CHICAGO | One Mus. Park West | 595 FT | 54 FL | One Mus. Park | 734 FT | 65 FL

[Marvel 33]

BVictor1,
After the developer finished his presentation, he asked for feedback, and there wasn't one negative comment. Most people seemed to be very impressed by the design and others were even excited. Many people came over to the developers and the architectural firm, after the meeting was over, to congratulate them. Others had questions about retail space, square footage of the units and that kind of stuff. By the way, the units will go from as little as 350k to 5mil in the first tower. The whole Central Station project is going to cost about one billion dollars when is done.

[bayrider]

amazing design... i hope it pulls through

[Marvel 33]

By the way, since they were talking at the meeting about the beautification of the Grant Park Area and the surroundings, and I happened to be right across the street in the B.C.B.S. building, I took some pictures of Millenium Park after I left.

I've never seen pictures of the Park at night in the forum, so I thought I would share them with you all.

Hope you like them.

[Fabb]

I don't want to sound too negative, but I'm a little disappointed in the height figure and the design.
Is that really a tall, elegant tower ?

[Rivernorth]

uhm.... yes? Keep in mind the location... downtown Chicago's highrises end at Roosevelt... the tallest building south of Roosevelt Rd is the McCormick Hyatt (i believe, correct me if im wrong) and that barely breaks the 350 ft mark... this is a whole new extention of the skyline for the city... and a massive extention it is. Four 500+ fters, and a 700+ foot structure? Thats just insane. Keep in mind, this will complete the walling-in of Grant Park... it will now be canyonized on all 3 sides...'

and compared to the bland and short concrete towers that have thusfar dominated Central Station, this is a massive step up on design. Definatly a great design, IMO.



Six months ago, we all would've laughed if you told us they were going to build a 500 foot tower at Central Station.

[Fabb]

Well, if you people from Chicago are happy, then I guess that it's a good project.
I'll watch it with attention.

[Rivernorth]

One Museum Park is definatly a promising design. I mean, it is tall, and elegant, but not too elegant. Elegance dosent really fit in well in this town, all our skyscrapers are large, massive, and bulky. In a way, it keeps with the tradition. Although, slim elegant towers have been making thier way in (Park Tower in 2000, and now Waterview, and TTC somewhat as well).

And given that tower's location, it will just look gorgeous!

[tuy]

This will be a nice addition to Chicago. It is nice to see that they are extending the skyline further south.

[Tom In Chicago]

From today's SunTimes:

$1 billion expansion of Central Station

December 10, 2004

BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter

With the ambition of creating an architectural centerpiece to show off the Near South Side, developers Thursday disclosed plans for a massive expansion of the Central Station residential complex.

The four new buildings would occupy highly visible real estate on the south side of Roosevelt Road, next to Grant Park and the museum campus. Plans call for the first building, a 65-story condominium project near the southwest corner of Roosevelt and Columbus, to be started late in 2005 if advance sales warrant.

If built, the new high-rises would add about 1,200 units and a hotel to Central Station's current inventory of about 2,000 homes. Co-developer Gerald Fogelson said the additions would represent a nearly $1 billion investment.

The surrounding area years ago was a run-down collection of warehouses and railroads that languished as downtown development moved north. That changed when low mortgage rates combined with the growing popularity of city living in the 1990s. Mayor Daley bought into Central Station in 1993.

Central Station "was the catalyst for the Near South Side" and the new buildings will celebrate that, said Fogelson, whose Fogelson Cos. co-owns the sites with Forest City Enterprises Inc. Promising top-grade designs and spectacular views, he said the expansion should appeal to buyers who ordinarily would settle on the Near North Side.

"Besides responding to our own market, we are hoping to attract people who see this as a viable alternative to the North Side. We have better views and better prices," Fogelson said.

Prices for the initial building should range from $400,000 to more than $4 million, he said. Fogelson's pattern has been to minimize financial risk by taking on a partner for each Central Station building, and this latest venture is no exception.

Enterprise Development Co., one of Chicago's most prolific developers, is the partner for the first two Roosevelt Road buildings. Fogelson said no partner has been designated for the later buildings, which could be years from reality.

The Chicago-based firm Pappageorge/Haymes Ltd., best known for mid-rise work around the city, is the architect of the first two buildings. Fogelson called the firm's product contemporary and sleek and geared to take advantage of lake, park and skyline views.

The architects for the rest haven't been designated.

He wouldn't estimate how long it will take to build everything, joking about how he's been "so completely wrong" in past guesses about Central Station's timetable.

But the goal is to complete the buildings in an east-to-west order. All would have condos, but the last building, at the southeast corner of Roosevelt and Michigan, could also include a hotel. Two buildings fronting on Indiana Avenue will be 53 stories each, while the one at Michigan will be 60 stories, Fogelson said.

As the site is the closest part of Central Station to downtown, plans for years suggested that hotels and offices could dominate that portion of the site. But those markets never jelled for that location.

