone drives. Because of expensive and scarce parking in the Loop, it gets a good transit mode share even on weekends. Once free parking is impossible and people gotta pay, they'll seriously consider transit. Thus I really dislike that off-street parking is mandated in areas with such high land value warranting high-intensity uses (North/Clybourn being a great example); even if the parking is fee-based and not free (I have a suspicion this development's parking will be free with validation), that fee will be subsidized because more parking than the market warranted is being provided.

This is why I'm less enthused about this project, especially now that the residential density (which should at least contribute a few hundred transit trips a day for work commuters) is being slashed. I just don't see the retail portion making great use of its transit-friendly location when that much off-street parking is provided.

^ Viva, I wholeheartedly agree with your gripes here. My only counterpoints are 1) Chicago has bigger fish to fry, 2) The development is still a mixed one, and even with a reduction of residential units there are still going to be a couple hundred of them, minimum, 3) It still ends up being very ped-friendly by putting retail up to the sidewalk or facing an inner plaza, thus making it quite accessible to transit riders and thus 10 times better still than the earlier generation of North/Clybourn development.

My final point, 4) is related to personal experience. I live near a huge shopping mall in Queens that has a huge parking garage. The garage is near full with cars, and there is a fairly small fee to use it (not sure if it's validated by the shops). Nevertheless, I still choose to take the subway there and so do a lot of other people, apparently.

I'm not saying that transit will ever obtain a majority mode to get there (New City), but the city of Chicago is making excellent strides towards TOD by locating major retail/commercial notes within close distance to transit stops. Outside of downtown, I also am hopeful that something will also get developed at 35th/state (IIT's expanding UTP, some retail), Pershing/State, 63rd/Halsted (okay, that's a long shot), Wilson Yards, etc even if parking must be a part of the picture.

[honte]

^ Leasing at 35th / State seems to be going very well, with amenities that are mundane but haven't been a presence in this neighborhood for probably at least 40 years. Kinko's, Jimmy John's, Starbucks, etc.

[the urban politician]

^ Oh, plus I forgot to mention Loyola's new mixed-use development, also near a transit node.

Quick question: do any of you see the New City parking garage moonlighting as some sort of park n' ride on weekdays? I ask because the Queens shopping mall's garage that I mentioned above also serves that function and offers deals for commuters

[emathias]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

...
Quick question: do any of you see the New City parking garage moonlighting as some sort of park n' ride on weekdays? I ask because the Queens shopping mall's garage that I mentioned above also serves that function and offers deals for commuters

There's no way it will be used as a park-n-ride lot, at least not for regular commuters and irregular commuters would have even less reason to use it. Parking there won't be free (I'd guess $10/day, and there's no way a monthly pass will be less than $175), and taking the train to and from anywhere would be $4/day, so there'd be no money savings and there'd be significant additional inconvenience.

[the urban politician]

^ Right, but parking garage operators who view their facilities as an opportunity for commuters usually have special deals (Early bird special, etc). Esp considering that most large shopping centers are usually kind of dead during weekday work hours (8am to 5pm) and the garage will largely be emptly, thus it seems as if taking advantage of the opportunity as a commuter garage could generate some revenue..

[andydie]

Hiya guys,

as I got to my 50th vid on YouTube i decided to make a shoutout and thank you vid for you guys.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=ykXXhTNVTjo

There you´ll see that i am a real Chicago Fan

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by andydie

Hiya guys,

as I got to my 50th vid on YouTube i decided to make a shoutout and thank you vid for you guys.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=ykXXhTNVTjo

There you´ll see that i am a real Chicago Fan

Thanks for loving our city.

[Loopy]

Great news! The Hellenic Museum and their new partner Dolce International have chosen RTKL Architects to design their joint project at Halsted and Van Buren.

Goodbye to that Pappageorge/Haymes PoMo trainwreck design that they were proposing previously.

The new design is very modern and glassy. It is basically three volumes; A five story museum on the NE corner of Halsted and Van Buren. A seven story parking structure on the North end of the site with the museum stretched North along the Halsted street level. And a 32 story hotel tower on the East part of the site, over the Kennedy.

The hotel design isn't finished yet, but the preliminary design looks very good. Both the Hellenic Museum and Dolce International are well funded and they are ready to build this thing as soon as it get's approved.

http://www.rtkl.com/

http://www.dolce.com/

[the urban politician]

^ Cool. I wonder what that pompous ass Eric Hitl-oops, I meant Sedler & his WLCO bitchin' machine will have to say about it

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by Loopy

Goodbye to that Pappageorge/Haymes PoMo trainwreck design that they were proposing previously.

It was actually Hirsch, but yeah, it was pretty clunky.

[Loopy]

Your right. The most recent one was Hirsch:



But Pappageorge designed an early one:



The new design will be a clear break from these concepts.

[Jibba]

Some more Art Institute - Modern Wing photos:

[emathias]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Right, but parking garage operators who view their facilities as an opportunity for commuters usually have special deals (Early bird special, etc). Esp considering that most large shopping centers are usually kind of dead during weekday work hours (8am to 5pm) and the garage will largely be emptly, thus it seems as if taking advantage of the opportunity as a commuter garage could generate some revenue..

I still don't see what's in it for the commuter - they stil have $4 is transit costs on top of even a discounted garage rate it would save them only a few dollars and add 20 minutes and countless aggravations to their commute.

I could see it used for special-events parking (the Taste, etc), but not for commuters.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Loopy

...over the Kennedy.
...

I assume you mean "over" as in "overlooking," and not as in literally built over the highway?

[Loopy]

^Yes. I was trying to make the point that the hotel tower is more on the highway side of the site.

[cbotnyse]

Originally Posted by Loopy

^Yes. I was trying to make the point that the hotel tower is more on the highway side of the site.

that might be the only way a tower of this height gets approved for that area.