Downtown Development News [Archive] - Page 2

wickedestcity

September 14th, 2005, 05:25 PM

Golub's $50 million bid wins 33 N. Dearborn

THOMAS A. CORFMAN
Published September 14, 2005

Chicago real estate developer Golub & Co. has emerged as the winning bidder for a Dearborn Street office building across the street from Block 37.

Golub has agreed to pay $50 million to buy 33 N. Dearborn St. from Vornado Realty Trust, which solicited offers for the 25-story building earlier this summer, sources said. The exact status of the deal with the New York real estate investment trust could not be determined.

In 2000 Vornado paid $35.4 million for the 334,000-square-foot building, which includes 14,000 square feet of retail space and is nearly fully leased. Representatives of Vornado's Merchandise Mart Properties division and Golub could not be reached for comment.

Seyfarth sues Tishman: Seyfarth Shaw LLP, the second-largest tenant at 55 E. Monroe St., has filed suit against Tishman Speyer Properties LP and the venture that owns the East Loop tower, alleging that the law firm was systematically overcharged since 1992 for after-hours heating, air conditioning and ventilation.

The New York real estate company declined to comment.

Seyfarth says it was supposed to be charged just 110 percent of the actual cost. Instead, it paid, on a per-floor, per-hour basis, $147 for cooling, $106 for heat and $73 for ventilation, according to a complaint filed late last month in Cook County Circuit Court. The charges were five times the actual cost, resulting in a "multimillion-dollar windfall," the complaint says.

Seyfarth, with five floors at 55 E. Monroe, has agreed to move next year to Bank One Center, 131 S. Dearborn St.

Earlier this year a joint venture of GlenStar Properties LLC and Walton Street Capital LLC had a contract to buy the 50-story tower. For reasons unrelated to the lawsuit the deal has stalled, though negotiations continue, sources said.

Regents Park sold: Miami developer Crescent Heights Inc. has purchased Regents Park, a 1,000-unit complex at 5020 and 5050 S. Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park.

The transaction closed Sept. 1, confirmed Bruce Clinton, chairman and chief executive of Chicago-based Clinton Cos., who won control of the two-tower development in 1993 from the federal government after a lengthy court battle. He declined to comment on the price, which sources said was more than $120 million.

Motorola sets auction: Motorola Inc. has hired Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to conduct a sealed-bid auction of a shuttered 1.5 million-square-foot office and manufacturing facility in Harvard, the Chicago real estate firm said.

Bids are due in late October. The marketing comes a year after the collapse of a redevelopment plan that included an indoor water park for the 300-acre site in McHenry County.

Prime Group adds exec: Skilled broker Daniel J. Nikitas has joined Prime Group Realty Trust as executive vice president in charge of leasing for the Chicago real estate investment trust, which has an office portfolio of 2.6 million square feet.

Since 2001 the Chicago native, 46, has headed leasing in the Chicago office of San Francisco-based real estate investment firm Shorenstein Co.

Smith Barney consolidates: In a consolidation of downtown retail offices, Smith Barney has signed a lease for 22,100 square feet at 190 S. LaSalle St., said tenant representative Studley Inc., which advised the stockbroker.

Reznick moves offices: Maryland accounting firm Reznick Group is moving its local offices from the Northwest Side to the Concourse Office Plaza, where it is leasing more than 33,000 square feet of space, said real estate firm Podolsky Northstar, which is redeveloping the Skokie office tower.

Reznick, which opened a local office in January after merging with a Chicago firm, currently leases about 10,000 square feet at in Chicago.

BVictor1

September 15th, 2005, 05:04 PM

Business
Aldermen want to limit heights on Near West Side

September 15, 2005

BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter

Two aldermen Wednesday proposed rezoning key properties on the Near West Side in an attempt to restrict the height and size of potential development.

The proposals by Aldermen Madeline Haithcock (2nd) and Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) would still allow projects to go forward at the affected sites. But they send a clear signal to developers about the limits the aldermen and the community will tolerate.

"This will help us stop bumping heads with the community,'' Burnett said. "We're just trying to keep things consistent with what everybody's agreed on previously.''

The Near West Side has been one of the city's top condominium markets, and developers have grown bolder about proposing buildings of 20 stories and more in what used to be an area of industries and single-family homes.

But the dominant neighborhood group, the West Loop Community Organization, has mobilized against high-rises, holding out for standards that keep them east of Halsted Street.

The five ordinances introduced at a City Council meeting include two by Haithcock that would downsize a condo complex planned for the site of Carmichael's Steak House, 1052 W. Monroe. Developer Bob Horner has proposed two buildings at the site, the tallest of which would be 19 stories.

But the Haithcock ordinances would hold that height to 130 feet, or about 13 stories. Horner could try for an exception, but it would have to come through a special zoning request Haithcock would be unlikely to support.

Other parcels that would get similar restrictions are at 1030 W. Van Buren, 833 W. Jackson and 2 S. Halsted. The Halsted site, the former headquarters of MB Financial Bank, is for sale and has been the subject of past development ideas.

Eric Sedler, president of the West Loop organization, said the group favors the restrictions. He said they would set clear standards for "everybody in the real estate food chain," from developers and brokers to property owners wondering if they could sell at a huge price.

Not covered by the ordinances are two other prime development sites, the former Fannie May factory at 1137 W. Jackson and the Chicago Christian Industrial League at 123 S. Green. Investors plan a retail-oriented complex at the Fannie May site, while the industrial league's warren of old buildings is under contract to condo and commercial interests.

Sedler said he hopes Haithcock and Burnett will support more restrictive zoning at other Near West hot spots.

The full council is expected to vote on the ordinances after they get a hearing by the Zoning Committee.

Frumie

September 15th, 2005, 05:49 PM

From my own limited perspective, Halsted seems a reasonable line to draw; concentrating high rises to the east and low rises to the west. Where the occasional isolated high rise looms over a neighborhood it is uncomfortably disruptive of the sight line and typically of a Moscow aesthetic. Each kind of structure belongs in its own neighborhood to achieve a sense of unity and identity IMHO.

spyguy

September 17th, 2005, 12:16 AM

Rentals look to rebound

September 16, 2005

BY LARRY FINLEY Real Estate Reporter

It only seems like everybody in the suburbs is buying a new home or has moved into one already. Some people do still rent.

Despite all of those new developments and neighborhoods popping up in cornfields and empty lots throughout the area, the suburban rental apartment market is hanging in there and even showing signs of making a comeback, according to Tony Rossi, president of RMK Management Corp., which has about 5,000 suburban apartments.

"Maybe everybody who has been buying a home has bought a home," Rossi said hopefully.

Apartment owners and managers have had tough going since early 2001 when the job market cooled off and interest rates slid to the point that monthly mortgage costs were on a par with rent payments, he said.

The apartment market had been fueled by people who could not afford to buy, or didn't want to buy, or by young people who were just entering the job market, he said.

"We always lost X percentage to home ownership, but you always had that kid graduating from school with a degree who got a job with Lucent Technologies or something," Rossi said. "But, now there's no more Lucent."

The "light at the end of the tunnel" is that "last year we finally stopped losing jobs," Rossi said. "You had a net job growth. It wasn't very much, but at least it was positive."

The renters include people who are moving into the area for a temporary assignment or "just don't want to be bothered with home ownership in a condo or don't want to be mowing grass at a house.

"A function of today is that there are a lot of split families'' he said. "That's a big market. Even though dad may work downtown and the kids are in the suburbs, he might want to get an apartment that's close to the family."

There are some empty-nesters who keep an apartment in the suburbs and either rent or own another place "in Florida or Arizona," Rossi said.

Higher interest rates would be good for the apartment market here, he said. As interest edges up, mortgage rates increase and the rent-vs.-own decision starts to change, he said.

Rents are averaging between the $700s and $1,400s a month for top apartments, he said. Concessions are available, although they have gone down from last year. Instead of 6 or 8 weeks "free," the incentive might be only 2 to 4 weeks, Rossi said.

In the highly competitive suburban market, clubhouses, swimming pools and other amenities are expected for larger rental complexes, just as they might be at a condominium development, Rossi said.

"We have three properties where we actually tore down the clubhouses and built new ones," Rossi said. "At the one at [Versailles on the Lakes in] Oakbrook Terrace we even have a home theater room. We put in the latest exercise equipment and a demonstration kitchen, where we have classes."

The two-story clubhouse also includes a great room, business center, conference room and cyber cafe. There are two swimming pools, a bath house and two tennis courts.

The Versailles has 688 apartments ranging from studios, at $785 a month, to 1,241-square-foot, 3-bedroom plans for $1,630. A 1-bedroom with 1 bath and 692 square feet is about $995. There aren't a lot of 3-bedroom apartments because they would be competing with single-family homes in terms of size, he said.

Versailles on the Lakes is at 17 W. 720 Butterfield Rd., in Oakbrook Terrace. Call (630) 627-8890. All of RMK's properties are listed on their Web site www.rmk.com.

Occupancy rates in the 11 Village Green apartment complexes in the suburbs have increased from about 90 percent a year ago to the mid to high 90 percent levels today, according to Jack Dent, company president.

Village Green has about 2,700 apartments in suburban locations such as the Village Green at Cantera in Warrenville, Village Green at Seven Bridges in Woodridge and Central Park East in Arlington Heights. Other locations include Palatine, Wheeling, Hinsdale and Glen Ellyn. They operate more than 30,000 units throughout the Midwest.

Suburban rents should remain relatively stable this year, with continued improvement in occupancies next year, Dent said. A little inflation would help matters also, he said.

"You get spoiled," he said. "You had an interest rate of 5 percent. Now you are in the high 5s. It would probably have to get close to 7 percent to really help us."

The market for apartments peaked in 2000, and began to slide in 2001, he said. It continued sliding in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

"Now in 2005 we feel we are back close to 2001 levels," Dent said.

"We have 40 to 50 percent turnover a year," Dent said. "Half of them are purchasing homes, and the next big bulk of them are relocating out of the area."

Many of their "confirmed renters" used to be gray-collar workers before mortgage interest rates began to fall, he said.

"The rates dropped, the condos got converted or they got built," he said. "You could get into a condo for similar to a rental amount. There were low-down payment or no-down payment programs. So why not?"

Their typical renters is now part of a "younger crowd," Dent said. "People just out of college want to get their feet wet for a while before they buy and settle down. You might also have some empty-nesters."

Dent said they use concessions selectively to help rent units that "have been sitting for a while."

"We price our units competitively and try to beat the competition with our market price," he said.

Amenities such as clubhouses help attract people and are part of the package, Dent said.

"Our typical property has almost a $1 million clubhouse," he said. "We put in a nice new clubhouse there, which includes an exercise facility, racketball court, business center, swimming pool, club room, pool table and a place to watch TV."

Chicago's downtown rental market has been hard hit by the boom in small condominium sales. Many rental buildings have been converted to ownership, and those that remain are charging premium rents.

This is all an opportunity for Village Green, according to Dent.

"We would like to take over that market down there," Dent said. "We have four downtown buildings that we manage or own and they are all in the mid to high 90 [percentile of occupancy], again without concessions."

Village Green announced in July that it, and a partner, purchased the Randolph Tower office building, at 188 W. Randolph, and plan to convert it to 300 luxury apartments. Their other buildings include Fisher Building City Apartments, 343 S. Dearborn; Medical District City Apartments, 901 S. Ashland; MDA City Apartments (first occupancies very soon), 63 E. Lake St., and Twelve Twelve on South Michigan, 1212 S. Michigan Ave.

"We are the only apartment developer who is doing anything in downtown Chicago," Dent said. "We are taking office buildings and converting to apartments, when everybody else is converting them to condos. We plan to be more and more and more downtown. Let everybody else sell their buildings for condos and we will be very happy."

Village Green's properties are listed on its Web site www.villagegreen.com.

Apartment developments in good job markets can establish a solid base of residents, according to Brian Hoffman, vice president and chief financial officer of Red Seal Development Corp.

Red Seal operates two luxury rental developments in Lake County, Northgate Apartments, in Waukegan, and Mallard Ridge Apartments in Lindenhurst. Northgate has 363 apartments with 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms in three-story buildings. Mallard Ridge has 204 apartments with 1 and 2 bedrooms in 17 buildings on 17 acres. Rents range from the low $700s to $1,575.

There are only 15 three-bedroom apartments at Northgate, he said, but they are always rented, probably because "there aren't many around. They live like a ranch house. They are beautifully appointed and nearly 1,500 square feet."

"We are served by everything from corporate types from Abbott Labs through members of the military service from Great Lakes to school teachers, firemen and police from various municipalities," Hoffman said.

"As a pair of luxury communities, we have been attractive to people who have been more stable in their employment,'' Hoffman said. "Other than job transfers, most of our tenants have no real reason to move."

Some of the residents at Mallard Ridge are seniors who have lived there for 12 years, he said.

Northgate has a newly modeled clubhouse with a fitness center and party rooms. There is also a heated outdoor pool and tennis courts.

"I think the pool and clubhouse at Northgate are important," Hoffman said. "But the units with big bedrooms, a nice kitchen and nice finishes, are far more important. Being in a nice, quiet, safe neighborhood is also important.But certainly it's nice to have a pool in the summer.''

The occupancy rate at Mallard Ridge is about 96 percent filled and it is about 90 percent at Northgate, which is up from this spring and should improve further this fall, Hoffman said.

Mallard Ridge is on Grand Avenue, just east of Munn Road, in Lindenhurst. Call (708) 356-5010. Northgate is at Sunset Avenue and New York Road, west of Lewis Avenue, Waukegan. Call (847) 623-0800.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0509160210sep16,1,6424521.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Chi_Coruscant

September 17th, 2005, 06:17 AM

Metra hears plan for upscale station

By Virginia Groark
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 16, 2005, 4:34 PM CDT

Randolph Street Station, long one of the most dismal depots on Metra's system, not only has a new look but could become the commuter rail agency's finest stop, with white-coat clad bathroom attendants, fresh flowers and a new name: Millennium Park Station.

That's the vision of J. Paul Beitler, who heads the Beitler Co.

The Metra board today awarded a 20-year contract to Beitler's firm to manage the station – the downtown terminal of the Metra Electric Line to University Park and South Shore Line to South Bend, Ind. -- and to lease its 16,000 square feet of retail space.

Metra expects to receive $6.9 million over the term of the lease in addition to as much as $1 million from billboard advertising it intends to put in the underground station.

At the rail agency's board meeting, Beitler unveiled grand plans to overhaul the image of the station, which recently underwent a $22 million rehabilitation.

