CHICAGO | General Developments

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Stupid Google Maps isn't allowing me to post a link of the location, so here goes:

Just east of the Lincoln/Belmont/Ashland intersection, just along the north side of Belmont, where there is a large parking lot west of a church, there appears to be a rendering posted of a large senior housing development.

Does anybody know anything about this?

I do know where there's a church near this intersection, a somewhat small white point-steepled one if I'm remembering correctly, but I'm unsure of the rendering of the senior housing development. Was this voted down by city council?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by djlx2

I do know where there's a church near this intersection, a somewhat small white point-steepled one if I'm remembering correctly, but I'm unsure of the rendering of the senior housing development. Was this voted down by city council?

^ In front of the parking lot there is a rendering of a development that appears to be senior housing, and I thought I saw something along the lines of "coming soon".

If anybody happens to pass it by, perhaps they'll get a better look. The question is, I thought there was supposed to be a multilevel retail development proposed for this site, the 'Lakeview Collection' if I'm correct.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I thought there was supposed to be a multilevel retail development proposed for this site, the 'Lakeview Collection' if I'm correct.

Yeah, but that was a Centrum project. If I'm not mistaken, they bet it all on Roosevelt Collection and came up really short.

Apparently they were served with foreclosure by Wachovia in Spring 2010 and subsequently scaled down the plans to a retail-only development. I would assume a fairly suburban layout with parking lots, but the article claims there will be 100,000 sf of retail space, which is about the size of a standard Wal-Mart. Such floor area can only fit on the site in a multi-story building.

Maybe Centrum got a senior housing developer interested in the site? There's already a senior-housing development on the rear of the block behind St. Luke's.

Originally Posted by Crain's article, February 2010

[Centrum partners Sol Barket, John McLinden and Arthur Slaven] have no plans to give up the property and still plan to build a scaled-back project on it with about 100,000 square feet of commercial space but no residential, Mr. Barket says. CVS Corp. has signed a lease for a roughly 13,000-square-foot drugstore there, while Bank of America N.A. has a lease for a 7,500-square-foot branch, he says.

"We think it's much more financeable," he says.

Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...#ixzz1JkbpOoGq

[Loopy]

...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, but that was a Centrum project. If I'm not mistaken, they bet it all on Roosevelt Collection and came up really short.

^ Actually, that's not true. Spyguy posted a rendering of a multilevel retail-only development for this site, which was called 'Lakeview Collection'. That is the project I was referring to (the older project, with residential above, has long ago bit the dust). One would hope that with a new Lakeview neighborhood master plan, suburban-style developments near this intersection would be strongly discouraged.

Still, if any of you could pass by the site you'll see what I'm talking about. What is that sign that is posted?

[Loopy]

...

[OrdoSeclorum]

Does anyone have realistic odds on the chance of saving those two terra cotta flatiron-shaped buildings at the corner? I know they are on the endangered list.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

Does anyone have realistic odds on the chance of saving those two terra cotta flatiron-shaped buildings at the corner? I know they are on the endangered list.

^ That would be nice to see, but the problem is that they are too short to flank such an intersection. If they would be replaced by something taller then it would be worth the loss.

Even though most of us have a hard-on for prewar buildings, in Chicago even back then I don't think they built tall enough buildings to flank many of the 6-way intersections. Northwest tower in Wicker Park is an exception.

[denizen467]

Slightly different subject, but it looks like another educational institution has been added (maybe in the last half year or so?) to State Street's impressive portfolio - the "Illinois Center for Broadcasting" at Harrison. It's part of a chain with locations in Ohio and also Lombard. They have street-side tv and radio (training) studios on the corner of the residential building with the CVS, a la 3 of the big local networks.

Also, is there still going to be some kind of rerouting of West Harrison (to finally form a single intersection with East Harrison) and enlargement of that small plaza on the south side of the above-mentioned streetside studios? Or is Jones College Prep keeping their old building, which would mean that plan is dead?

[ardecila]

The plan is currently for old Jones to be torn down, but that doesn't mean they'll realign the intersection.

Originally Posted by OrdoSeclorum

Does anyone have realistic odds on the chance of saving those two terra cotta flatiron-shaped buildings at the corner? I know they are on the endangered list.

I have no wish to save the building between Lincoln and Fullerton. It's pretty boring and generic... replace it with a mid-rise. The other one is the White Elephant shop, which is important for historical reasons, and also has a higher level of detailing than the first building. This should be landmarked.

[denizen467]

^ If old Jones is disappearing, I think the plan is to realign the streets. The intersection is a bit messy, and unsafe even, especially with all the schools around. I believe there is supposed to be some kind of expanded plaza and/or memorial where the mini-plaza currently is; does anyone remember what that was going to be?

