CHICAGO | General Developments

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by killaviews

That looks amazing.

I think prior to Burberry, TopShop/Topman was the brightest spot on the Ave. I hope this flashiness becomes a trend. I want to see more of it.

It is proof that stores do not need large LED screens flashing to stand out. Michigan Ave. can be flashy and not look like a cheap Time Square knock off.

I agree. Both places are done up pretty classy. I also like Barney's all lit up. People ask me if the bright lights from it bother me at night. The answer is no. That's what curtains are for lol.

[xXSkyscraperDudeXx]

The Burberry is coming out nice. Didn't know it was going to come out that bright & elegant!

[Mikemak27]

Work has stopped on the Pete's Fresh Market grocery store on Madison and Western because a large group of people are showing up and demanding a shake-down payout. They have no interest in jobs, just a payout. This is such a sad story for a part of town that desperately needs the fresh groceries and jobs that come along with it. They hope to re-start construction soon after receiving reassurances from police and the local alderman.

http://www.suntimes.com/15380120-761...r-threats.html

[vxt22]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Great post. I think plenty of cities are at a crossroads where we are needing to become increasingly selective at what we save and demolish. Our oldest and sometimes best historic building stock is at the core of the city. And our city becomes newer by the day as our 19th century headcount diminishes.

While retail presence has increased on Oak Street, it's certainly lost its exclusive allure which can be credited to the converted 120 y/o brownstones that have been demolished as of this week. It's replaced by modern retail structures that are designed for today's needs, but characteristic of anywhere USA. Oak and Rush's sister street, Yorkville Ave in Toronto faces a similar crisis....a diminished sense of character.

Even the Feds haven't even stopped this stuff, either. We've got GSA threatening at least one of the Consumers Building and the Century Building. Why, you ask? The reason is ludicrous -- the expansion decision is based on security concerns due to the proximity of the federal center. HELLO!? This is the loop, for christ's sake. If you want to demolish or occupy every building in a block radius of the federal center, then move to the exurbs!

Hell, I'm still peeved that the feds demolished the old federal building after they got finished demolishing an entire city block for the new one -- a block which included, among other things, Root's Great Northern Hotel.

But, and this is the most ludicrous, get a load of this:

At 63rd and Central near Midway there's a three story mixed use corner building constructed in the 20s by an immigrant family that still considers it a point of major pride and accomplishment. The city wants to demolish it because...

they claim that somebody could shoot an RPG at a nearby national guard station from its windows!!!

WHAT!? We shouldn't allow this -- this building was fully occupied and an anchor for the community. Now it has been bought under threat of eminent domain, and the tenants are being forcefully removed.

Story here!
http://achicagosojourn.blogspot.com/...y-winning.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...vation-chicago

Here's a more recent update:
http://swnewsherald.com/want-clearin...ed-p1988-1.htm


Now this is something worth protesting about -- on principle!!! Wish I knew how to get Emanuel's attention.

[denizen467]

^ vxt22, interesting (and depressing) post.

Originally Posted by Remy_Bork

Hey Everybody, I can see that something is already being built north of the Kimball/Milwaukee/Diversey intersection. It's the large triangular parcel that has been empty for a long time. It looks like whatever it is will have a large parking lot and not interact with the shape of the site very much. My first thought when looking at its size was that it will be an Aldi, but there's one nearby, so I'm not sure what it's going to be.

What's going on with the boarded-up/fenced-off mansard-era McDonald's just south of that intersection? Can we kiss it goodbye or are they just rebuilding a drive-thru in their nouveau boxy beige and yellow style?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Mikemak27

Work has stopped on the Pete's Fresh Market grocery store on Madison and Western because a large group of people are showing up and demanding a shake-down payout. They have no interest in jobs, just a payout. This is such a sad story for a part of town that desperately needs the fresh groceries and jobs that come along with it. They hope to re-start construction soon after receiving reassurances from police and the local alderman.

http://www.suntimes.com/15380120-761...r-threats.html

This story makes me laugh. That's how you attract investment to your neighborhood, by threatening the construction workers of the first (and perhaps only) decent development to occur in your lifetime.

What a bunch of worthless scumbags. They need to be driven out of town and dumped into a landfill next to i294

[BWChicago]

Originally Posted by denizen467

^ vxt22, interesting (and depressing) post.


What's going on with the boarded-up/fenced-off mansard-era McDonald's just south of that intersection? Can we kiss it goodbye or are they just rebuilding a drive-thru in their nouveau boxy beige and yellow style?

It's being rebuilt. There was a fair amount of hubbub over it at the beginning of the year because the pedestrian street designation had to be temporarily lifted.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

This story makes me laugh. That's how you attract investment to your neighborhood, by threatening the construction workers of the first (and perhaps only) decent development to occur in your lifetime.

What a bunch of worthless scumbags. They need to be driven out of town and dumped into a landfill next to i294

This Pete's thing is really outrageous. It's third-world country-type stuff, really. What I want to know is why haven't these goons been arrested and charged with serious crimes, and especially this - what institutions and individuals are protecting them? They should be investigated and charged appropriately as well.

I do not live in this area, but had really been looking forward to it getting underway for the sake of the folks that do. I don't know the merits as a piece of urban design (and I have my doubts that there are many, if any), however I certainly realize and appreciate the merits of proximate, plentiful, fresh, reasonably-priced fruits, vegetables and meats, and think this community as well of every other is deserving of such. It truly is infuriating, and I want to see all parties involved with these crimes, direcly and indirectly, to be prosecuted to at least the full extent of the law, if not possibly quite a bit further!!