First, shed the Randolph Street moniker, he said. Name it after Chicago's newest tourist draw: Millennium Park, which sits above the station.

Board members praised the idea and will vote on the suggestion next month.

Next, forget about leasing retail space to an odorous chicken shack, Beitler advised. He intends to pursue vendors like a bank, bookstore and coffee shop, and fill at least half the storefronts by December 2006.

Increase awareness about the station's merchants, Beitler said. He envisioned ice cream socials during off-peak hours, and handing out umbrellas advertising the station to commuters during an April shower next spring.

Most important, dress up the bathrooms, he said. Adorn them with fresh flowers, offer mouthwash and staff them with attendants. Create a buzz that would lure people to the station.

"That, they'll talk about," Beitler said.

BVictor1

September 18th, 2005, 02:35 PM

CITY REPORT
32-story addition to South Loop

By Jeanette Almada
Special to the Tribune
Published September 18, 2005

A 32-story building with 260 condominiums will be added to the Central Station neighborhood, which has been under construction on 80 acres south of Grant Park since the mid-1990s.

The Enterprise Group, a Chicago developer, is partnering with Central Station LLC to build the tower, according to Gerald Fogelson, CEO of Fogelson Properties.

Chicago developer Fogelson and partner Forest City Enterprises, based in Cleveland, formed Central Station LLC as master developer of Central Station, comprising townhouses, apartments and condos between Roosevelt Road and Cullerton Avenue and South Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue.

That company has partnered with several developers in the Central Station project, and Enterprise Group is partnering with the developer to build the portion of Central Station called Museum Park.

To be called 1400 Museum Park, the building will go up on the northeast corner of the 14th Street and South Michigan Avenue and will bear the address 100 E. 14th St., according to David Earnhart, an architect at Chicago-based Pappageorge Haymes, the firm that is designing the tower.

Central Station LLC closed on its purchase of the site from a private developer earlier this month, Fogelson said.

The Chicago Plan Commission last month approved plans for the tower as a planned development.

The building will have 9,600 square feet of ground-floor retail space, parking for 301 cars on the first six levels, an outdoor dog run on the sixth level, and an exercise room and a community room on the 32nd floor, according to Earnhart.

Each residential floor will have two 3-bedroom, 2-bath units; two 1-bedroom, 1-bath units; and six 2-bedroom, 2-bath units, Earnhart said,

Sizes range from 800 to 1,600 square feet and prices, from $300,000 to $600,000, Fogelson said.

Sales are under way. Demolition of four buildings on the site will begin this week, Fogelson said.

Frumie

September 18th, 2005, 05:29 PM

Thanks for a great morning read BVictor. BTW in following up the 1400 Museum Park lead, I came across a site that lists nearly every existing and new building on the south side of any interest, including a small map. http://www.thorntonproperties.net/south_loop.php

ChicagoLover

September 20th, 2005, 05:13 AM

As the east South Loop comes together, I think we have the potential for a "Manhattan-esque" environment there. The area encompassing the five avenues -- Prairie, Indiana, Michigan, Wabash and State, from around Congress to around McCormick Place is bounded like an island on the east and west. East of course is LSD and the Lake, and on the west, the walled off Dearborn Park. I see this 'island effect' as one potential benefit of the otherwise abysmal Dearborn Park. As development moves south, the beginning of the Stevenson expressway at 22nd street will serve as a boundary on the south. This neighborhood will be visually disconnected from everything but downtown. This bodes well for creating a real neighborhood feel.

BVictor1

September 24th, 2005, 04:36 AM

Steel - September 2005

550 W. Adams St.

Sleek New Office for USG
(09/01/2005)
By Pamela Dittmer McKuen

Efficiency is the driving force behind the 18-story 550 W. Adams St. office in Chicago's West Loop. The diagonally braced steel core maximizes the amount of rentable space. The price of structural steel, which had been rising when the project started, was locked up early on. The glass and steel provide a sleek look. Building products maker USG Corp. will be the main tenant.

In many respects, the steel and glass structure going up at 550 W. Adams St. in Chicago's West Loop typifies the rectangular office buildings throughout the city.

But there's much more to it. The mid-rise building is a model of energy and space efficiency and the facade is an aesthetic metaphor for its anchor tenant, USG Corp.

The 18-story, $112 million building is being developed by the Fifield Cos. of Chicago and was designed by De Stefano + Partners, another Windy City firm. Serving as general contractor is Schaumburg-based Power Construction Co.

The building boasts about 479,000 rentable sq. ft. of space. It sits on the same block as 555 W. Monroe St., another Fifield project and home to The Quaker Oats Co.

USG, of which U.S. Gypsum Co. is a subsidiary, will occupy floors 8-18. Completion is expected in the spring.

Construction on the building, which is steel-supported with lightweight concrete fill over metal decks on the floors, began in November 2004.

"We excavated only about 12 ft. and that was for the elevator pits and foundation," said Doug Grover, Fifield's vice president of construction and design. "There's no basement. The building sits on caissons that go down about 95 ft., and the drilling for that was done with a gas-powered mobile crane."

An electric-powered tower crane is being used on the rest of the project.

Fortunately, the crews ran into no surprises as they were digging, which could have stalled or stopped their work. But the tight quarters present other challenges. Partial street closures, although costly, have helped, Grover explained.

"The building is at the northwest corner of Adams and Clinton streets, and that's where the staging is being done," he said. "Power took out one lane of traffic from both streets. They're taking most of the steel deliveries off Adams, and the man and material hoist is off Clinton."

"It's always a challenge building in the city, especially in a higher traffic corridor," said Chris Goray, senior project manager for Power.

The Building's Efficiencies

The building is designed with numerous efficiencies. First is the diagonally braced steel core, which is dead center. This positioning maximizes the amount of rentable space, about 27,700 sq. ft. per floor.

"This floor plate is extremely efficient from the standpoint of having a low loss factor," said Tom Saletta, Fifield's senior vice president. "That's a measure of how much common area is spread throughout the building, which is rented by everyone. Our single-tenant loss factor is 7.49 percent."

Loss factors in similar city buildings range between 8 percent and 12 percent, he added.

The design helps Fifield, as an owner, better compete for tenants. USG, for example, is able to take less space, 248,000 sq. ft., than at its current location, 125 S. Franklin St.

"And that includes growth area," Saletta said. "That affects their bottom line. They are able to save millions of dollars on their lease in terms of efficiency."

Scott Sarver, De Stefano architect and president, said the building is a clean, simple box with a core in the middle and the right dimensions from core to glass all the way around the building.

"When you have an atrium on one side and a core on the other side, when you're laying out the spaces, you have to work around these obstacles," he added.

Power was able to lock the price of steel, and the material is used judiciously. The column-to-column span is 20 ft., rather than the more typical 30 ft.

"The steel market was fluctuating greatly at the time, so we knew it had to be a focus," Goray added. "We planned on a requirement of having the steel package expedited so we could purchase it. We had our steel contractor under subcontract in July (2004)."

Sleek and Airy

After steel, the second major component is glass. The building was designed with great input from USG, and is reminiscent of gypsum, the company's legacy to the building-products industry.

USG wanted a headquarters that was sleek, airy and open yet hyper-efficient, Sarver said.

"It's a very Chicago building with a contemporary interpretation," he added. "It's rather Mies-ian in its straight-forwardness but with a twist of lightness. We started with the concept of gypsum crystal, which is a natural material, and the way light bends and moves and reflects through the crystal."

To that end, the exterior walls are clad in a clear, high energy-performing glass. Vertically striping the building at 5-ft. intervals, from the second to 18th floors, are 1-ft. deep glass fins jutting out from the mullions.

"Most of the time the fins are viewed on the oblique up and down Adams," Sarver said. "They bend and reflect light and the crystalline image of gypsum. And with Union Station to the southeast of the site, the building will be relatively preserved with sunlight until someone develops on top of Union Station."

Goray called the glazing system "highly detailed" and added, "We're installing a curtain wall with external aluminum mullions and following that up with the architectural fins. It's an added step."

The fins also serve an energy-efficiency purpose by reflecting a percentage of light and heat gain before it hits the façade, Sarver said.

"When you increase the sense of light in a space, you are sometimes able to decrease the office standards," he said. "It improves the environment for the employees by being brighter, more sunlight and increased energy performance."

The final architectural detail is the crown, which is set back 5 ft. from the main building. It is wrapped with a 20-ft.-tall band of backlighting, which produces a sort of halo or marker amid the city skyline.

Thus far, construction is speeding along. The building was topped out with structural steel at the end of May, and most of the glazing will be in place by the end of summer. The tower crane will probably be gone by early fall. That's a little later than usual for a project of this type and size because a green roof system, yet another efficiency, is being installed there, said Goray.

"It's a real signature building in Chicago," Saletta said.

spyguy

September 24th, 2005, 11:03 PM

In Sunday's Tribune they mention that floors 21-28 of 900 N. Michigan will be converted into condos. Too lazy to scan it so you can check it out tomorrow I guess.

Stop this conversion madness! :bash:
Convert old warehouses into affordable housing to encourage larger families to move back, but leave the luxury condo market for the big boys :)

ChicagoLover

September 25th, 2005, 03:17 AM

^ I"m not surprised. They have started marketing 900 North Michigan condos online.

geoff_diamond

September 25th, 2005, 11:33 AM

What's in there now? I guess I always just assumed that it already was condos?

BVictor1

September 25th, 2005, 02:28 PM

THE MARKET
900 N. Mich. turning 8 office floors into homes

Wayne Faulkner, Real Estate editor
Published September 25, 2005

The condo boom has made Chicago's obsolete office buildings prime candidates for conversion to residential, especially near the wildly successful Millennium Park.

But what does a 1980s office facility do when a major tenant decides to move? JMB Realty Corp. has decided to turn a 200,000-square-foot vacancy at its 900 N. Michigan Ave. mixed-use building -- "the Bloomingdale's Building" -- into condos, making it the first conversion of modern office space to residential on North Michigan Avenue. (The 1920s Palmolive Building, at 919 N. Michigan, is being converted to condos.)

Floors 21 through 28 of the tower are being vacated by J. Walter Thompson, an original tenant of the 66-story building, which consists of a vertical shopping mall anchored by Bloomingdales, offices, the Four Seasons Hotel and condominiums at the top, according to Pat Meara, senior vice president of JMB, which owns the structure.

Thompson moved to the Merchandise Mart and left eight floors that are a virtual clean slate on which to design condos --no load-bearing walls, no columns in the living space -- Meara said in an interview last week.

And, if someone wants a full floor -- 25,000 square feet -- they can have it, he added.

But the space as planned will be 48 fully built-out condos with 1,678 to 4,790 square feet. Each floor will have six units -- one single-bedroom unit, one two-bedroom and four units with either three bedrooms or two bedrooms and a den. Prices range from $1.2 million to $4.6 million. Delivery is expected in 2007. A marketing center will open next month, and a reservation list will be opened this week, Meara said.

"As we looked at the market, North Michigan Avenue has become more of a small- to medium-sized boutique market," Meara said in explaining the switch to residential condos. "The prospects of filling up that space with small- to medium-size tenants weren't good."

About 300,000 square feet of offices remain on floors 9 through 20.

It's obvious that prospective owners will be affluent, but the condos are aimed at two markets, Meara said -- people already living downtown, perhaps in older buildings, who are seeking larger units (they're an average of 3,200 to 3,300 square feet at 900 Michigan); and empty-nesters moving downtown. He sees the buyers being split evenly between the two segments.

The condos will join existing ones that are on the tower's upper floors and whose lobby entrance is on Delaware Place. But the new ones will be in a separate condo association with a lobby entrance formed from the redesign of the office lobby on Walton Street.

Parking will be rental and plentiful, Meara said, because the occupants of the 48 units will replace hundreds of office workers.

Booth Hansen is the architect for the condo redesign. The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.

The Urban Politician

September 26th, 2005, 05:12 PM

Sigh....

Theater District Getting More Parking
By Mark Ruda
Last updated: September 26, 2005 08:50am

CHICAGO-The city is selling a five-story building at 174 W. Randolph St. to Clovis Investments, LLC, which will demolish the building and use the 14,578 sf as a parking lot for up to five years. However, the developer is expected to begin work before then on a mixed-use project involving that property as well as two neighboring sites it already owns.

The community development commission recently endorsed the $1.2-million land sale, $290,000 more than the city’s cost to acquire the property, but the most recent appraised value. While Clovis Investments plans to build the first Downtown parking lot with permeable asphalt and shield it with theater-themed panels, a restaurant is likely to be among the retail tenants.

“I’ve been keeping my eye on this area for a long time,” says Joseph F. Zosky, managing member of Romeoville-based Clovis Investments. His group will spend nearly $6 million to create a 61-space parking lot--nearly $100,000 per space.

If Clovis Investments is unable to launch its mixed-use project, the city has the right to reacquire the site. However, department of planning and development officials will work out an arrangement with the developer protecting the city from a run-up in land prices.

The city council will require that, says 50th Ward Alderman Bernard Stone. “They’ll have to sell it back at the same price they’re buying it at.”

Clovis Investments’ development site will be east of 188 W. Randolph St., an office building that will be redeveloped as a multifamily rental property. Farmington Hills, MI-based Village Green Cos. and Everhardt & Nesis Co. bought the 76-year-old building, which has undergone repairs to its exterior since 2001, when terra cotta from the 43-story building fell along Randolph and Wells streets, as well as the Chicago Transit Authority’s elevated line.

lazar22b

September 26th, 2005, 07:05 PM

^^uhh..... Is it even worth it to spend $100,000 dollars per spot?? It seems there are more profitable ways of doing something like this.

spyguy

September 27th, 2005, 12:02 AM

Illinois Aug. home sales rise 8.6%; prices up 11%

By Julie Jargon

Sales of new and existing homes in Illinois rose 8.6% last month while the median home price jumped 11% to $215,000.

Almost 20,000 single-family homes and condos were sold in the state last month, compared to 18,384 in August 2004, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors.

“Demand for housing is as strong as ever largely due to continued attractive interest rates, strong demand for second homes and investment homes from the baby boomers, plus an improving jobs picture in Illinois,” Illinois Association of Realtors president Stan Sieron said in a statement. “Prices are rising at a healthy rate because demand is still stronger than supply at this point. As the supply of homes rises, it should take some of the pressure off prices. Even so, we expect home price appreciation to remain historically strong through the end of the year.”

The average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in Illinois last month was 5.92%, compared to 5.97% in August 2004.

In the Chicago metropolitan area, single-family home sales were up 5.6% to 8,811 last month and condo sales were up 13.3% to 5,870.

