CHICAGO | General Developments

[wrab]

Wow- 6 billion is a whole lotta clams for a transit hub. Not that I'm complaining, necessarily.

A green roof over the Kennedy would be awesome.

Hopefully, the city can use some of those LSE funds to restore the pedestrian axis to Buckingham Fountain/Queen's Landing/the lake.

[ChicagoChicago]

Somebody help me out with why they need to fix the Oak St. curve. The Wacker Dr. onramp's proximity to Michigan Ave onramp screws traffic up more than anything else. What they really need to do is just eliminate the ability to turn left onto Chicago Ave, get rid of half the stoplights on LSD around that stretch, and sink LSD between Monroe and Roosevelt.

[Dr. Taco]

One critic who addressed the Plan Commission, South Loop resident Enrique Perez, criticized it for opening the door to taller buildings in his neighborhood. He said rapid development already has overwhelmed the sewers and utility lines.

if guys like enrique would shut their damn mouths, maybe the sewers would stop filling up. however, this guy should get credit for coming up with an excuse I haven't heard out of a NIMBY before. But yeah, he trusts they can build tall buildings, but not increase power distribution capacity?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by jstush04

if guys like enrique would shut their damn mouths, maybe the sewers would stop filling up

Witty..

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

Wow- 6 billion is a whole lotta clams for a transit hub. Not that I'm complaining, necessarily.

A green roof over the Kennedy would be awesome.

They've been talking about green roofs over various expressways for decades now..same thing has been proposed repeatedly in Oak Park over the Eisenhower. I doubt any of that will happen in my lifetime, if ever, but its nice to dream.

[wrab]

The new(ish) super-sized mega-biggie Whole Foods on Kingsbury:

[wrab]

Trippy ink-blot psychedelia on 202 S State. Anyone know what is going in here?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

The new(ish) super-sized mega-biggie Whole Foods on Kingsbury:

^ Are those old streetcar tracks?

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

Trippy ink-blot psychedelia on 202 S State. Anyone know what is going in here?

They seem to be doing beautification work on the federal plaza buildings. The old "Chicago's Ugliest" building that used to have Mr. Submarine on Jackson has been rehabbed too. The Century building has had this weird permanent scaffold/canopy built that attaches directly to the structure, too.

[ardecila]

^^ That's the North American Building, currently owned by the Federal gov't. It really needs a comprehensive renovation, but GSA can't decide whether they want to tear it down or not for a Federal expansion.

In the meantime, the Feds need to establish a baseline of safety and prevent chunks of the building from harming pedestrians; hence the steel sidewalk canopy. The printed patterns at ground level are kinda weird, but they look to be merely window covering for an intact storefront system. The Feds could possibly get a retail tenant in there to defray their basic upkeep costs, and then kick them out once plans for the site are finalized.

BWChicago - I really like what they've done with the former Mr. Submarine building. Mies would undoubtedly hate the pattern they've painted onto it, but the result is a building that matches the reserved, formal, and clean look of Mies' buildings (if not their dogma) and removes one more blighted blemish from the Loop area.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Are those old streetcar tracks on Kingsbury?

No. Milwaukee Road train tracks.

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

^^ That's the North American Building, currently owned by the Federal gov't. It really needs a comprehensive renovation, but GSA can't decide whether they want to tear it down or not for a Federal expansion.

In the meantime, the Feds need to establish a baseline of safety and prevent chunks of the building from harming pedestrians; hence the steel sidewalk canopy. The printed patterns at ground level are kinda weird, but they look to be merely window covering for an intact storefront system. The Feds could possibly get a retail tenant in there to defray their basic upkeep costs, and then kick them out once plans for the site are finalized.

BWChicago - I really like what they've done with the former Mr. Submarine building. Mies would undoubtedly hate the pattern they've painted onto it, but the result is a building that matches the reserved, formal, and clean look of Mies' buildings (if not their dogma) and removes one more blighted blemish from the Loop area.