[Joe Zekas]

The Fisk coal plant site by YoChicago1, on Flickr

It's going to be fun to watch the demolition of this puppy.

More of our aerial shots at Flickr.

[ardecila]

Speaking of neglected riverfront sites.... the initial plans for Lathrop Homes have been released. Two of the three schemes involve preservation of about 1/2 the original buildings. I don't see this as something that needs to be preserved in is entirety, but the power comes from the way multiple building interact, so a Michael Reese (where only one token building remains) will not work here.

Fortunately for us, the schemes involving significant preservation also include towers. The original design is less dense than Related would prefer, so they're offsetting it with a handful of point towers, up to 28 stories in one scheme. It's also being parked at an overall 0.65 level.

Waguespack is already saying no to the density levels that Related proposed, and if he forces them to lower the density, that probably just means more preservation.

Check it out here:
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/106...cc0xuz2ri7ilh8

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by Joe Zekas

It's going to be fun to watch the demolition of this puppy.

I really hope they dont. It has been a part of the community for 100 years now and could be repurposed and integrated into a large riverfront park or something similar.

Think along the lines of Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park in Germany or Gas Works in Seattle. These huge relics of infrastructure past should be kept around.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Joe Zekas

The Fisk coal plant site by YoChicago1, on Flickr

It's going to be fun to watch the demolition of this puppy.

More of our aerial shots at Flickr.

Look at the Warshawski Building looking all badass. Always thought it would be cool to rent an industrial loft in that building. I don't understand why they don't pull that sheet metal off the windows. The windows are in perfect condition underneath.

[Joe Zekas]

The Fisk coal plant and the Warshawski Building by YoChicago1, on Flickr

Mike Scotty took a tighter shot of the site than I did. Posting this for Hayward.

[NYC2ATX]

Originally Posted by markh9

sorry to repost this photo again but...STUNNING. I knew it would likely be good, but holy sh!t.

[orulz]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

I really hope they dont. It has been a part of the community for 100 years now and could be repurposed and integrated into a large riverfront park or something similar.

Think along the lines of Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park in Germany or Gas Works in Seattle. These huge relics of infrastructure past should be kept around.

Many of the buildings on the site seem like they would have some value as reusable structures, but are real estate values in the area high enough to warrant such investment? Certainly the giant box-like buildings on the east edge of the site are so loaded with equipment and machinery it would be difficult or impossible to remove the machinery without demolishing te structure.

Originally Posted by Hayward

Look at the Warshawski Building looking all badass. Always thought it would be cool to rent an industrial loft in that building. I don't understand why they don't pull that sheet metal off the windows. The windows are in perfect condition underneath.

Perhaps the sheet metal is exactly why the windows underneath are in perfect condition?

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by orulz

Many of the buildings on the site seem like they would have some value as reusable structures, but are real estate values in the area high enough to warrant such investment? Certainly the giant box-like buildings on the east edge of the site are so loaded with equipment and machinery it would be difficult or impossible to remove the machinery without demolishing te structure.



Perhaps the sheet metal is exactly why the windows underneath are in perfect condition?

Well on the inside they are exposed so you see the back of the metal. They don't insulate and not all the building is storage. If I rented space i'd want them removed

[i_am_hydrogen]

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

sorry to repost this photo again but...STUNNING. I knew it would likely be good, but holy sh!t.

I saw it in person last night, and my jaw dropped. Very cool stuff.

[Baronvonellis]

Regarding Fisk Plant-

It has some interesting history. It was the first electrical generating power plant for Chicago and was consider a marvel when it was first opened. Fisk was considered so advanced that during a January 1921 trip to America, Queen Mary and King George V of England popped in to see it and signed their names in a huge visitors’ book. In 1912 visitor Thomas Edison had signed the same book, listing his profession as “inventor.” Fisk and Crawford’s turbines have since been replaced and upgraded many times over.

http://knowledgeproblem.com/2012/09/...-and-industry/

Some electrical equipment will remain on the site — mostly transmission equipment owned by ComEd, as well as some reserve generators that kick in on the days with the most demand for electricity. That still leaves a big portion of the site left to be redeveloped.

Midwest Generation has been approached by one group in particular that wants to use the site, a company that makes storage batteries that hook into the electrical grid. The site would be ideal for that group because of its location at one of Chicago’s electrical hubs. However, they would only take up a small portion of the site.


http://www.chicagojournal.com/news/0...ans_take_shape

[Via Chicago]

Also a cool video of the Fisk plant from the Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videog...burning-plants

[the urban politician]

Downtown seeing residential boom; population up 36% in last decade

The report found that the number of people living within two miles of Chicago's City Hall rose 36 percent from 2000 to 2010. Though many of the largest U.S. cities experienced a similar trend in the last decade, Chicago outpaced them all in that category.

More than 48,000 moved to downtown Chicago in the last decade, according to the report.

This is an incredible growth rate. While still small compared to metro Chicago's population, 48,000 people is large enough to be needle-moving. I wonder how long this growth rate will continue? One barrier, of course, is rising downtown rents as well as land availability. Clearly stagnant job growth downtown during the same period did not stifle growth, which to me suggests that this was more about unmet demand than anything else.

While I do think this rate of growth will not continue indefinitely, I believe that more residents downtown, in and of itself, will create more demand for downtown living as a sort of positive feedback cycle.

Everybody and their dog keeps talking about Manhattanization occurring in other cities (LA, SF, etc) but Chicago is the one place in America where this process really is fully underway, it appears. Good to know that Rahm gets this and is working to build the infrastructure to nurture its growth.