The median sale price of a single-family home in the Chicago area rose 10.4% to $279,900 compared to August 2004 while the median sale price of a condo jumped 10.3% to $215,000.

“Statewide, August was the strongest month so far in 2005 for condo sales and in the Chicago area we’re about even with June’s record number of condo sales,” Mr. Sieron stated. “Chicago remains one of the lower priced big U.S. cities and is one of the most affordably priced metro areas of the country.”

The median price of existing homes nationwide rose 15.8% to $220,000, according to the National Association of Realtors, which today released sales figures just for existing homes. The Illinois Association of Realtors did not break out the number of existing- versus new-home sales in today’s report.

Nationally, the sale of existing homes rose 2% in August to 7.29 million units, marking the second-highest level on record, after a high of 7.35 million homes sold in June.

spyguy

September 27th, 2005, 12:19 AM

New Construction

Chicago--Block 37 mixed-use, State and Randolph Streets, 300-unit mixed-use development, November, $100 million.

Chicago--Prairie Station mixed-use, Calumet Avenue and 21st Street, 265-unit mixed-use development, May, $21 million.

Chi_Coruscant

September 27th, 2005, 12:21 AM

spyguy

September 27th, 2005, 08:26 AM

$15 Million Rehab Spruces Up Downtown Subway Stop
CTA Opens New Red Line Station

POSTED: 3:45 pm CDT September 26, 2005
UPDATED: 4:31 pm CDT September 26, 2005

CHICAGO -- City and CTA officials on Monday cut the ribbon on a new Red Line subway station at Lake Street, presenting riders with granite floors, glazed ceramic wall tiles and improved lighting.

The station, located under State Street between Lake and Randolph Streets, had previously been unchanged since it was built in the 1940s, except for tactile edging along the platform and new turnstiles, according to Chicago Transit Authority President Frank Kruesi.

The $15 million renovation also expanded the station's mezzanine level by 1,500 feet and replaced three escalators with new ones that operate 25 percent faster, Kruesi said at a news conference at the station. Two escalators between street and mezzanine level and one between mezzanine and platform level were replaced.

Kruesi said part of the goal of renovating the station, which matches renovations already made at the Red Line's Roosevelt, Jackson, Washington and Chicago stations, was to increase the sense of security for CTA customers.

"These stations 10 years ago were dark, were scary places to go to. Now they are wide open, they are bright, they are well-lit and customers are using them and we're seeing more ridership because people feel safer on the system," Kruesi said. "They are welcoming instead of dismal."

The new tiles include improved signs directing riders to exits, including which direction each exit is facing.

The mezzanine and platforms at Lake Street stayed open during the renovations, but only for customers exiting the station, according to Kruesi.

The Lake Street station also features 20 new security cameras along the platform and nine new cameras on the mezzanine level, Kruesi said. Fiber optic cables link the cameras to the CTA's control center at 120 N. Racine Ave., and will eventually also link the cameras to the city's 911 Center at 1411 W. Madison St., Kruesi added.

Next month, the CTA will begin installing electronic kiosks to display information on CTA operations and local news, according to Cheri Heramb, Acting Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Kruesi said the CTA is also working on installing signs at all CTA train stations to provide riders with the estimated time until the next train arrives at that station.

Alderman Burton Natarus (42nd Ward) praised the new station, calling it a vital part of getting people to and from downtown. Natarus said more and more people are visiting downtown every year to visit the Theater District, Millennium Park, Grant Park and other attractions.

"For this city to survive, in light of the fact that everybody wants to move near it or into it because of its beauty and its facilities and its ability to run service, we're going to really have to do everything we can to enhance rapid transit in this city. And the rehabilitation of this station is one of the steps toward that," Natarus said.

BVictor1

September 28th, 2005, 02:15 PM

The Rookery lands on the market
12-story landmark is 3rd Chicago icon up for sale this year

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 28, 2005

The Rookery is up for sale, the third icon of Chicago skyscraper history to go on the market this year.

The landmark, 12-story structure at 209 S. LaSalle St., designed by Daniel Burnham and John W. Root and built in 1888, is regarded as a key example of early "tall" building design.

Reinforcing the building's place in history, Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905 supervised an interior renovation, redesigning the lobby and light court.

"When you walk in, you have a whole sense of brightness and openness," said Joseph Caprile, a principal with Chicago-based Lohan Caprile Goettsch Architects.

The Rookery is owned by a venture that includes Netherlands-based ING Bank, which gained control after a 1998 bankruptcy.

New York-based ING Clarion Partners, which manages the asset for the bank, has hired CB Richard Ellis Inc. to market the property, confirmed Michael Vesper, a senior vice president in the real estate firm's Chicago office.

"The Rookery combines classic architecture with a strong, secure investment," he said

The 285,000-square-foot building is said to be a solid financial performer that is 88 percent leased.

The largest tenants are U.S. Bank, with about 48,000 square feet, and the U.S. Justice Department and National Labor Relations Board, which combined have about 43,000 square feet.

The sale price could reach $70 million, or about $245 a square foot, some sources said.

Other historic Chicago skyscrapers that have changed hands or are expected to change hands this year include:

- The Railway Exchange Building, 224 S. Michigan Ave., designed by Burnham and built in 1904.

- The former Inland Steel Building, 30 W. Monroe St., designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and completed in 1958.

The small trend has more to do with the hot market for commercial real estate investments and less to do with any fad favoring the landmark structures, said Harvey Camins, who is part of the venture that in August bought the former Inland Steel building, along with celebrity architect Frank Gehry.

But in the current slow leasing market, architectural landmarks can gain an economic edge, said Camins, chief executive of Chicago real estate brokerage Camins Tomasz Kritt LLC.

"It's about the only kind of building where you can differentiate yourself, other than a brand-new, state-of-the-art high-rise," he said.

In 1992, the Rookery received a painstaking renovation by a partnership led by well-known bond trader Thomas Baldwin.

But six years later, the partnership filed for bankruptcy, a delayed result of the slump of the downtown office market in the early 1990s. ING Bank and another lender held unpaid mortgages of about $130 million, bankruptcy records show.

----------

BVictor1

September 28th, 2005, 05:25 PM

U.S. sues to acquire buildings on State Street for buffer zone

September 28, 2005

BY DAVID ROEDER AND ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters

The federal government filed suit Tuesday to forcibly acquire buildings on a decayed stretch of State Street between Adams and Jackson.

The parcels are immediately east of the Dirksen Federal Building, 219 S. Dearborn. Federal officials have been worried about creating a security "buffer zone'' around their Loop offices and courthouses.

A plan that could take years to be realized calls for the buildings to be replaced with new federal offices, said David Wilkinson, a spokesman for the General Services Administration. The GSA is the federal government's property manager.

In the meantime, the government hopes to spruce up the buildings to improve that section of State, he said.

"The idea is to provide basically a buffer to improve security and to control future development along the west side of State between Adams and Jackson,'' Wilkinson said. He said money has been appropriated to buy the buildings but not to demolish them.

The buildings include 10 W. Jackson, currently home to the government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. Wilkinson said the agency will move to another federal property at 536 S. Clark.

Another site is 216 S. State, whose ownership Wilkinson said is unclear.

$30 million?

Not included in the condemnation suits are the Berghoff Restaurant at 17 W. Adams and a building at the southwest corner of State and Adams being converted to a hotel.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed the suits, citing federal law that empowers government to buy property by eminent domain for public use. The law requires that the property owners get a fair market value.

Real estate brokers have estimated the properties' value could exceed $30 million.

BVictor1

September 30th, 2005, 06:21 AM

I went to the sales center opening of Vetro tonight(www.vetrochicago.com). There were quite a few people there, between 75-100. I was able to talk with the architect for a couple of minutes and I got his card, so I will try to get some better renderings and height information on tis one. I was able to take a few pics of the building model though. The building will have those interesting blue bands of glass and the base and top will be illuminated at night. I'll be going to the sales center for 600 North Fairbanks tomorrow, and whatever I find, I will report back here.

The West Face
http://img276.imageshack.us/img276/8894/p10103057mo.jpg

The North Face
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/5898/p10103064iu.jpg

The East Face
http://img281.imageshack.us/img281/4461/p10103076hh.jpg

The base along Wells
http://img281.imageshack.us/img281/5076/p10103081ce.jpg

The Outdoor Terrace on the 7th Level
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6277/p10103090yq.jpg

spyguy

September 30th, 2005, 06:24 AM

Not that bad. Good work. I'm surprised so many people showed up for this project.

Chi_Coruscant

September 30th, 2005, 07:01 AM

Great work, BVictor! That's a nice looking building for the location of Harrison/Wells.

Can't wait for your result on 600 N Fairbanks. With Jahn on hand, I am sure the sales will take off.

wickedestcity

September 30th, 2005, 07:34 AM

not bad , very interesting design it might look realy nice its hard to tell

ChicagoLover

September 30th, 2005, 08:33 PM

Wow.. this one seemed to sneek up on me.. I have never heard of it. I like what I see though. BVictor, do you know the precise location of this thing? Southeast corner of Harrison and Wells perhaps? Its hard to tell exactly from the website. I suppose this is replacing a vacant lot / parking lot?

Travis007

September 30th, 2005, 09:00 PM

Nice pics, BVictor! :okay:

The tower has a nice and very modern and I like the outdoor terrace and I think the base meets the street quite well.
Although the overall building is quite bulky looking from the East face, and will anything be covering up the blank wall? a connecting building?

http://img281.imageshack.us/img281/4461/p10103076hh.jpg

BVictor1

September 30th, 2005, 09:38 PM

There's a parking lot currently on the site, and yes, it's at the southeast corner of Harriosn and Wells.

BVictor1

October 1st, 2005, 05:45 AM

Here's a much better rendering of Vetro that I was able to scan...

https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/10/402564.jpg

itsnotrequired

October 1st, 2005, 05:59 AM

^That rendering makes it look a lot nicer. Those barren faces are pretty bland but the ground-level retail and trees will make up for it. They should really do something to break it up though. Some horizontal accent lines or ivy or something.

spyguy

October 1st, 2005, 06:09 AM

The person on the balcony is about to jump! Somebody stop him!

Looks better.

Chi_Coruscant

October 1st, 2005, 05:52 PM

Tidbits from Saturday's Chi Tribune's Homes Section:

-Marquee Michigan Ave (1454 S Mich): Sales soared more than 100 units in one month. It passed 50% mark.

-550 St. Clair in Streeterville: 60% of units are sold out. Construction starts on 2006 witih first move-ins planned in 2007.

spyguy

October 1st, 2005, 06:27 PM

-----

spyguy

October 1st, 2005, 06:28 PM

That's good news. I wonder how 535 St. Clair is doing, since I liked that design a lot.

BVictor1

October 1st, 2005, 08:03 PM

That's good news. I wonder how 535 St. Clair is doing, since I liked that design a lot.

They haven't started marketing that building yet. It still has to come befoe the plan commission. It was supposed to go before the commission in September, but it was defered until this month.

wickedestcity

October 2nd, 2005, 06:13 AM

accualy i think i liked the model better

The Urban Politician

October 2nd, 2005, 08:21 PM

spyguy

October 3rd, 2005, 12:45 AM

Loyola's new museum fills need for neutrality

By Alan G. Artner
Published October 2, 2005

This week the Loyola University Museum of Art will open on North Michigan Avenue, and because it is dedicated to "the spiritual in art" and next year will have an exhibition on the Dalai Lama, my fancy is that this small new art museum is a Buddhist reincarnation of the late, lamented Terra Museum of American Art.

Given the essential differences, the notion cannot be carried far. But there the place is on the Magnificent Mile, its specialized mission will be carried out in a building of the sort that Daniel J. Terra described as a "vertical museum," and as the Terra used art as an advertisement for American ideals, LUMA will use art to examine religious, intellectual and cultural concerns beyond the aesthetic.

So while natural comparisons might be with other Chicago-area museums attached to teaching institutions, such as the Smart or Block, the one that fits best in terms of a desire to attract the largest possible audience with offerings in which subject matter will be as important as the art is the old Terra.

Reincarnation is the soul coming back in another body. Let's see how.

LUMA is in a three-story building facing the park that surrounds the Water Tower. It used to house a student bookstore and university offices. The style of the exterior is Gothic Revival, and there was talk about doing the interior in Gothic or its 1920s revival. Ultimately, however, the choice was to create as neutral a space as possible, and that is what the Chicago firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz has done.

Touring the museum

The first floor is primarily an entryway: Visitors will pass a contemporary announcement board for exhibitions and a register of donors on the way to an elevator, stairs or door to the university proper. The art on view will be five small leaded-glass windows in which Chicago-based artists have symbolized Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism. These permanent pieces will be installed in January.

On the floor above, an admissions desk and small shop precede the galleries, some of which are for temporary shows, others for the Martin D'Arcy Collection of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art, which will be installed next April. The ceilings here are about 13 1/2 feet high, and the floors are of blond wood. Most of the rooms are rectangles. A few have rounded, load-bearing columns; the largest space also has a prominent staircase -- as the Terra did -- that leads to more galleries on the third floor.

There the ceiling height drops to about 9 1/2 feet, making the spaces better suited to smaller works. Included on this floor are a small library, workshop and lecture hall plus a corridor gallery -- like one on the second floor, devoted to works on paper -- for student art. The total space given to exhibition throughout the building is 22,000 square feet. All of it is unadorned, in the contemporary manner, though because most of the rooms are scaled to easel paintings there is a feeling of intimacy that becomes casual in the corridor galleries.

The opening shows are: "Caravaggio: Una Mostra Impossibile (An Impossible Exhibition)" in the main galleries; 17th Century etchings after Rubens on the life of St. Ignatius de Loyola in the corridor of works on paper; and pieces by winners of student art competitions at two grammar schools, one parochial, one public.

The Caravaggio is an oddity insofar as it holds only digital reproductions of the best-known paintings by the great 16th Century artist. Most of the 69 pieces are installed on light boxes in darkened rooms at the museum, but some proved so big that they have gone out to 10 other locations including the Chicago Cultural Center and Holy Name Cathedral.

Like art history class

Pamela Ambrose, Loyola's director of cultural affairs, said the reproductions fulfill an educational mission that, she hopes, will lead viewers to the originals, which of course are scattered in collections around the world, making a show of them "impossible." The effect of seeing reproductions in the actual size of the paintings is like attending an art history class that has slides color-corrected by scholars. However, a number of large pieces are made up of several segments in frames that interrupt the composition, and unless the light in each box is "tuned" properly there will be a flicker that further damages the illusion.