[ardecila]

I expect Mr. Downtown can fill in all the details of the Library Tower/Harrison realignment saga.

[Beta_Magellan]

Loopy, is the Eckhardt design a new building, or just an extensive renovation of the original one? Its massing is near-identical to the building that there’s now.

[Loopy]

...

[sentinel]

So I went out today (the first weekend in quite a while that I've not had much to do), and decided to take some pictures of Gen. development projects currently under construction - my trip started @ U of C:

The new Logan Arts Center




Here's one that doesn't get any attention in here, the new Chicago Theological Seminary, on the SE end of the Midway @ U of C




...which used to be housed in this gorgeous building, which is being renovated to become the Milton Freidman Institute for Research in Economics:


The new U of C main hospital, which is MONSTROUS:


And my personal favorite the Mansueto library addition:


Moving north into downtown, the much-maligned (at least in these forums) new CPS Ogden replacement school, a project that I actually like:


The new Poetry Foundation, still sans decorative screening:


The National Hellenic Museum in Greektown; not great but at least it's a nice new 'destination' facility:


..and finally the Newberry Library (across the street from the Ogden school)

nothing new here, I just really like this building and I thought it was a decent picture

I got bored after these and left - maybe I'll take more with better weather in a few weeks, and hopefully with a new lens.

[Beta_Magellan]

The two nicknames I’ve heard for the new U. of C. library are “The Man” (an abbreviation of “The Joe & Rika Mansueto Library Center” or whatever it’s called) and (my preference) the “Reg Egg” (after the Regenstein Library, which it’s attached to).

[wrab]

Sentinel, thanks for posting those U of C updates!


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Grossinger Cadillac, Wells St, Old Town:

[Nowhereman1280]

I just saw Public Notice signs go up behind the terrible drive through MB Bank that is blighting the Central Park/Milwaukee intersection in Avondale. The notice says they are requesting upzoning to construct a 4 story high school with only 32 parking spaces. This is going to be a 600 person "Business High School" run by the Latino organization "Aspira". It's a rather small site so the building is going to be adequately dense.

I'm particularly excited about this because it is down the street from a property I just bought. It is a very nice design in my opinion and eliminates a massive vacant lot in the middle of Avondale. Hopefully, as a charter school, it will also bring the best students in the city to the neighborhood and increase demand for retail on those somewhat blighted blocks of Milwaukee Ave. It also has a sleek modern design.

Here are renderings:













All renderings from ih.constantcontact.com

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Loopy

^ It's an all-new building. The current building is being (or is already) demolished.

The current building is still standing (as of yesterday when I was @ U of C), but I believe that they might currently be going in for permit; even if they are granted a permit by the City, chances are that demolition might not begin until the summer when the current semester/quarter has ended as the logistics of moving offices, labs, whole departments might be better coordinated in the summertime.

To answer your question Beta, regarding the size of the new building, I believe it's considerably larger than the existing building (it's actually replacing 3 separate, smaller interconnected buildings); the 265,000 GSF also includes two floors that are underground so it's actually 7 levels, 5 of which are above-grade.

[Nowhereman1280]

PS Regarding that high school design above, the more I look at it, the more I am thrilled by it. This is EXACTLY the kind of buildings we need to see more of in Chicago. It is just an all around excellent design, can anyone find out the architect?

The design is exactly what neighborhood building should look like in Chicago. It has a massive, impressive, and inviting entrance that is flush with the busiest adjacent street, Milwaukee Ave. It has relatively few parking spots compared to the size of the draw (a high school for 600 would normally require far more than 32 spaces) and all of those spaces are covered/hidden on the very furthest back corner of the site with only one curb cut for the whole site. It fills the entire lot up to the lot lines. It maintains the existing streetwall on Milwaukee Ave and thus will do wonders to stimulate the adjacent retail (which is currently high vacancy).

My favorite part is that it crushingly dominates the pathetic MB bank occupying the prime corner lot. It towers over the MB for all to see and will hopefully put thoughts of "who decided to build that puny piece of shit on this intersection" in the minds of all those who pass. I also love the modern design and obvious shout out to both Saarinen and Gropius in the blue section of the design. It looks like a cross between the now partially demolished Reese Campus and Saarinen's Rochester IBM plant. As I said before this kind of planning and design is EXACTLY what we should be building in Chicago's neighborhoods if we want our built environment to continue to excel. I will be attending the community meeting on this zoning change to make sure someone is there to fend off the "Oh noes parking!!!" complaints, if anyone else lives in the area they should come as well.