Calling the swath along Roosevelt the best sites in Central Station, Fogelson said he withheld plans for them "until the Near South Side developed critical mass and credibility, which it has."

The plans conform with existing guidelines for the site and don't require a zoning change. However, at the direction of the city's planning department, the developers have begun showing their designs to civic groups based downtown and on the Near South Side.

Analysts predict continued strength in the downtown residential market and note that the best-selling sites usually are part of totally new communities or boast fabulous views. With both factors in its corner, the 80-acre Central Station has been a sales leader with the downtown Lakeshore East project and the new University Village community on the Near West Side.

[Steely Dan]

i attended the meeting as well last night, and while marvel already covered most of the info from my notes i would just like to add one more piece of information that i am sure will please you all.

straight from the architect's mouth, there will be no exposed concrete on the exterior of this tower! the enitre facade will be a glass and metal curtain wall. and the crown at the top of the building is currently being envisioned as stainless steel or some other highly reflective material that will shimmer in the night sky when illuminated.

all in all, the project not only looks very promising, it also sounds like this will be built. the city, the park district, the developer, community groups, absolutely everyone is on board with this plan to create a true landmark tower at the south end of grant park. some people did express concerns about the street level design, and that's good because we need better sdewalk frontages on our new chicago skyscrpers, but no one had any problems with building a very tall building on this critical site.


one perk of attending the meeting last night was that everyone who showed up got a complimentary book written by Jerry Fogelson, the head guy and visionary for the whole central station project, about the history of the entire project and the land on which it now sits. And it's actually a fairly substantial book- hard cover, ~110 pages, color pictures and renderings of various projects. i was impressed that they were simply passing them out for free.

[the urban politician]

Wow, Marvel! You and BVictor win the "Honorary Urban Politician Award" for outstanding reconnaissance work! This is some of the greatest news for Chicago that I have heard since I first started taking interest. Central Station will act as a great southern counterbalance to what is brewing at LakeshoreEast!!

Also, thanks for those awesome pics of Millennium Park, a development I have yet to see in person.

But here's a question. A problem, I admit, that also plagues LakeshoreEast. How are they going to provide transit to people of Central Station? I mean, sure, many of them will drive but there is no way Chicago can provide road and parking infrastructure for all of those thousands of people. Besides, I'm sure a great number of them will want to use public transportation anyhow. How will they be served?

[Steely Dan]

i for one, don't buy into these arguments that LSE and central station are so inadequately served by transit. if you want to take the train, the L is only a handful of blocks away, a 5-10 minute walk. that, to me, is very much within a "reasonable" distance to rapid transit.

[BVictor1]

^I agree.

Central Station has the Red, Green, and Orange Line 2 1/2 blocks to the west. There are also all of the bus routes that travel down Michigan, Roosevelt, Columbus and Indiana. They are pretty efficently served. They don't need the bus stopping at their front door. It's not valet service.

Lake Shore East for the most part is the same. There ate the bus lines on Randolph, Columbus and Wacker Drive. And some of those buses already go into the nooks and crannys around Lakeshore East like around Harbor View Tower. well just have to see if routes will be extended directly into the development. If it's not though, there isn't any great loss.

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i for one, don't buy into these arguments that LSE and central station are so inadequately served by transit. if you want to take the train, the L is only a handful of blocks away, a 5-10 minute walk. that, to me, is very much within a "reasonable" distance to rapid transit.

I still think that, ultimately, we need a lakeshore line that runs perhaps from Hyde Park, but at least from McCormick Place, through Central Station, LSE, Streeterville, and possibly up the shoreline under Sheridan all the way to Roger's Park.

[Steely Dan]

^ i would certainly never be opposed to the expansion of rail transit anywhere in the city, but looking realistically at the world, i know that your proposed lakeshore line would be at least decades away from becoming a reality, if ever, and i don't think that central station's and LSE's distance to existing rail lines is that big of a deal

[2PRUROCKS!]

Marvel or Steely or anyone else who may know...was there any mention of 1 MP being LEED certified?



Less than 2 weeks till I'm back in the great city!

[Marvel 33]

Speaking of transit. I forgot to mention that the ugly-old Metra station sitting on the south end of Grant Park is also going to be replaced for a brand-new high-tech station. Not only this will be a new station but it's supposed to be the best Metra station of all. For those of you who may not know the location. It'll be sitting on Grant Park between Columbus and Michigan, almost in front of of 11th street.

As far as your question 2PRUROCKS!, I don't think there was any mention of it. I'm actually pretty sure there wasn't.

[the urban politician]

^That should be awesome!

Perhaps they will also build a station that will serve the Central Station community

[BVictor1]

I know where you are talking about Marvel. That's where that old rickety wooden bridge is, or was. I can't remember if they've removed it or not.

[BVictor1]

Also if you go to;

http://www.pappageorgehaymes.com/

And you go to #9 of the highrise/midrise section, you can see some of the lower levels and base of the proposed towers. I couldn't copy the images or else I would have posted them here.