Withal, Ambrose has made the most of them, setting the reproductions in warmly colored rooms with walls that range from gold to lemon yellow. She has adopted a reverse chronology, presenting the latest works first and proceeding back to the artist's beginnings. This has the advantage of arresting viewers immediately, with some of the most daring works. It also risks letdown as viewers move further away from the artist painting at full strength.

RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) supplied the reproductions from its vast archive. A show devoted to Giotto is said to be in the works. I would not cross the street to see it. On the other hand, I once was told by a restorer of paintings for the Louvre that if audiences knew how little of the artist's hand remained in famous works after centuries of conservation, they wouldn't want to see them either. Here, at least, you know what you're in for, and anyone a stranger to a darkened classroom with slides flashing may find the experience congenial.

At its best, a new small museum will provide exhibitions no existing institution in town would do, and that certainly applies at present. But smallness also allows for a homey kind of connection with an audience that larger museums can't have, and that has to develop. The Terra had it upon opening in Evanston, yet it never quite happened downtown. Perhaps LUMA, which has the right intentions and physical plant, will manage it better.

- - -

The Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 N. Michigan Ave., will open Saturday with "Caravaggio: Una Mostra Impossibile (An Impossible Exhibition)," which will continue through Feb. 11, 2006. 312-915-7600.

BVictor1

October 4th, 2005, 02:35 AM

Well I have a bit of information on several projects.

-As Citizen reported above, the contents of The Columbian sales center is being packed up. I drove past, and floor plans have been removed from the walls and other things are being removed.

-Caisson work for Vision On State hasn't begun yet as Dan reported, but I did get a chance to talk with one of the construction workers, and he said that caisson work will begin within the next 2-3 weeks.

-The Shoreham II is now being called The Tides, and that construction on that will probably begin within the next month or so. There isn't to much information on the Gang Tower yet. They said that marketing will begin sometime next spring of '06' and that it will have retail, rental and condos. Condo units will begin on the 40th floor. The Chandler units are 75% under-contract and construction will begin before the end of the year.

-Astoria Tower is about 50% sold, not reserved, but units under contract. Construction will start sometime in March hopefully. Here's a half-way decent rendering of Astoria Tower.
https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/10/403722.jpg

spyguy

October 4th, 2005, 02:45 AM

Astoria looks a lot more lighter in color, fatter, and simplified than before.

Here's another rendering of Burnham Pointe:

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/1881/burnham3lg5hc.jpg

Chi_Coruscant

October 4th, 2005, 03:32 AM

Good work on Astoria and Tides!
A park on top of shorter structure is a major plus for Astoria.
Astoria looks fatter; maybe it was a photo dimension that did the trick.
Hope few other vacant lots shown in that pix will disappear soon.

The Urban Politician

October 4th, 2005, 04:52 AM

^Thanks for all the info, guys.

My favorite thing about Astoria is the novel way it deals with having such a huge parking garage. Residential units still front the street at all levels, including the garage levels. I wish more buildings would employ this design.

This and Vision on State--south State Street is developing quite a streetwall, isn't it?

Can someone remind me where Burnham Pointe is and what kind of timeline we're looking at?

ChicagoLover

October 4th, 2005, 05:47 AM

^ Astoria looks to be decent, although I wish it was a dark reddish color as on the website. Chicago certainly has enough quasi-beige towers. Now I'm wondering.. I am a bit confused about what the Astoria Tower development includes, given that I see that low-rise with the green top. Is this development going to be similar to State Place, with both high-rise and mid-rise portions which were made to appear as multiple buildings? I think that's a really good idea. Breaking up the massing makes the development appear more "natural" in a sense, rather than "all of a piece".. fitting it into a neighborhood in which many of the older buildings have smaller footprints.

How far north along State is Astoria going to run? Is there still going to be a parking lot between it and that black undulating glass tower at the end of Polk? (1 east 8th I think they're turning it into student housing or something?) Or is that entire "hole" in the streetwall going to be filled in? Its interesting how the developments are working their way south, and north, gradually plugging the holes. There's still a *huge* surface parking lot across from Jones College Prep, no? Is there anything proposed for that site?

BVictor1

October 4th, 2005, 06:11 AM

The building with the greenroof just north of Astoria Tower is a totally seperate structure with a totally different developer. I think that it's called One East 8th or something of that nature.

Here's a small piece of an article from the September edition of The Gazette

One Place Condominiums
One Place Condominiums will be a ten-story mid-rise at the corner of 8th and State Streets. Deeded parking will be available for each residential unit along with a public parking garage that will not be visible from State Street. There will be no investment garage space ownership (individuals will not be allowed to buy extra parking spots as an investment), said sales director Judy Walton.
Residential units will be situated on floors three through ten. The other floors will feature retail and commercial space and a 40,000 square foot, 24-hour Xport Fitness club with a three-story climbing wall, among other features.
Groundbreaking is scheduled for this winter, with occupancy anticipated in June or July 2007.
One- and two-bedroom units range from $159,000 to $299,000, with size ranging to slightly more than 1,000 square feet. One-bedroom-plus den penthouse terrace units start at $300,000, and two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse terrace units begin at $334,000. Balconies also are featured, and building amenities besides the health club include a recreation room, bike storage, and storage lockers.
Within the first five weeks of sales, the building was 85% sold. It is a development of One Place Condominiums, LLC, with Caccia-toreHarper as exclusive broker. The architect is FitzGerald Associates Architects.

spyguy

October 5th, 2005, 12:21 AM

Kroc Corps Community Center Competition down to Four Finalists
With little fanfare, last month the competition to design the Salvation Army's new $60-$70 million Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center at 47th and State Street in Chicago was narrowed down to four finalists: Chicago firms Murphy/Jahn, and Ross Barney + Jankowski, as well as Antoine Predock and Behnisch Architects. The four will submit their proposals to the jury beginning on October 24, with the announcement of winner scheduled for October 27th. You can download PDF's of the profile and team descriptions submitted by each finalist from the competition website.

http://www.chicagorjkccc.com/index.php?page=results

----------

Kind of sad that this is getting so little attention, but with $60-70 million it could easily be a beauty.

Chi_Coruscant

October 5th, 2005, 07:06 PM

- edit

ChicagoLover

October 5th, 2005, 10:35 PM

^ That's such an obvious crock of bull. How costly is it really for them to keep that building and see if they can sell it to a developer? Have they even tried to do that???

spyguy

October 5th, 2005, 11:43 PM

Archon JV Buys 50 Acres for 420,000-SF Power Center
By Dana Dubriwny

CHICAGO-Archon Group LP, a subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in conjunction with Monroe Investment Partners LLC, a local private partnership, acquired a 50-acre site on Chicago’s South Side for the joint venture development of a new 420,000-sf retail power center to be called Chatham Market.

The project, which will be built on the Ryerson steel plant site at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue near the Dan Ryan Expressway, is moving forward immediately, says Curt Bailey, director of retail investments at the Chicago regional office of Archon. The development is expected to cost nearly $120 million, but is expected to receive more than $30 million in tax increment financing dollars.

Thus far, Archon has signed home improvement retailer Lowe’s to anchor the center, which will utilize 130,000 sf. The project is designed to accommodate two big-box anchors and by a mix of other category-leading retailers ranging from 15,000 sf to 45,000 sf, plus specialty shops.

Bailey says that while center will bring a much-needed economic boost to the area, the South Side region offers a dense and mature consumer base. According to his figures, the median income for the area is $50,000. “I think there is a dearth of 50-acre retail sites available in the City of Chicago, especially with an established retail node and outstanding density,” Bailey tells GlobeSt.com. “The fact is that this area is under retailed.”

Archon is also heading up Poplar Creek Crossing, a 400,000-sf retail center anchored by a 124,000-sf Target under construction in suburban Hoffman Estates. It also was a joint venture partner in the redevelopment of the 550,000-sf Brickyard Mall on Chicago’s Northwest Side, which re-opened in 2004.

http://www.tartanrealtygroup.com/83rd/83rd_pic.jpg

The Urban Politician

October 6th, 2005, 05:16 AM

nomarandlee

October 6th, 2005, 08:31 AM

^ That's such an obvious crock of bull. How costly is it really for them to keep that building and see if they can sell it to a developer? Have they even tried to do that???

I agree totally. That is a great Chicago building that should be preserved at all cost. If just rehabbed a bit it could be stunning. Even in the condition its in it is still an important and quality building.

Chi_Coruscant

October 6th, 2005, 04:56 PM

Stroger, perhaps IMO, is the most stupidest politician Cook County ever had. He consistently is out of touch with his CC constituents. He usually thinks increase in property taxes is the only viable solution to the county budget problems.
-----------------------------------
Anyway, interesting tidbit from Ann Gerber's column in 10/06 Skyline newspaper with her exact words: "WE HEAR THAT RITZ CARLTON RESIDENCES, 35 floors, will rise at the Terra Museum site on Boul Mich with concierge, all the coveted perks of the Ritz for lucky tenants. Prism Development is the builder with marketing by Rubloff."

HowardL

October 6th, 2005, 05:14 PM

Archon JV Buys 50 Acres for 420,000-SF Power Center
http://www.tartanrealtygroup.com/83rd/83rd_pic.jpg
Gadgets AND shoes! Aw, I'm in heaven now.

The Urban Politician

October 7th, 2005, 12:26 AM

By the way, did any of you go to this? It was TODAY and it would be awesome to get some info about the plans:

The next Friends of Downtown Brown Bag presentation
Thursday, October 6 at 12.15
Chicago Cultural Center

Metra Market

Cassandra Jansen Francis, Vice President at U. S. Equities, and Michael J. Sullivan from OWP/P Architects will present the lively new MetraMarket which will transform nearly two full city blocks of underutilized, street level space at Ogilvie Transportation Center (OTC). The lively new MetraMarket will have a double focus: The train station’s suburban concourse will cater to commuters, while a renovated Randolph Street area will link Chicago's revived theater district to the east and the growing restaurant district to the west. The 200,000 square foot development will feature 90,000 square feet of retail including a specialty food market, 36,000 square feet of restaurants and parking for 100 cars.

Frumie

October 7th, 2005, 04:35 AM

BVictor1

October 7th, 2005, 04:41 AM

10/5/2005 10:00:00 PM

Rezmar sells Riverside Park to foreign conglomerate

By HAYDN BUSH, Staff Writer

South Loop
The Rezmar development team that created the sweeping, 63-acre Riverside Park development plan for Clark and Roosevelt has reportedly sold their interest in the project to the British-based General Mediterranean Holding SA, according to a Sun-Times report this week. Rezmar officials did not return a call for comment this week, but the sale was reported at $131.5 million, according to the article.

In March, Rezmar released a revised plan for Riverside Park, shorn of big-box development, that emphasized smaller, unique retailers and included a 12-story, Art Deco-influenced mixed-use building as its centerpiece. All told, the project has been proposed to add more than 4,000 residential units over several phases of construction. In March, Rezmar officials said they hoped to complete the first phase of development by 2007.

However, the project—which would revitalize a long-fallow bit of riverfront property created when the Chicago River was straightened in the 1930s—was dependent on massive public subsidies. Rezmar officials requested roughly $140 million in tax increment financing funding from the city earlier this year, which would have paid for basic infrastructure like roads and sewers. But the project was thrown into doubt after Rezmar founder Antoin Rezko was accused in April of using a minority front company to gain a slice of a lucrative O’Hare-based Panda Express outlet—and subsequently withdrew his interest in the restaurant. In August, Connie Buscemi, a spokesperson for the Department of Planning
and Development, said that Rezko’s troubles with the city could influence whether or not Riverside Park received TIF funding.

The Sun-Times report states that Rezko and project manager Michael Rumman would create a new management company to help shepherd the construction of Riverside Park for General Mediterranean Holding SA.

Leslie Sturino, president of South Loop Neighbors, said this week that she hopes Riverside Park is ultimately constructed. The project had received nearly universal approval from community groups, and included an extension of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, a new riverfront park, and the possibility of a massive retail presence near Roosevelt Road.

"There was so much time, work and money invested on the part of the development team and all the agencies," Sturino said. "The plans were excellent. It’s a shame that it won’t move forward right away. We hope that it will move forward under somebody else’s vision."

The Urban Politician

October 7th, 2005, 05:42 AM

Whadda think TUP, is this going to happen? It's a terrific concept.

^Hell if I know.

That's why somebody needs to join Friends of Downtown and start going to these Brown Bag Luncheons

wickedestcity

October 7th, 2005, 05:48 PM

brown bag luncheon eh, is that were you b.y.o.b as in bring your own bag (with lunch)?

BVictor1

October 8th, 2005, 02:11 PM

Condos planned at Terra
Firm has option to buy former museum site

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 8, 2005

A low-profile Chicago real estate firm has an option to buy the shuttered Terra Museum of American Art on Michigan Avenue, with plans to build a luxury condominium building branded with the Ritz-Carlton name.

Prism Development Co. is part of a venture proposing a roughly 35-story tower that would be located behind the landmark Art Deco structure at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Erie Street, preserving the facade, according to sources familiar with the plans. Chicago-based Lucien Lagrange Architects Ltd. is designing the project, sources said.

Although not a hotel, the building would offer hotel-style amenities, such as room service, and be managed by Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., sources said. In recent years, the company has extended its brand with a condo concept called Residences at the Ritz-Carlton.

Donald Ratner, executive vice president with the Terra Foundation for the Arts, confirmed that Prism had acquired a one-year option to buy the property. He declined to comment about the developer's plans, but said the transaction was part of a foundation plan to maximize the return on its assets.

Bruce Schultz, a veteran real estate executive and principal in Prism, could not be reached for comment.

The posh project, with fewer than 100 units, enters an increasingly crowded field at the very top end of the residential market, where prices start at $500 a square foot.

"Sales velocities in general are weakest at the upper end of the market," according to a market report issued in July by Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago consulting firm.

The most recent competitor is the Santiago Calatrava-designed, 115-story tower proposed at Lake Shore Drive and the Chicago River, which has quietly begun sales. But the leader, according to most market observers, is the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, already under construction at 401 N. Wabash Ave.

Earlier this week, looking to add some sizzle to another riverfront condo project, the development arm of Chicago architectural firm Teng & Associates said it had reached an agreement with a Hong Kong company for the hotel portion of Teng's proposed tower at 111 W. Wacker Drive.

It's the first U.S. deal for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts.

But Prism venture is banking on the Ritz brand. A unit of lodging giant Marriott International Inc. of Bethesda, Md., Ritz-Carlton Hotel manages a worldwide portfolio of 59 hotels, with nearly 19,000 rooms.