It is the Century Building, formerly Buck & Rayner. Built 1915, Holabird & Roche. I think the pattern is inspired by the terra cotta. The North American is at State and Monroe, with Blick Art Supplies in the retail space.

Here's a few more pictures:
18 W. Jackson Building:

Before

During

After

Personally I think it looked fine even before the stencil.

And the Century:

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by ChicagoChicago

Somebody help me out with why they need to fix the Oak St. curve. The Wacker Dr. onramp's proximity to Michigan Ave onramp screws traffic up more than anything else. What they really need to do is just eliminate the ability to turn left onto Chicago Ave, get rid of half the stoplights on LSD around that stretch, and sink LSD between Monroe and Roosevelt.

Because cars "always" crash at that curve.

The Wacker Dr. onramp's proximity to Michigan Ave onramp screws traffic up more than anything else.

What the hell are you talking about?

They want to make it easier to turn left because of Northwestern.

[VivaLFuego]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Does anybody know why this designation isn't more comprehensive? One becomes curious what the decision making process was when the zoning rewrite was occurring.

Indeed - from a planning and urban design perspective, the "pedestrian street" designation is basically the best thing in the entire zoning code. As with most land use controls, I assume that in some cases that would seem to be strong candidates, various property owners are vociferously opposed.

[Mr Downtown]

^Actually, I believe the pedestrian street designations just appeared in the zoning code rewrite, without any discussion that would flush out "vociferously opposed property owners." I think the listing was sort of done quickly, by staff, and wasn't intended to be the canonical listing. After all, remapping was going to follow as soon as the new code designations were in place. . .

[ChicagoChicago]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Because cars "always" crash at that curve.


What the hell are you talking about?

They want to make it easier to turn left because of Northwestern.

If they want to make it easier to turn into NU, then that's fine. Spend $300m fixing that problem. But that curve doesn't slow down shit, and there are very rarely accidents there.

And if you've ever driven North on LSD during rush hour, you'd know what I'm talking about. Michigan and Wacker feed into LSD within a few hundred yards of each other and there is no lane expansion.

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by ChicagoChicago

If they want to make it easier to turn into NU, then that's fine. Spend $300m fixing that problem. But that curve doesn't slow down shit, and there are very rarely accidents there.

And if you've ever driven North on LSD during rush hour, you'd know what I'm talking about. Michigan and Wacker feed into LSD within a few hundred yards of each other and there is no lane expansion.

One reason they want to do this is because during harsh winters, water has been blown up onto the walking pathway and the drive in that area and has frozen. It's also a stretch of lakefront that doesn't have any green space, and Streeterville is one of the densest neighborhoods. The lake slams into the shoreline without any visual softening. The seperation of spaces is for visuals and safety. I know the curve doesn't slow people down, that's the problem. They want to soften the Oak Street curve because there are always accidents there, I've seen plenty.

I think you mean Randolph and Wacker possibly? Michigan Avenue doesn't feed into the drive until after the Oak Street curve.

[wrab]

^Yeah - LSD currently cuts off almost all of Streeterville, and most of the Gold Coast, from the lakefront. The Streeterville stretch especially is pretty brutal, with just a few feet of concrete separating the road, the pedestrian/bike paths, and the water.

[ChiPsy]

Originally Posted by wrabbit

^Yeah - LSD currently cuts off almost all of Streeterville, and most of the Gold Coast, from the lakefront. The Streeterville stretch especially is pretty brutal, with just a few feet of concrete separating the road, the pedestrian/bike paths, and the water.

Yeah, it's obviously in need of major change -- and I hope it actually happens one day. Speaking of which, how 'bout the Division Street pedestrian tunnel/running sewer under LSD? I heard that was going to be part of the same eventual rebuild, but couldn't they do something -- anything -- in the meantime??

[J_M_Tungsten]

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