CHICAGO | General Developments

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by bnk

We [ssp] will eventually need an obituary sticky at some point. I know of at least 5 confirmed deaths of fourmers in the last 6 years. I could for see a memorial type of site.

They say you die twice.

The first, the worst, is when you die physically .

The second is when everyone forgets talking about you or no longer have memories of your life in other friends and family of you and let your stories and grave be ignored.

Bucky, one of our South Loopers passed about 6 years ago. He was older and died when cancer he had been fighting returned.

SaphireBlueEyes who liked to ruffle feathers on SSP by criticizing Mies Buildings passed in early June 2010 at a very young age, the result of heart condition.

I came to know both forumers personally and will continue to remember them as time goes on. One benefit of the internet is that those previous postings can be searched and recalled as long as the site remains active.

[the urban politician]

^ I do remember SapphireBlueeyes, and this is the first time I am hearing that he passed away. Wow, even though we never meet many of these people personally, it is still a somewhat eerie and sad feeling to hear such news.

[wrab]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^. Some have purported that Honte died. He was a very active forumer who was passionate about Chicago's architectural heritage who suddenly stopped posting after around April 2008. Some of the old timers here may still remember him. There are still theories, but I don't know if anybody here knows definitively why he suddenly stopped posting.

I was one of the theorists, afraid that Honte might have been Ezra Gordon (whose death in 2009 dovetailed so neatly with Honte's disappearance). But I was later assured by another SSP member, who knows Honte in the flesh, that Honte was in fact alive & well, but had moved his energies away from the forums.

[marothisu]

The new Chinatown library is nearing construction start. The parking lot where it will go is fenched off and the asphalt was torn up. It appears that they removed the torn up asphalt too and there's a rendering of the future library on a sign there.


EDIT: How the hell do you resize images thru BB? Nothing is working

[LouisVanDerWright]

Finally some signs of visible progress at Northwest Tower / Coyote Building. They have deconstructed large sections of the parapet wall that has been covered in protective black tarps for years now. Looks like they are starting repair work on the building masonry too. This hotel can't open soon enough!

[Via Chicago]

.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by gallo

First up is Clark and School looking north, where the CTA want's to straighten a slight curve in the tracks at the expense of this block:

christ.

theres gotta be a better solution than digging out 60s urban renewal blueprints from the bottom of the file cabinet.

its irresponsible of the city and the CTA to not be making these types of renderings, and quickly apparent why theyre not. this should be widely circulated.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Does anyone know if something might be happening to that unfortunate building at 1110 N State with the Subway and Astrology business (Ms. Devon) next to the former Hunt Club? Just saw a building permit, new construction, for interior alterations for it listed as owner occupied under the address that the Green Mill is at under the name of guy who I am assuming is the local jazz bassist with the same name considering the address is under the Green Mill and he's randomly listed on their website.. It would be cool to get some live music in that building instead..

Please tell me something is happening to this and they are being replaced with better businesses. Perhaps this is why the Hunt Club people didn't tear this building down?

So, both of the Subway signs on the outside of the building were taken down (saw it happen on Friday) and there's paper covering everything over the windows including tape so you can't even see inside really. The light was on around 11pm - so they may be doing work.

I realized too that I got the above address wrong. So it's a guy out of Addison, TX (the bassist thing with Green Mill was a coincidence). I looked up the address and it's a Twin Peaks restaurant. The guy it's under looks like he may be the SVP of development for Frontburner Restaurants which owns the Melting Pot, Burger 21, and GrillSmith. So perhaps it's one of these (though probably not Melting Pot). I really hope not though - the last thing we need is another shitty chain restaurant though I don't think you could fit one of these in it unless they were taking over the 2nd floor Astrology business too - which is possible because it mentions 2 story in the permit. Permit is a sizable renovation too at $575K.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by bnk

We [ssp] will eventually need an obituary sticky at some point. I know of at least 5 confirmed deaths of fourmers in the last 6 years. I could for see a memorial type of site.

They say you die twice.

The first, the worst, is when you die physically .

The second is when everyone forgets talking about you or no longer have memories of your life in other friends and family of you and let your stories and grave be ignored.

I agree with Busy Bee's assessment.

But it's true some kind of "In memoriam" page might be a good idea. The thing with having a family member notify the forum is another good idea.

As far as honte goes, I hope he pulls a Michael Jordan and comes back for a second run on SSP.

While we're on this subject, I just noticed ardecila now has over 10000 posts. Man, I think there was a time that number was smaller than mine - he started just a couple months after I did. TUP also has five digits but has about a two year jump on us. Anyway, looking at BNK's criteria, they will have particularly long afterlives. I guess the internet has given all of us a small sliver of immortality...

[ardecila]

99.99 percent of them are meaningless

[Skyguy_7]

Prentice.

[wrab]

^ So sad, and still beautiful, even in its demolition.

[george]

5/23

GEMS World Academy

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by marothisu

The new Chinatown library is nearing construction start. The parking lot where it will go is fenched off and the asphalt was torn up. It appears that they removed the torn up asphalt too and there's a rendering of the future library on a sign there.


EDIT: How the hell do you resize images thru BB? Nothing is working

I had the same problem--couldn't get the resize function to work. I don't think this forum's version of vBulletin has the feature (just guessing...).

[wrab]

Thanks George for the GEMS pic. The building looks great IMHO - a burst of color at LSE.

[gallo]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

christ.

theres gotta be a better solution than digging out 60s urban renewal blueprints from the bottom of the file cabinet.

its irresponsible of the city and the CTA to not be making these types of renderings, and quickly apparent why theyre not. this should be widely circulated.

I agree... which is why I sent them to the Alderman and various neighborhood groups. While the infrastructure may look more modern and attractive, it can't mask the fact that we'd be losing a whole lot of urban fabric for the forseable future and gaining a whole lot of vacant land and/or surface parking.

Not to mention the fact that none of these existing buildings have any dedicated off-street parking that new development would need to provide (additional curb cuts, lowered walk ability etc)

[denizen467]

Very large crane (I think a tower crane) is up on a big Rogers Park site on Sheridan, on southeast corner at Sherwin. What's going here? Previously there was a fairly dignified mansion/house here, surrounded by mature trees (and a set back parking lot).

[Rizzo]

^ I think a parking garage

[Mikemak27]

The tribune company is putting up some of its unused space at the freedom center west of the river and north of Chicago Avenue, which is currently vacant, up for lease or sale. That specific parcel is not in the planned manufacturing district which is south of Chicago avenue, so the tribune company hopes it can be rezoned to a developer if they can't find a tenant for lease.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...emplate=mobile

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Hayward

^ I think a parking garage

Yep. Building permit for "deep foundation system" for a 5 story parking garage. $8.96 Mil.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131...s-final-hurdle