The company has nine Residence locations. Most are part of hotels or resort complexes, but a few are stand-alone projects.

Construction of the Chicago project would depend on condo sales. Chicago-based Rubloff Residential Properties is already selectively marketing the development, sources said.

The development would displace three tenants, including Hanig's Footwear Inc., which has operated an upscale store in the historic Farwell Building, 660 N. Michigan Ave., since 1977. The others are Starbucks and Garrett Popcorn Shop.

The Terra museum was closed last year, and key parts of its collection were moved to the Art Institute of Chicago, after a lengthy Terra board battle.

The foundation put the site up for sale last year, seeking either an outright sale for more than $65 million or a long-term ground lease that would pay about $3.5 million annually.

As part of a complicated transaction the foundation will retain ownership of about 20,000 square feet of retail space in the new building on three levels, Ratner said. It also will have offices in the building.

----------

tcorfman@tribune.com

spyguy

October 8th, 2005, 06:40 PM

.......yay...........more condo conversions....

spyguy

October 9th, 2005, 07:06 AM

This is probably old, but on SSP and they have some big names.

Proposals for a $45 million, 3.5 million volume capacity library addition for UofC :

SOM
Libeskind
Ross Barney Jankowski, Chicago
Murphy/Jahn
Polshek
Vinoly

Groundbreaking for June 07.

Frumie

October 9th, 2005, 06:55 PM

The Urban Politician

October 10th, 2005, 05:51 PM

Well, looks like the old Spertus Institute won't go to waste. How about a makeover as well?

Columbia aims to buy Spertus building
Spertus to relocate
By Hayley Graham
Campus News
School officials announced last week that the board of trustees has approved a plan to purchase the building that houses the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

Columbia and Spertus are currently negotiating the details of the contract that will finalize Columbia’s purchase of Spertus’ current building at 618 S. Michigan Ave., located beside Columbia’s South Campus Building, 624 S. Michigan Ave.

Over the next 10 years, Columbia is expected to grow 2 percent, Berg said at the College Council meeting Oct. 7.

The Spertus building will add 76,000 usable square feet to Columbia’s campus of 13 buildings throughout the South Loop. Alicia Berg, vice president of campus environment, expects Columbia to sign the contract “fairly soon.” Berg did not know exactly how long the negotiations will continue.

“This will help with the overall space crunch,” Berg said.

While Columbia is unsure of what departments will be housed in the Spertus building, Berg said one idea is to use some space as a temporary student center, which Columbia’s Student Government Association has been pushing for since last fall.

Once Columbia buys the building, planning of how to use its space will begin.

Columbia will be able to move into the 10-story building once Spertus has moved into its new location. Construction of Spertus’ new 155,000 square foot steel and glass structure, which will be located in the empty lot just north of the institution’s current location at 610 S. Michigan Ave., is expected to begin in November. Spertus officially broke ground its new location during a ceremony on Oct. 9.

“We needed more space and a building that could handle more sophisticated technology,” said Betsy Gomberg, director of institutional outreach at the Spertus Institute.

Spertus has more than a half a million pieces in its collections, including rare books, maps, music, film and records of the Chicago Jewish archives that need to be stored in humidity- and temperature-controlled areas.

“This building has served us beautifully; it just wasn’t really right for a cultural center,” Gomberg said.

Spertus’ goal is to be moved into the new building by summer 2007. Columbia will then begin the building’s interior renovation. Berg said she will not know how long the renovation will take until the plan for the building is completed.

The Urban Politician

October 10th, 2005, 05:52 PM

repost

Latoso

October 10th, 2005, 08:22 PM

Chi_Coruscant

October 13th, 2005, 12:47 AM

Developer Buck angles for deals on Randolph

October 12, 2005

BY DAVID ROEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
John Buck, the office developer who has shaken up the market with his successes on Wacker Drive, is considering Randolph Street for his next big move downtown.

It's been known for some time that Buck has struck a partnership with Steven Levin of BriJus Property Co., owner of an older building at the northeast corner of Wacker and Randolph. But sources said Buck is trying to snatch up other buildings east of that site, some of which BriJus also controls.

Buck apparently harbors plans that extend to Franklin and perhaps farther east to Wells, picking up a block that includes little besides parking and a Walgreens. That would put him in headlong competition with developer J. Paul Beitler, who has tried for his own deal along Randolph, and the Crown family, which has empty land awaiting office tenants on the south side of Randolph at Franklin.

One expert said Buck is approaching various government agencies, including the Chicago Park District, about anchoring an office complex. Buck and Levin would not comment.

BACK TO MARKET: Fans of the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 929 N. Dearborn should take note. Tipsters report that the Masonic organization that owns the building and the land around it have put both up for sale. Three years ago, the group had a deal with Smithfield Properties LLC to sell everything but the cathedral for $30 million, but then backed out.

Now, sources said the organization wants to take its aging membership out of the city altogether and is willing to part with everything. It has hired Staubach Co. to market the block bounded by Walton, Delaware, State and Dearborn. Representatives of the group and Staubach could not be reached for comment.

STATION BREAK: Amtrak, which has approached the redevelopment of Chicago's Union Station with all the swiftness of an Empire Builder marooned in a blizzard, is said to be creakingly, achingly near the selection of a developer for the project. The choice is between a team headed by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., which advocates adding a tower to the station, and one headed by Lincoln Property Co., which wants two towers.

Two towers would appeal to Amtrak's greed as the property owner. But Jones Lang LaSalle essentially has picked up a prior scheme that already has approval from the city's landmarks commission. "We're two years ahead of them'' in the approval process, said Hossein Youssefi, a managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle in charge of the project. We'll see if that makes any difference to Amtrak, which, if the past is a guide, will choose the most difficult way to accomplish nothing with its landmark property.

ON THE WATERFRONT: With all the emphasis on riverfront development downtown, it's natural that people should wonder when, if ever, the Kennedy family plans to develop Wolf Point, the land where the river branches north and south. Rumors about a plan have been spurred, in part, by designs that can be seen in the Chicago offices of architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

But Christopher Kennedy, who runs the family's property interests as executive vice president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., said there's no push to build on Wolf Point. Skidmore, he said, has worked on designs over the last two years to link future buildings to the renovated 350 N. Orleans building, now the home of the Sun-Times. And Kennedy acknowledged that the developer Hines Interests LP had expressed interest in buying the site.

But that was before Hines finalized its deal for 300 N. La Salle, where it plans a 60-story office tower.

Kennedy said the market favors a residential building at Wolf Point, but there are no plans to pursue one. The focus instead is on expanding the family niche in furniture showrooms, such as through the purchase in September of the Boston Design Center by Vornado Realty Trust, the parent of the Kennedy-run Merchandise Mart.

Wolf Point has been in the Kennedys' hands since the 1940s. "We've been through a lot of cycles with that property,'' Kennedy said. "We take a multi-generational approach to our investments.''

Skidmore once sketched a fanciful 125-story building for Wolf Point, but Kennedy disavowed interest in any "world's tallest'' aspirations.

CALENDAR NOTE: Specialists in four real estate disciplines discuss the services they provide to major developers during a seminar Oct. 26 at University Center, 525 S. State. The lead sponsor is the Midwest chapter of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Call chapter President David Hall at (708) 846-8029 for information.

spyguy

October 13th, 2005, 12:53 AM

Wow that's an informative article. I'm not saying Wolf Point needs to be developed RIGHT now, but if Kennedy plans on doing nothing with it then I think it's best it go to someone else.

wickedestcity

October 13th, 2005, 01:17 AM

that old plan for a 125 story building was a nice one , ohh well

BVictor1

October 13th, 2005, 03:17 PM

Finding partners in high places
Law firm, real estate company to share a new building

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 13, 2005

Jenner & Block LLC has agreed in principle to co-anchor a River North skyscraper that would be developed by Mesirow Financial's real estate unit, as law firm expansion continues to help drive the downtown office building boom.

Together, Jenner and Mesirow would lease about 70 percent of the 1.1 million-square-foot building, proposed for a vacant parcel at Kinzie and Clark Streets. The 40-story glass structure would be completed in early 2009 at a cost of more than $300 million.

Jenner would move from One IBM Plaza, where it has been since 1973. Mesirow would move its headquarters from a terra cotta classic at 350 N. Clark St., which it has occupied since 1984 and which is across the street from the site, which will have an address of 351 N. Clark.

The deal underscores several forces at work in the downtown office market, including the expansion of law firms and the continued construction of new buildings, despite the relatively high vacancy rates.

By staying in River North, Jenner and Mesirow are bucking a trend among prestigious office tenants who are moving closer to Wacker Drive, which has become Chicago's premier business address.

In making the deal, Jenner is passing up a chance to anchor a proposed office tower at 155 N. Wacker Drive, and opting not to renew its lease at IBM Plaza, locations that most real estate observers would say are more convenient and more prominent. River North is better known for its restaurants and shopping than its office towers.

Yet the site selection, even more than the building's distinctive exterior walls designed by architect Dirk Lohan, illustrates how important a role image can play in major real estate decisions.

The proposed tower will not be named for either Mesirow or Jenner, which are bypassing what many companies would regard as a key branding opportunity.

But for Jenner, founded in 1914, and Mesirow, founded 23 years later, the deal is a rare opportunity to make long-lasting statements about culture and vision for the future.

"It comes around maybe once in someone's career," said Todd Lippman, an executive vice president with real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc., which isn't involved in the transaction.

Law firms and financial-services firms face strong competition in hiring top talent, and new office space is increasingly viewed as an important subjective factor in winning over prospective employees, he noted.

Mesirow Chairman and Chief Executive James Tyree preaches that his firm is the "alternative to the global, mega-giant, cookie-cutter" firms.

"We wanted a building that would match the firm's image," he said.

Donald Resnick, the Jenner partner who negotiated the deal, added, "We have never been ones to follow the herd."

The deal matches two firms of roughly the same size. Mesirow's revenue for its latest fiscal year rose 11 percent, to $298 million, from the previous year. Jenner's revenue rose 8.1 percent in 2004, to $253.5 million, compared to 2003, according to the annual survey by American Lawyer magazine.

The new tower would be built by veteran developer Richard Stein, senior managing director of Mesirow Stein Real Estate, who has been itching to build a new Mesirow headquarters since he merged his real estate company with Mesirow in 1996.

Neither Jenner nor Mesirow is large enough to anchor a building of more than 1 million square feet, according to many experts, and by joining forces they are likely to reach a better deal than they would obtain alone.

"We wanted to switch the economics of this thing from developers to tenants," Tyree said.

Mesirow and Jenner have a few clients in common, but the two firms believe those opportunities could be increased by sharing the same office building.

For Mesirow, the deal also allow it to combine offices located at 321 N. Clark St., where it leases about 150,000 square feet of space, with its headquarters, where it has 107,000 square feet. A Mesirow-managed partnership owns the headquarters building.

The new tower will be owned by another Mesirow-controlled venture that will include River North developer Albert Friedman, who controls the 54,000-square-foot site, which stretches along Kinzie from Clark to Dearborn Street. The site is just north of two familiar riverfront towers: the 321 N. Clark office building and the Westin River North at 320 N. Dearborn St.

Jenner's decision showed no room for sentimentality. In addition to the firm's longtime association with IBM Plaza, the building's owner, Chicago-based Prime Group Realty Trust, is a Jenner client.

So is Chicago developer John Buck Co., which proposed the skyscraper at 155 N. Wacker Drive that Jenner also passed on.

Moreover, Jenner's real estate adviser, Robert Chodos, was a top principal at Buck Co. until January, when he joined Colliers Bennett & Kahnweiler Inc.

At one point in its own search, Mesirow considered moving to IBM Plaza, taking over the name of the riverfront building, whose namesake tenant has moved to another new tower at 71 S. Wacker Drive. But Mesirow rejected that plan.

In its bid to retain Jenner, Prime Group promised a costly $130 million renovation of IBM Plaza. But Jenner, whose lease expires in 2010, ruled out a renewal because of uncertainty over who would take over the former IBM space and concerns about the disruption of working in a building undergoing a complete renovation.

Resnick said the difference in financial terms among the various proposals amounted to less than 1 percent of annual revenue.

The proposal for the new tower "satisfies all of our criteria in terms of how it would appeal to recruits, to clients and to the people who are going to work there," Resnick said.

- - -

Building downtown law office space

Law firm Jenner & Block and Mesirow Financial have agreed in principle to coanchor a River North skyscraper. The deal underscores the expansion of law firms and continued new building construction.

DELIVERY ADDRESS LAW FIRM SIZE, SQ. FT.
2009 300 N. LaSalle St. Kirkland & Ellis 600,000
2005 1 S. Dearborn St. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood 550,000
2005 71 S. Wacker Drive Mayer Brown Rowe Maw 450,000
2009 321 N. Clark St. Jenner & Block 375,000
2003 131 S. Dearborn St. Seyfarth Shaw 300,000
2002 191 N. Wacker Drive Gardner Carton & Douglas 198,000
2005 111 S. Wacker Drive Lord Bissell Brook 194,000
Source: CB Richard Ellis Chicago Tribune

----------
tcorfman@tribune.com

The Urban Politician

October 13th, 2005, 06:53 PM

Much good news. You don't visit the forums for like 3 days, but upon returning you get buried in it. You guys should try this some time, its rather fun

ChicagoLover

October 13th, 2005, 08:05 PM

Distinctive exterior, he says. Well I'm hoping Mies' grandson outdoes himself for this one. IBM Tower and Prime Group are in big trouble now.

A couples questions... TUP -- didn't you visit Chicago recently? And two, does anyone know why Dirk Lohan left his old firm (Lohan Caprille Goetcsch) to form a new one, Lohan Anderson.

spyguy

October 13th, 2005, 11:20 PM

Wow, this was surprising. Should be rather large too.

But I am saddened by what is happening to IBM Tower :(

ChgoLvr83

October 14th, 2005, 02:40 AM

Columbian Builders Land $92M Construction Loan
By Mark Ruda
Last updated: October 13, 2005 12:32pm

CHICAGO-Financing is in place for one more South Loop condominium tower. Corus Bank is writing a $92-million construction loan for the Columbian project at 1160 S. Michigan Ave., which is expected to add 220 units in a 46-story building at the southwest corner of Grant Park.

Corus Bank is providing the developer, Davis Group, a non-recourse loan. The Davis Group includes Allison S. Davis, a member of the city’s plan commission.

In addition for a 229-space parking garage, plans for the Columbian include ground-floor retail space. The building, designed by DeStefano + Partners, will include units ranging from 825 sf to 6,000 sf.

