CHICAGO | General Developments

[ardecila]

Sorry, my bad - I switched Franklin and Randolph in my mind.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ Oh yeah, that parking lot where there used to be the historic Chicago Mercantile Exchange building really contributes to "suffocating" that intersection That place being razed for a plaza makes damn good hot dogs, and since there are no street vendors in Chicago for some silly reason, where the hell is one gonna get some good Vienna Beef?

Well I guess I meant it was so sterile as to be suffocating. From Jackson to Randolph there's almost nothing along Franklin that is aimed at anyone other than office workers. There are a bunch of banks, a cellphone store that closes early, some eateries that close early, but no casual retail; Franklin ends up kind of an alley that people just cross heading to the train stations, and especially near Randolph. Anyhow I shouldn't attempt to (over-) analyze the character of one street versus another here; I just wanted to say it needed some life. The upcoming 1 or 2 hotels at Madison will help, and I trust, or at least hope, the CME successor and Buck sites will too. Come to think of it, the NW loop is underserved by hotels and another one here, being a block from the Cadillac Theatre, would be great in many ways.

[denizen467]

I know they're re-doing the park and everything, but was there really ever someone named "Pritzger" ?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...,0.002736&z=19

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Well I guess I meant it was so sterile as to be suffocating. From Jackson to Randolph there's almost nothing along Franklin that is aimed at anyone other than office workers. There are a bunch of banks, a cellphone store that closes early, some eateries that close early, but no casual retail; Franklin ends up kind of an alley that people just cross heading to the train stations, and especially near Randolph. Anyhow I shouldn't attempt to (over-) analyze the character of one street versus another here; I just wanted to say it needed some life. The upcoming 1 or 2 hotels at Madison will help, and I trust, or at least hope, the CME successor and Buck sites will too. Come to think of it, the NW loop is underserved by hotels and another one here, being a block from the Cadillac Theatre, would be great in many ways.

There's an idea in New Urbanism that there should be "A" streets and "B" streets. Not everything in a city is desirable. Organizing into two different kinds of streets allows undesirables like garage entrances, lunch joints, parking lots, etc. to line the B streets while desirable features like main entrances to buildings, prominent retail, and well-planned open space line the A streets. Franklin is definitely a B street in the Loop, while Wacker and LaSalle are A streets.

About the Pritzkers - of course they're real people... they're a very wealthy and large family in Chicago that tends to avoid publicity, although they have several places in the city named after them. They own Hyatt, Royal Caribbean, and many other industrial firms.

[aic4ever]

Originally Posted by ardecila

There's an idea in New Urbanism that there should be "A" streets and "B" streets. Not everything in a city is desirable. Organizing into two different kinds of streets allows undesirables like garage entrances, lunch joints, parking lots, etc. to line the B streets while desirable features like main entrances to buildings, prominent retail, and well-planned open space line the A streets. Franklin is definitely a B street in the Loop, while Wacker and LaSalle are A streets.

About the Pritzkers - of course they're real people... they're a very wealthy and large family in Chicago that tends to avoid publicity, although they have several places in the city named after them. They own Hyatt, Royal Caribbean, and many other industrial firms.

Check the link he posted. Misspelled on Google. Supposed to have been funny...

[emathias]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Well I guess I meant it was so sterile as to be suffocating. From Jackson to Randolph there's almost nothing along Franklin that is aimed at anyone other than office workers.
...

Wonder how different it would be if they'd built the subway under it as planned in the 70s:
1976 planning map

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by ardecila

There's an idea in New Urbanism that there should be "A" streets and "B" streets. Not everything in a city is desirable. Organizing into two different kinds of streets allows undesirables like garage entrances, lunch joints, parking lots, etc. to line the B streets while desirable features like main entrances to buildings, prominent retail, and well-planned open space line the A streets.

Is that really a new idea? That's how midtown Manhattan is laid out. The avenues are the A streets and the cross streets have the garages and such. Even Broadway south of Times Square is basically a back alley for the avenues.
I agree with that approach - you always need to have a front yard and a back yard.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by aaron38

Is that really a new idea? That's how midtown Manhattan is laid out. The avenues are the A streets and the cross streets have the garages and such. Even Broadway south of Times Square is basically a back alley for the avenues.
I agree with that approach - you always need to have a front yard and a back yard.

Well, one significant difference between downtown Chicago and Manhattan is that we have an extensive alley network that is really supposed to be where most of the utility functions are directed. Franklin suffers, I think, from only recently being an integral part of the business district. Its proximity to the Loop has been mostly leveraged for parking.

Now that Wacker is more or less fully built out, I think that whenever the next round of office building construction comes up, Franklin will be filled out. The block between Washington and Randolph will get built on then, as will that corner with the Walgreens. It's possible, even, that the surface parking on the south side of 311 S Wacker will get something, or that the 4-story garage across from the Sears Tower will be replaced with either a bigger garage or a building+garage.