The development site is north of Roosevelt Road as well as the Central Station development. This summer, plans were endorsed for 798 more units in the 1300 and 1400 blocks of S. Michigan Avenue. However, potential competition five blocks north has been eliminated, as a conversion of the Blackstone Hotel was scrapped with its sale to Sage Hospitality Resources, which is converting it to a Marriott Renaissance.

wickedestcity

October 14th, 2005, 05:15 AM

Dreaming of a Buckingham Fountain bridge
Bollards are coming soon to Queen’s Landing, but will a pedestrian crossing make a comeback?

By HAYDN BUSH, Managing editor

South Loop
In front of a crowd of roughly 30 Grant Park Advisory Council members gathered at Daley Bicentennial Plaza Tuesday night, Chicago Department of Transportation assistant project manager John Yonan promised that changes at the Queen’s Land-ing area just east of Buckingham Fountain are on tap for both the next few weeks and the more distant future.

Yonan first assured the crowd that the temporary snow fence erected at Queen’s Landing last June—which effectively blocked off a pedestrian crossing over Lake Shore Drive—would be replaced soon by permanent concrete bollards similar to those on Congress Parkway farther west in Grant Park. Yonan agreed with the widely held opinion that the temporary snow fences are unsightly and aren’t doing much to discourage intrepid pedestrians from crossing Lake Shore Drive illegally. Yonan added that the city will soon be removing the white striping that is all that remains from the old crosswalk, and which may be inciting some pedestrians to cross Lake Shore Drive.

"We wanted to get rid of the snow fence and do something aesthetically pleasing," Yonan said. ".... We have a three-week solution, which is an interim solution."

After someone in the audience wondered if the bollards, connected by iron chains, would serve as enough of a deterrent for impatient pedestrians who already clamber over the snow fences, Yonan insisted that CDOT studies have documented that bollards are a more imposing barrier.

"The snow fence is being jumped over," Yonan said. "Bollards discourage people."

But while the bollards may be completed within the next three weeks, Yonan said the possibility of a new pedestrian crossing at Queen’s Landing is still up in the air. Yonan, Grant Park Advisory Council President Bob O’Neill, Park District brass and officials from the city’s Traffic Management Authority convened at City Hall last week to begin discussing the prospect of either an overpass or underpass.

O’Neill argued that a possible overpass or underpass—even if it’s several years away—is a better option than the grade-level crossing that existed at Queen’s Landing before the city’s newly created Traffic Management Authority shut it down in June. At the time, TMA officials claimed that the crossing significantly slowed down traffic in and around Grant Park.

"Our commitment was to work with the city, the Traffic Management Authority and the Park District on a grade-separated crossing," O’Neill said. "What was out there was not a good crossing."

CDOT has toyed with the notion of building a walkway at Queen’s Landing since at least 1999. In 2001, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava—now famous in Chicago for his Fordham Spire proposal—drew up several possibilities for connections over and under Lake Shore Drive. However, those plans were ultimately tabled.

Dusting off the four-year-old Calatrava blueprints for Queen’s Landing, Yonan stressed that the city is committed to studying as many possibilities for a crossing as exist. Calatrava’s designs ranged from a minimalist, Y-shaped overpass to an ornate suspension bridge. Yonan stressed that those designs are only a starting point for discussion, adding that other possibilities will be taken under consideration.

"My intent tonight is to listen to you," Yonan said.

Yonan did say that the city would likely discourage the construction of underpasses similar to those on North Lake Shore Drive, which often flood during the winter. If an underpass is approved, the city would likely want to raise Lake Shore Drive several feet to keep the underpass from flooding, Yonan said. One of Calatrava’s overpass designs, meanwhile, could require raising Lake Shore Drive as many as 13 feet in the air. If the city goes ahead with a pedestrian bridge, that could include lowering Lake Shore Drive to bring down the bridge and preserve some views of the city. Several of those in attendance said they hope the city preserves the vista looking south from Grant Park to the steps of the Field Museum

All of those options, Yonan said, would add significantly to the cost of a new pedestrian connection, which he estimated would likely cost between $5 and $10 million and is at least three to four years away. He added that state and federal money may be necessary to complete the project.

"It comes down to when funds are available," Yonan said.

wickedestcity

October 14th, 2005, 05:16 AM

Mayor does the talking for his new planning commissioner

October 13, 2005

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Advertisement

With strong opinions about how he wants Chicago to look, Mayor Daley has always been his own planning commissioner.

Never was that more evident than on the day he named a new one.

After introducing Lori Healey as his seventh commissioner of planning and development in 16 years, Daley proceeded to interject on virtually every question directed at Healey.

When a reporter asked about the Central Loop tax increment financing district due to expire in 2007 and whether Healey planned to renew or expand it, Daley could be heard in the background whispering, "You don't know."

Healey obliged by saying, "I haven't been directly involved with anything to do with the Central Loop TIF in quite some time. It's going to take some time to get in and take a look at it and really determine what's the best course of action."

Mayor jumps in

When a reporter asked how Healey would keep the momentum going on Block 37, Daley jumped in and talked about the coming groundbreaking ceremonies for the office building that will be anchored by the ground floor studios of WBBM-Channel 2.

"We're almost ready to go," he said.

The mayor jumped in once again when Healey was asked about whether the project needs a built-in entertainment component.

"What are you going to do? Am I in Chicago? Do we have theaters on Randolph Street? Do we have theaters on Dearborn Street? We do have theaters downtown," the mayor said. Healey said it's her understanding that Mills Corp., master developer for Block 37, has been "in deep discussions with any number of entertainment providers in the block. There's food. There's restaurants. There's great shopping. Within short order, they're going to be ready to unveil what those draws are going to be."

Before Daley started running interference, Healey made it a point to promise a "clear, proactive vision" for Chicago neighborhoods, many of which are involved in the CHA's $1 billion transformation project.

That's something Healey is familiar with as the CHA's vice chair since 2002.

"So many great things are happening in neighborhoods across the city. There's new communities that are being created. . . . We need to create visions that will address those challenges," she said.

Healey replaces Denise Casalino, the former engineer appointed two years ago to expedite projects caught in the City Hall bottleneck. Casalino resigned last week to avoid further scrutiny of building permits granted to her developer husband.

ChicagoLover

October 14th, 2005, 07:00 AM

"What are you going to do? Am I in Chicago? Do we have theaters on Randolph Street? Do we have theaters on Dearborn Street? We do have theaters downtown," the mayor said.

That's hilarious. Its so classic Daley.

Chicago Shawn

October 21st, 2005, 04:11 AM

from Chicago Journal.....

Event organizer Peter Ziv made it clear early on that he had an ax to grind: the 35-story tower planned for 720 S. Clark. Ziv charged that the project, along with the high-rise and town house development proposed by Concord Homes for Clark Street south of Polk, will create an unsightly canyon along Polk Street and bring an extra 1,300 cars through the Polk-Clark intersection each day.

Ziv, a resident of the next-door Folio Square condo complex that would lose its eastern vistas were the tower built, argued that developers should move the tower to the extreme north end of the lot and install public green space on its current footprint. He said the development was "in direct opposition" to 2003’s Near South Community Plan, available on the Department of Planning and Development Web site, which calls for Polk Street to remain a pedestrian destination.

"We are tax-paying residents of Printers’ Row," Ziv said at the meeting, indignantly holding up a rendering of the proposed project. "These buildings are not."

What a fucking retard. Hey, dumb ass pedestrains are created from high density, with out high density and mixed use, there are no pedestrains. This misguided moron needs to pick up a book on what creates a 'pedestrin destination'. Also how the hell does one high rise and a couple of townhomes create 1300 more cars? I hope those townhomes don't happen what a fucking waste of space that will be, Dearborn Park III with plenty of future NIMBYism to come with it.

How are those buildings not paying taxes? The developer is purchasing the property, and is therefore paying taxes on it. The parking operator who sold it payed taxes on the lot, and the new residents will be paying taxes. I guess townhomes canyonize streets now too. :crazy: This is the fucking city you retarded pussy-ass ex-suburban fucknut, if you don't like canyonized streets, you shouldn't have moved to one in DOWNTOWN CHICAGO!

Damn that article riled me up, now for the good news....

All 3 items on todays agenda were approved by the Chicago Plan Commison....

300 North LaSalle.
-Victor got a card from some guy with Hines, and should get a exact height soon. Hieghest occupied floor is ~750' , which was mentioned in the meeting. It will be 62 stories
-The Building will be LEED Certified, and will include a green roof.
-13,000 square feet of retail space
-A public plaza will connect this tower to Wells Street, creating a through-block pedestrian connection.
-225 parking spaces on 4 floors below street level (3 levels below grade).
-Space is being provided for a future transit station on the Carroll Avenue Right-of-Way (ya know, the light rail proposal)

-Also Alderman Naturas defended the hieght of the tower and said "tall buildings should be promoted along the river. It is magnificent when you are on a tourboat, and this is a magnificent building. Its hard to build tall build tall buildings in residential neighborhoods because the residents want to keep them out, where else would you put it? This is the place for it." (one of the commisioners who isn't usually part of the meetings mentioned it dwarfs everything around it)

531-549 North St. Clair. THIS PROJECT IS SO FUCKING COOL!
-37 story building, 312 units,with a main roof hieght of 427' (Victor will be getting the total height from them. Both the architect and developer are very nice and friendly.
-an existing four story building on St. Clair to the north will be preserved and turned into 9 loft units.
-The project will be LEED certified with these awesome features: 95% green roof, grey water irrigation (all rain water collected will be used within the building), the tower will have a virtical greenhouse of hanging gardens running up the side of the building to filter the car exhust from the parking garage. The garage will have dimming lights attached to motion sensors (increasing illumination as a car approaches) to reduce energy consuption.
-The building will replace a really, really disgusting parking garage in Streeterville, but will retain 275 public parking spaces within the new building in addition to 277 private parking spaces all set behind a glass wall.

And here is a kicker: Alderman Bernard Stone asked "Ya know this project is in Streeterville, where is SOAR to comment on this? They comment on everything in the neighborhood." When the project lawyer said there was no letter of opposition, and that SOAR was in support, he goes "well that's a first". :laugh:

spyguy

October 21st, 2005, 04:18 AM

Hehe. Good news. Thanks for the nice updates.

pottebaum

October 21st, 2005, 05:52 AM

future transit station on the Carroll Avenue Right-of-Way (ya know, the light rail proposal)

Cool---I hadn't heard anything about this. What's the deal?

richardsonhomebuyers

October 21st, 2005, 05:53 AM

I'm excited about the St. Clair building. This thing is right behind me. Is the 4 story building your talkng about the one with the white hen in it?

Also 300 N Lasalle will be 775'. I saw it myself.

ChicagoLover

October 21st, 2005, 06:01 AM

Maybe none of SOAR's members views are blocked. That's all they really care about anyway.

Chi_Coruscant

October 21st, 2005, 06:55 AM

It's nice to know that Ald Natarus is on our side, not snootyville nimby group.
I hope he fully supports Fordham Spire without asking for height modification.

spyguy

October 21st, 2005, 07:28 AM

I hope he asks for a height addition!

Chi_Coruscant

October 21st, 2005, 02:33 PM

300 N. LaSalle Plans Get Green Light
By Mark Ruda (http://www.globest.com/news/397_397/chicago/139413-1.html)
Last updated: October 20, 2005 04:52pm

CHICAGO-While the proposed 745-foot height of the building raised some eyebrows, Hines Interests LP’s plan for a 57-story, 1.3-million-sf office tower at 300 N. LaSalle St. got a green light Thursday. The plan commission endorsed the $400-million project, as well as a zoning change that will allow the Houston-based developer to build an office tower 62% larger than allowed under existing zoning.

Hines Interests already has lured Kirkland & Ellis away from the Aon Center to 600,000 sf in its riverfront building once it is completed in 2009. In addition to office space, plans call for 13,000-sf of retail space, which most likely will include a restaurant.

However, Hines Interests’ office tower will dwarf surrounding low- and mid-rise properties sharing the riverfront, notes plan commission member Allison Davis. Taller buildings already line the riverfront a quarter-mile to the east, and Trump International Hotel & Tower will dwarf both Marina City and 330 N. Wabash Ave. Closer to 300 N. LaSalle St., though, is the 3.5-million-sf Merchandise Mart, a mid-rise building, as is the redeveloped Reid-Murdoch building at 325 N. LaSalle St. and Helene Curtis building at 325 N. Wells St.

“The planning department has always taken the position that along the river, we would try to encourage tall buildings,” says 42nd Ward Alderman Burton Natarus. “This is a tall building. This is a magnificent building. What’s there now is kind of shabby.”

The site, which runs along LaSalle Street from the river to Carroll Avenue, is now a parking lot. Hines Interests is acquiring the 85,080-sf site for $32.5 million from a limited liability corporation controlled by Michael W. Reschke, former chairman of Prime Group Realty Trust.

Designed by Pickard Chilton Architects Inc., the building is expected to meet standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. It also will have a hook-up at Carroll Avenue to an underground bus route.

The Urban Politician

October 21st, 2005, 05:23 PM

A couples questions... TUP -- didn't you visit Chicago recently?

^Yes I did. I was there from last Tuesday till last Saturday.

I spent a lot of time visiting the loop and various hoods, and even did a bit of Trump construction sight-seeing with Shawn and Victor.

Victor and I had a Margarita together, although Shawn wimped out because he had to do homework :ohno: (the nerve of some people!)

Anyway, perhaps next time I come to town some of us can have a meet up or something

ChicagoLover

October 21st, 2005, 06:19 PM

I thought there was a parking garage with a big PARKING sign at 300 North LaSalle, not just a "parking lot"? Was that garage torn down?

geoff_diamond

October 21st, 2005, 06:41 PM

Nope, that garage is, sadly, still standing.

wickedestcity

October 21st, 2005, 07:02 PM

BVictor1

October 21st, 2005, 10:41 PM

Another new building.

http://www.teneastdelaware.com/

http://www.teneastdelaware.com/images/pic_contact_02.jpg
http://www.teneastdelaware.com/images/pic_contact_03.jpg

Chi_Coruscant

October 21st, 2005, 11:07 PM

Interesting design.... what is the building height?

NWside

October 21st, 2005, 11:12 PM

Interesting? It looks like the taller version of that new building on Chicago and Wabash...

The Urban Politician

October 21st, 2005, 11:31 PM

Looks like another tan concrete tower for River North.

So what's new?

ChicagoLover

October 22nd, 2005, 01:31 AM

Wait.. how do we know its tan? I hope the hell not!

spyguy

October 22nd, 2005, 03:54 AM

Here's another "new" one:

345 North Wells

20,000 square foot floor plates (350,000 square foot mixed-use LEED certified commercial condominium)
On-site parking
Gold LEED core and shell rating
On-site security personnel, 24/7
Private balconies overlooking downtown Chicago and the Chicago River
Unique outdoor space at building entrance (beautifully landscaped park at the entrance of the building)
Thermal Chicago chilled water cooling system

http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/43/overpic5kr.gif
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/6373/345nwells27sm.png
http://img457.imageshack.us/img457/412/345nwells4os.png

ChicagoLover

October 22nd, 2005, 04:01 AM

Wow--where did you find out about that one spyguy? It doesn't really look very residential, which is probably a good thing. I like the way it looks from across the river behind the old Helene Curtis HQ.

geoff_diamond

October 22nd, 2005, 07:41 PM

Wow! This one came out of nowhere! I really dig it :)

On another front: I thought I'd snap some pictures of the lobby modifications going on at Madison Plaza. First one's a rendering, second one's a progress shot. (sorry for the quality - camera-phone as usual)

http://img435.imageshack.us/img435/998/dsc000228je.jpg

http://img435.imageshack.us/img435/3425/dsc000237ep.jpg

Chi_Coruscant

October 22nd, 2005, 08:00 PM

Oct. 22, 2005

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=18223
As Crain's goes to press . . .
Amli plans S. Loop apartment towerAmli is drafting plans for a 300-to-400-unit apartment building on Clark Street in the South Loop, say people familiar with the plans. The Chicago real estate investment trust would build the tower on a roughly two-acre property it plans to buy from Matthew and Daniel Walsh, principals of Chicago construction firm Walsh Group. The parcel is part of a 22-acre tract at Clark Street and Roosevelt Road that the Walshes are selling to developers (Crain's, May 23). Amli declined to comment. [Alby Gallun]

State & Randolph project is back onPlans for an $86-million residential tower at the northeast corner of State and Randolph streets are on again after the city and developer Bill Smith worked out a last-minute legal snag, says Mr. Smith's attorney, Stephen Novack. The city delayed selling Mr. Smith property needed for the project in hopes of reserving space for the Joffrey Ballet, but the city backed off after Mr. Smith sued. A city spokeswoman says talks on the Joffrey matter are near a conclusion. [Greg Hinz]

itsnotrequired

October 22nd, 2005, 10:37 PM

345 N. Wells? Excellent. Another surface lot bites the dust!

Chi_Coruscant

October 22nd, 2005, 10:52 PM

From Chicago Crain's Magazine
River North's next boom
3 hotels, 450-plus condo units on drawing board in 2 separate projects
Developers Richard A. Stein and Albert M. Friedman are planning two hotels and about 300 condominiums in a massive River North development, while John A. Buck is mulling a hotel and condo tower of his own just blocks away.
Despite dire predictions of a housing bubble, local developers are betting on a condo boom continuing, as well as resurgent hotel demand.
The Friedman-Stein plan is the bigger bet, revising an earlier proposal for a five-acre parcel bounded by Dearborn Parkway and Kinzie, Clark and Hubbard streets.
In addition to condos, the plan includes 50,000 square feet of retail space, parking and around 500 hotel rooms, says Mr. Stein, senior managing director of Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. Merrillville, Ind.-based White Lodging Service Corp. would run the hotels, both Marriott franchises. One would be a long-term-stay hotel and the other a moderately priced SpringHill Suites, he says. The impact on Brasserie Jo restaurant, which is located on the site, is unclear.
A couple of blocks northeast, John Buck Co. is considering a 30-story tower at State and Illinois streets, just south of the American Medical Assn. headquarters. The building would include as many as 160 condos and a 260-room hotel also run by White, says Buck principal Greg Merdinger.
He declines to name the hotel brand but says it would be new to Chicago. Buck's condos would sell for an average of $500,000 to $600,000, Mr. Merdinger says.
Development plans were floated for both sites in the past but never came to fruition.
In 2001, the city approved a 22-story office tower on the Buck parcel, currently green space owned by a joint venture between Buck and Morgan Stanley. Buck couldn't land an anchor tenant for that building.
In 1998, Mr. Friedman proposed a mixed-use project on the site he's now developing with Mr. Stein. The plans included the block to the south, where Mr. Stein recently cut a deal to build a 40-story office tower housing law firm Jenner & Block LLC. Mr. Friedman, River North's biggest landlord, owns both parcels.
Mr. Friedman says he was preoccupied with other projects, like the redevelopment of the Medinah Temple into a Bloomingdale's Home & Furniture Store.
"I want to take things in their proper time and place and I don't want to rush something," Mr. Friedman says.
He and Mr. Stein recently submitted revised development plans to the city. Mr. Stein aims to begin marketing the condos next spring. "I've got to pre-sell the condos, but this is happening," he says.
Mr. Friedman's parcels include parking lots and the Brasserie Jo building. The restaurant has four years left on its lease.
City officials also must sign off on zoning changes for the Buck project. Mr. Buck remains cautious about the development, saying it's "50/50 that we proceed."
Market conditions will be a factor in that decision. The rebounding hotel market is a positive: The average downtown hotel occupancy rate this year through the end of August was 71.1%, up from 65.3% in the year-earlier period, according to the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. The average daily room rate was $156.34, vs. $148.77 in the year-earlier period.
Developers have responded by launching new downtown projects, the most recent one being the 200-room Shangri-La Hotel at 111 W. Wacker Drive (ChicagoBusiness.com, Oct. 4).
But soaring construction costs could be an obstacle for some developers, says Steven Kisielica, principal of Lodging Capital Partners LLC. "The ones that actually will get done are a fraction of the ones that are announced," he says.
CONDO GLUT?
And rampant building in the downtown condo market has fueled worries about a housing bubble. The gap between rising condo prices and stagnant apartment rents keeps growing, according to a recent study — a potential sign of future trouble (Crain's, Oct. 10).

Chi_Coruscant

October 22nd, 2005, 11:00 PM

From Chicago Crain's Magazine:
Theater likely coming soon to South Loop
Deal would give edge to Centrum over rival
Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres LLC is in talks to open a 14-to-18-screen cinema in a large mixed-use development on Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. If Kerasotes reaches a deal with the developer, Centrum Properties Inc. of Chicago, it would mark a victory for Centrum in its competition for retail tenants with a rival project across the street. That development, proposed by Rezmar Corp. of Chicago, ran into trouble amid a scandal involving its chairman, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, and was recently sold to a company headed by an even more controversial figure, Iraqi-born British billionaire Nadhmi Auchi (ChicagoBusiness.com, Sept. 29).
The future of the project now controlled by Mr. Auchi remains uncertain — a boon to Centrum, which is chasing many of the same tenants. Centrum wants to build a 500,000-square-foot shopping center and as many as 372 residential units on the north side of Roosevelt at Wells Street (Crain's, May 25).
RIVERSIDE PARK'S WOES
"At the Rezmar site, there were a lot of hurdles," says Anthony Kerasotes, CEO of Chicago-based Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres. "It really wasn't a choice."
He confirms that he and Centrum are in talks for a cinema to anchor the development, which will be called the Roosevelt Collection. Centrum is still negotiating with city officials on the project and aims to have "semiformal" approval from the city by yearend, says Centrum partner Sol Barket.
Mr. Auchi's project, however, is in limbo. A partnership headed by Mr. Rezko had sought city tax subsidies for the 62-acre development, called Riverside Park. Yet it became clear that the partnership would not get city financing after city officials earlier this year determined that Mr. Rezko had set up a minority front to obtain a concession for two restaurants at O'Hare International Airport. So, he sold the South Loop project to Mr. Auchi.
Mr. Rezko still has close ties to Riverside Park. He is chairman of a recently formed development firm, Heritage Development Partners LLC, that has been hired to develop the project for a fee, says Michael Rumman, CEO of the company. Mr. Rumman disputes the idea that Riverside Park is losing tenants to Centrum, noting that the project is "doing quite well." He says the project has nine firm letters of intent with retailers and is even in talks with another movie theater operator. Still, the perception that Riverside Park is stalled will benefit Centrum, says Gregory Kirsch, principal at Baum Realty Group Inc. in Chicago. "There are only so many tenants to go around, and if the tenants perceive one development as more likely to happen, they'll flock there."
Centrum's Mr. Barket agrees. Centrum and Rezmar "had always been talking to the same people and, at this point, people are much more serious about getting a deal done with us than they were six months ago," he says.

The Urban Politician

October 22nd, 2005, 11:24 PM

I'm simply flabbergasted. That's more than I can absorb in 1 sitting.

That and friggin opening day of the World Series!

So far I have been disappointed with what has been planned in that Roosevelt/Clark Area. Too many midrise buildings. I'm not saying they should build the Fordham Spire, but some highrises need to be built there, yet I've seen very few proposed

ChicagoLover

October 23rd, 2005, 12:10 AM

^ I second that. The famous Morton slogan -- "When it rains it pours" applies.

"Centrum wants to build a 500,000-square-foot shopping center and as many as 372 residential units on the north side of Roosevelt at Wells Street (Crain's, May 25)."

Does that mean bona fide mixed used development? Condos on top of theater/shops? Damnit, Crain's, that would have been easy to find out! I assume it does mean integrated mixed use development (as opposed to, say, shopping center adjacent to condo tower).. If so this is REALLY REALLY good news.

ChicagoLover

October 23rd, 2005, 12:12 AM

Geoff: About the lobby renovation of Madison Plaza... so they are enclosing the sculpture... is this in any prompted by Hyatt's move out of the building, and the property owner's desire to attract a tenant to fill the .. thousands of vacant square feet?

geoff_diamond

October 23rd, 2005, 06:21 AM

I'm sure that's got everything to do with it ChicagoLover. The office market continues to get tougher and tougher for buildings that haven't been built within the last 5 years; so these "older" towers need to do anything they can to lure new tenants.

chicagogeorge

October 23rd, 2005, 07:06 AM

- edit

spyguy

October 23rd, 2005, 05:29 PM

- edit

The Urban Politician

October 23rd, 2005, 05:44 PM

My tenants at 1250 S. Michigan left last week, I was worried about getting someone in there during this fall season. I found a tentant in 1 week, a guy and his wife from London. Now I know why!
South Loop is on Fire!

^Yeah, but that's because you're a powerful and intimidating mob boss. People are too scared to say no to you ;)

Chi_Coruscant

October 24th, 2005, 03:04 PM

Condo Developers Cross St. Clair Street
By Mark Ruda
http://www.globest.com/news/398_398/chicago/139458-1.html
Last updated: October 21, 2005 05:19pm

CHICAGO-With pre-sales of a 112-unit building at 550 N. St. Clair St. hitting the 70% mark, developer Mark Sutherland is able to look across the street for his next project. Sutherland Pearsall Development’s plans for a 38-story, 316-unit building at 535 St. Clair St., 47% larger than allowed under existing zoning, were endorsed by the plan commission.

Units will range from 600-sf studios in the “mid” $200,000 range, Sutherland tells GlobeSt.com, to 1,800-sf penthouses in the $1-million neighborhood. The lender for the project across the street has expressed interest in financing the second phase of Sutherland Pearsall Development’s makeover of the block running from Grand Avenue to Ohio Street, he adds.

“I think this project is a model for future projects with its sustainable development features,” says architect Linda Searl, vice chair of the plan commission. Among the features, she notes are a greenhouse that will harvest energy and a drainage system that will recycle rain water.

The building will include 7,700 sf of ground-floor retail space as well as garage parking for 275 vehicles. The plans also include keeping a four-story building on St. Clair Street, which will be converted to nine units, as well as a four-story parking garage.

In addition, the project won over an important community group, notes plan commission member John Nelson. The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents deemed the proposed building “a very good project” in a letter to John George, the developers’ attorney. “It seems like any time we look at something in the neighborhood, SOAR would have something to say,” Nelson says. “This is a first.”

The Urban Politician

October 24th, 2005, 05:08 PM

This is 1720 S. Michigan, which is supposed to begin sales this week, developed by CMK Development. It was posted by Sentinel at SSP:

http://img463.imageshack.us/img463/5827/172018sv.jpg

Rascacielos

October 25th, 2005, 12:30 AM

Wow. CMK is taking over that block. Either the Cotton Club is going to be sandwiched by CMK developments or it's going down . . .

Chi_Coruscant

October 25th, 2005, 02:47 PM

2,000-foot TV tower may pierce skyline
:weird:
By Thomas A. Corfman and Blair Kamin
Tribune staff reporters
Published October 25, 2005

Imagine this addition to Chicago's fabled skyline: a futuristic, tweezer-shaped broadcast tower looming 2,000 feet over the lakefront as one of the world's tallest structures.

The digital age may soon bring this sleek, scissors-like conversation piece to the city, within clear view of the tourists at Navy Pier who will either ooh with awe or laugh with disbelief.

To be designed by prominent architect Cesar Pelli, the tower would help redefine Chicago's horizon. Rising above the skyline between the John Hancock Center and the Sears Tower, it would usher in a new era of daring, ultramodern architecture for the city. Another sensation would be a proposed Santiago Calatrava-designed skyscraper shaped like a drill bit.

The $300 million Pelli tower would function as a platform for local television stations to mount their new high-definition broadcasting antennas.

Instead of building a conventional building that reserves roof space for antennas, the developers--J. Paul Beitler and LR Development Co.--are proposing the lower-cost option of a needle-thin, triple-spired tripod. At the top would be several floors for restaurants and an observation deck, and at the base would be a 400-car garage. The tapered space in between would be largely open, except for six large beams connecting the spires.

"It is a very intelligent structure," said Pelli, in a telephone interview from his office in New Haven, Conn. He compared the structure to a ship's mast, saying it will be "a very handsome form next to the water."

The proposed broadcast tower, which would be located along Lake Shore Drive between Illinois Street and Grand Avenue, would jump past the CN Tower in Toronto, which at 1,815 feet holds the title as the world's tallest free-standing broadcast tower.

But comparing tall structures is complicated, so much so that it can seem the height of absurdity.

Not a building

For one, the structure could not lay claim to becoming one of the world's tallest buildings because it isn't technically a building--its structure would not be filled with floors as in a conventional skyscraper.

Currently, the world's tallest building is the 1,671-foot Taipei 101 in Taiwan, but other superstructures are under development.

Among broadcast antennas, the proposed lakefront structure is taller than the CN Tower but would fall short of a guywire-supported radio mast antenna in North Dakota, as well as an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, according to reports.