It would be nice if some of those lots were used for other functions, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that. Frankly, I'd rather see Wacker and Franklin remain as monuments to office towers, and Clinton get the more balanced mix of retail, residential and office and with all those, a subway.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by aaron38

Is that really a new idea? That's how midtown Manhattan is laid out. The avenues are the A streets and the cross streets have the garages and such. Even Broadway south of Times Square is basically a back alley for the avenues.
I agree with that approach - you always need to have a front yard and a back yard.

No, it's not a new idea. "New Urbanism" is sort of a misnomer - it's basically a codified set of planning principles drawn from traditional (pre-WWII) town planning.

However, it's been adapted slightly - New Urbanist planners have recognized that buildings, spaces, and features that serve autos cannot feasibly be evicted from the core areas of American cities. Therefore, they decide to shift them onto B streets where they do not adversely affect the streetscape of the pedestrian-friendly A streets.

[BVictor1]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,6313295.story

Slippery when wet—but ever so pretty
Michigan Avenue Bridge all the more frightening on a wintry white day

By James Janega | Tribune reporter
December 2, 2008




There are few better places in Chicago to experience the city's austere beauty or wintry lack of friction than from the Michigan Avenue Bridge, where unchecked winds blast cheeks pink, where salt crystals crackle like gravel underfoot, and where every exposed inch of unsalted rubberized decking menaces pedestrian footing.

Venice may have its Bridge of Sighs, but grant Chicago its Bridge of Muttered Curses, a beautiful and treacherous 325-foot span that shortens Chicagoans' strides in winter and provides a memorable icy anecdote for visitors—the place where they almost fell in the Midwest's snowy metropolis.

"I'm used to snow and ice, but I still slip and slide," said Sue Heckel, 64, of Racine, Wis., after nearly falling as she crossed the bridge Monday afternoon. She and her friend Cathy Sorensen, 43, had nearly fallen twice on their annual shopping pilgrimage to Chicago.

"On my way over and on my way back," Sorensen said.

Chicago has 37 movable bridges, most of them sharing a common design with the Michigan Avenue bridge, built in 1920. They rise and fall on hinges at the banks of the Chicago River, counterbalanced by weights hidden beneath the streets at their ends.

Their sidewalks may be concrete or made of wood planks (Wabash Avenue), metal grating (Columbus Drive) or, at Michigan Avenue, a rubberized applique glued to bare metal sheets. When hot, this non-skid surface bubbles off the deck, delighting children who step on it like an air mattress. When wet, it offers little more traction than bare ice. In January, it will be replaced with fiberglass panels, Chicago Department of Transportation spokeswoman Maria Casteneda said.

But it did little to help on Monday.

There is a reason why Chicago's architectural boat tours set off from below the bridge. It has a commanding view of the Wrigley Building, the neo-classical 333 N. Michigan Ave. and London Guarantee buildings and the Tribune and Trump Towers—along with spectacular vistas of the lake on one side and an urban canyon on the other.

"Fantastic," Giovanni Troilo said of the view.

But slippery?

"Just maybe," he said.

[honte]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

The lot that used to hold the CME Building is owned by the Crown family, but perhaps I'm mistaken?

This is correct.

[Jibba]

Modern Wing expansion (tonight):

[Haworthia]

^^ Is that rust on the pedestrian bridge?

[Jibba]

^That's definitely what it looks like. I honestly hadn't even noticed it until I posted that picture here.

[woodrow]

^^ I believe a little rust, a lot scorching from torches. Remember, the bridge is not complete. Not by a long shot. Not the finished product.

[ethereal_reality]

Jibba, that photo is VERY cool.

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Haworthia

^^ Is that rust on the pedestrian bridge?

Yes, it's rusted where the welds are located. The bridge uit to be painted.

This is the same rust that you saw in images of the Crown Fountain. The metal particles landed in the fountain after the erection of the bridge and it caused the rust in the water and on the backside of the glass block in the fountain.

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

This is the same rust that you saw in images of the Crown Fountain. The metal particles landed in the fountain after the erection of the bridge and it caused the rust in the water and on the backside of the glass block in the fountain.

Get out ... that is interesting.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Yes, it's rusted where the welds are located. The bridge uit to be painted.

This is the same rust that you saw in images of the Crown Fountain. The metal particles landed in the fountain after the erection of the bridge and it caused the rust in the water and on the backside of the glass block in the fountain.

Sorry if I'm not keeping up, but I thought someone said that was algae on the fountain?

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by ethereal_reality

Jibba, that photo is VERY cool.

Thanks dude. The bus certainly helped with the "gee whiz" factor. Also, streaky lights captured with an open shutter are so...Renzo Piano. Just kidding.