Beitler, president and chief executive of the Chicago-based real estate firm that bears his name, confirmed the broad outlines of the project, which does not yet have city approval.

"We are not out to have the tallest building in the world, or the tallest anything," Beitler said. "That's simply silly because somebody will come along and build something taller. There have been a lot of tombstones put up for people who proposed the `tallest.' The problem has always been financeability, and we have financing."

The project would be driven by agreements, not yet signed, with local television stations, which are preparing for a shift to exclusively high-definition broadcasting, expected to be required in 2009.

Beitler declined to comment on the status of any talks with broadcasters. Local television stations currently broadcast HDTV and traditional analog broadcast signals from the 1,451-foot Sears Tower in the West Loop and the 1,127-foot John Hancock Center on North Michigan Avenue, where they lease space.

But television executives have long wanted a third option that they would control, and in the late 1990s even floated a proposal for a free-standing antenna mast that would have been located either in the suburbs or on the West Side.

The selling point of the new tower is that high-definition signals need to emanate from the highest, least obstructed point.

Still, the new tower is not a done deal.

Neighbors overwhelmed

In addition to tough negotiations with broadcasters, the latest proposal will likely be an even tougher sell to Streeterville residents, many of whom already feel overwhelmed by new high-rise construction and suffocated by traffic generated by Navy Pier.

The proposed site, which is zoned for a 610-foot structure, is just a few blocks north of a riverfront parcel where another developer has proposed a 115-story condominium/hotel to be designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that would also soar to 2,000 feet.

As originally proposed in July, the Calatrava tower did not include broadcast facilities. But developer Christopher Carley said he may eventually add broadcast transmission facilities to his project, called Fordham Spire.

"As the time goes on, there is going to be more and more demand for these high antennas, not only high definition," said Carley, chairman of Chicago-based Fordham Co.

He said he has not had any discussions with local broadcasters, and didn't think the newly proposed broadcast tower would affect his project.

Whether the lakefront could accommodate two tall towers so close by would depend on neighborhood residents, who Carley expected would raise several concerns to the broadcast tower.

"It's not the height per se," he said. "It's more traffic, density, blocked views and shadows."

Beitler said the Planning Department has been briefed on the plans.

"I think it would be very dynamic to have two great architects like this put up buildings so close to each other," said Beitler. "I think they are so completely different from each other it would be interesting."

The proposed broadcast tower would be on a 41,000-square-foot site owned by a joint venture that includes LR Development, a Chicago luxury residential firm, and JER Partners, a Virginia investment firm.

Thomas Weeks, president of LR Development, declined comment.

Beitler is a veteran office developer whose projects include the Pelli-designed 181 W. Madison St. and 131 S. Dearborn St. In the late 1980s Beitler and Lee Miglin proposed a "world's tallest" tower for a Loop site, but the deal ended in foreclosure.

Beitler's partner, LR Development, also is co-owner of the site that developer Carley would buy for the Calatrava tower.

----------

tcorfman@tribune.com

bkamin@tribune.com

-------------------------------------------------------------

ANALYSIS
Name should be the Why Tower
Loony, daffy, thin and chunky: Not a pretty sight as viewed from pier or anywhere

By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
Published October 25, 2005

There have been lots of loony ideas floated for the Chicago skyline, but the proposed 2,000-foot-tall broadcast tower that two Chicago developers want to build along the lakefront, at least in its present form, appears to be among the looniest.

Despite its futuristic curves, this isn't Buck Rogers architecture. It's Duck Dodgers design, utterly daffy, a cartoonish version of tomorrow. As is, the plan would inflict upon the skyline a scaleless hybrid that would be half-building, half-broadcast tower, but nowhere near a satisfying whole.

The plan is far less poetic than Santiago Calatrava's proposed twisting tower, which could rise as high as 2,000 feet a few blocks to the south, and far less powerful than the X-braced John Hancock Center, which offers an unsurpassed synthesis of blue-collar might and black-tie elegance.

One has to wonder why on earth would Mayor Richard M. Daley and his city planners ever take seriously this "Tall Tower"? (Now there's a scintillating name.) Perhaps because there's a towering amount of clout behind it.

Among the developers are J. Paul Beitler, who joined with partner Lee Miglin to unveil the 1,914-foot Miglin-Beitler Tower, a project killed by the early 1990s building bust. This time, Beitler is partnering with LR Development Co., which has built in silk-stocking districts around town.

The developers signed up New Haven, Conn., architect Cesar Pelli and New York City structural engineer Charles Thornton. They designed the Miglin-Beitler Tower as well as the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which in 1996 stripped Sears Tower of its world's tallest building title.

The proposed broadcast tower, on the west side of Lake Shore Drive between Illinois Street and Grand Avenue, is, at least, conceptually intriguing.

Traditionally, a broadcast tower like Toronto's CN Tower has been the equivalent of an olive on a toothpick--a giant post with a bulge near the top where restaurants and observation decks went.

But this tower would be more like a tripod, with three sets of paired legs and a giant void between them. The legs, whose concrete would be exposed or covered in metal, would taper as they rose. Big concrete beams every 10 to 15 stories would stabilize them. Somewhere around 1,600 feet or 1,700 feet, the legs would form a platform for the "candelabra" of three tapering broadcast antennas, as Gregg Jones, an associate principal at Pelli's firm and a design leader on the project, explained.

The three-legged format is considered ideal for transmitting high-definition television signals. Three antennas. Three legs. It's simple, pragmatic and efficient. Very Chicago. The void between the legs would do more than reduce the wind's force on the tower. It might allow the owner to someday create a plug-in city in the sky, filling parts of the void with offices, condominiums or a hotel, though Beitler said such a plan is not under consideration.

But the design, which places a 400-space parking garage at the tower's base and three restaurants and an observation deck near the top, works neither as a stand-alone object nor as a part of the cityscape.

The tower simultaneously manages to be thin, which is good, and chunky, which isn't. Whatever benefits the concrete legs offer in structural efficiency--a supertall tower of three sides, not the typical four--they look dreadfully bulky. The problem, on a fundamental level, has to do with scale.

One of the reasons the Hancock is such a triumph is that its X-braces break down the monolithic form of its tapering obelisk. But here, there is nothing to mediate between the enormous legs and the teeny, curvy, glass-sheathed forms of the garage and observation deck. Even if the tower is sheathed in concrete, Pelli and crew will have to labor mightily to give it a human scale at ground level. If it is done in exposed concrete, it may look like a rocket launchpad, far too crude for its showcase lakefront site.

Oh, yes, the lakefront.

Is it just me or is anybody else terrified by the prospect of two 2,000-foot towers rising within a few blocks of each other along Lake Michigan? In all likelihood, only one will be built, or maybe neither. But if we have to choose, Calatrava's would be far superior, its dazzling piece of skyline sculpture easily besting this clunky sculptural wannabe.

Why must this tower go here? Simply because the developers have the land?

A prospective synergy with Navy Pier hardly justifies the placement. Yes, tourists might head from the pier to the tower's restaurant and observation deck. But there's one problem: They'd have to look at this rocket launch pad from the pier. And so would the rest of us.

----------

bkamin@tribune.com

Chicago Shawn

October 25th, 2005, 03:48 PM

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought this project was dead! This tower is so sweet, like something straight out of lord of the rings, if the proposal is still the smae design. And right next to the Fordham Spire too. Take that SOAR, two 2,000 foot towers comming right at ya! I don't know how valid SOAR complaints would be agianst this, after all LR had fully intended to put a 600+ foot residential building there, which would create more density and traffic then this skinny unihabbited tower. OMG just imagine the views from up there, I really hope this gets built.

The Urban Politician

October 25th, 2005, 04:41 PM

Here's a rendering:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2005-10/20149508.jpg

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/graphic/2005-10/20149524.jpg

spyguy

October 25th, 2005, 11:20 PM

WHAT! I come back to this!?????????????????????

ChicagoLover

October 26th, 2005, 01:16 AM

Oh man, with LR development as mediator, why can't Beitler and Carley work something out where they put the antennae on top of Fordham? By combining both of their projects, and sharing the profits, they could seriously boost the chances of anything actually moving forward. If they could get partial financing from TV stations for Fordham, in addition to the condo owners, the chances of Fordham actually getting built would rise quite a bit!!! That seems so sensible.. Like Kamin, I would be concerned about the look of this design... in theory, it would be awesome, but from the rendering I'm not sure. Course I felt like that about Fordham and that changed my mind to fully supporting it... I just feel like, with Fordham in jeopardy, the antennae would be just the trick for the financing! I mean, with the $300 million from the TV stations, Carley could end up with a half-vacant Fordham, selling it for years to come, and still come out okay!

ChicagoLover

October 26th, 2005, 04:35 PM

MOre than just the painted concrete, Roeder! If that was all it was... not the various expanses of UNpainted concrete, or barely painted concrete, and all the awkward forms...

And why is Roeder taking this opportunity to say Loewenberg is changing his ways? Isn't the Tides a nearly exact replica of the Shoreham, thus merely a continuation of the Low-End-Berg style of design, which basically amounts to pinching every penny you can get away with?

From the Sun-Times:

Controversial architect changes his approach
by David Roeder

Another "Loewenberg building'' is coming to downtown, and that news used to set off alarms in the city's vast army of architecture and design critics. Buildings in River North associated with architect Jim Loewenberg were widely reviled for heavy use of painted concrete.

But Loewenberg has changed his approach with his work for the Lakeshore East project north of Grant Park, where he is a development partner with Joel Carlins. Loewenberg's first work at the site, a 29-story building called the Lancaster, was handsome and a hit in the marketplace. He followed that with the 46-story Shoreham, an apartment building now nearly built and 90 percent leased.

His next effort will be called the Tides at Lakeshore East, a 607-unit building at 360 E. South Water that'll be the development's second rental property. Its reflective glass and varied treatment of balconies picks up on the design cues of its neighbors.

With Lakeshore East, has the architect responded to his critics? "I don't get too involved in that. I'm too old and cranky,'' Loewenberg said. Don't believe him about the cranky part. He's one of the more cheerful men in real estate.

Chi_Coruscant

October 26th, 2005, 05:05 PM

From the Sun-Times:

Controversial architect changes his approach
by David Roeder
His next effort will be called the Tides at Lakeshore East, a 607-unit building at 360 E. South Water that'll be the development's second rental property. Its reflective glass and varied treatment of balconies picks up on the design cues of its neighbors.

There is a rendering in today's Sun-Times. To be frank, it is an improvement and looks better than Shoreham. He is starting to move away from painted concrete to glass.
Can anyone care to post the rendering of Tide here?

spyguy

October 26th, 2005, 11:19 PM

Don't get the Times so sorry. Hopefully someone that subscribes and has a scanner can. Is it pretty different from the Shoreham, or almost like a twin?

Chi_Coruscant

October 26th, 2005, 11:30 PM

^^ Tides look better than Shoreham; more glassy, less painted concrete.

spyguy

October 26th, 2005, 11:32 PM

Ok, that's good. Is the glass the same color?

Chi_Coruscant

October 27th, 2005, 12:21 AM

Dunno. Can't tell. It was printed in black and white.

Frumie

October 27th, 2005, 04:55 AM

Commercial Real Estate News

Tide Turns In Multifamily Owners’ Favor

By Mark Ruda of GlobeSt.com

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - CHICAGO-Downtown multifamily rental occupancy has entered territory not seen since the late 1990s, according to CB Richard Ellis and Appraisal Research Counselors, moving up 1.6 percentage points to 96.8%. Meanwhile, suburban multifamily rental building owners have seen occupancy rates rise to 94.3%, a slight decrease from the previous quarter but slightly higher than the third quarter of 2004.

Less new construction and continued condominium conversions have pushed occupancy rates higher, according to the two firms, which have eliminated the need for concessions at many properties. Although 1,260 new units will be delivered this year, that figure is 26% below average for the previous 10 years, according to researchers. In addition, they note an average year sees 1,000 Downtown rental units converted to condominiums, but as many as 5,000 could go condo this year. CB Richard Ellis adds another 1,000 units in the suburbs could become condominiums.

CB Richard Ellis notes the 548-unit Shoreham project in Lakeshore East as well as the 190-unit MDA Chicago City Apartments have done leasing without concessions, while The Bernardin in River North not only has eschewed concessions, but is commanding rents of $2.43 per sf.

“Overall, our outlook on the conditions of the Chicago rental market remains bullish,” say CB Richard Ellis vice presidents Dan Cohen, John Jaeger and Melissa Strauss.

Chi_Coruscant

October 27th, 2005, 04:57 AM

Dunno. Can't tell. It was printed in black and white.

My first attempt! I bring you The Tides.
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/6686/tides7dg.jpg

Frumie

October 27th, 2005, 04:57 AM

And there's more:

Commercial Real Estate News

Condo Developers Cross St. Clair Street With 316-Unit Play

By Mark Ruda of GlobeSt.com

Monday, October 24, 2005 - CHICAGO-With pre-sales of a 112-unit building at 550 N. St. Clair St. hitting the 70% mark, developer Mark Sutherland is able to look across the street for his next project. Sutherland Pearsall Development’s plans for a 38-story, 316-unit building at 535 St. Clair St., 47% larger than allowed under existing zoning, were endorsed by the plan commission.

Units will range from 600-sf studios in the “mid” $200,000 range, Sutherland tells GlobeSt.com, to 1,800-sf penthouses in the $1-million neighborhood. The lender for the project across the street has expressed interest in financing the second phase of Sutherland Pearsall Development’s makeover of the block running from Grand Avenue to Ohio Street, he adds.

“I think this project is a model for future projects with its sustainable development features,” says architect Linda Searl, vice chair of the plan commission. Among the features, she notes are a greenhouse that will harvest energy and a drainage system that will recycle rain water.

The building will include 7,700 sf of ground-floor retail space as well as garage parking for 275 vehicles. The plans also include keeping a four-story building on St. Clair Street, which will be converted to nine units, as well as a four-story parking garage.

In addition, the project won over an important community group, notes plan commission member John Nelson. The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents deemed the proposed building “a very good project” in a letter to John George, the developers’ attorney. “It seems like any time we look at something in the neighborhood, SOAR would have something to say,” Nelson says. “This is a first.”

BVictor1

October 27th, 2005, 06:48 PM

**EDITED and posted in the 600 North Fairbanks thread**

Dale

October 27th, 2005, 06:53 PM

Is that a mural on the adjacent lowrise structure ?

BVictor1

October 27th, 2005, 07:53 PM

Here are a couple of shots that I took at the October plan commission meeting.

A daytime rendering of 300 North LaSalle
http://img433.imageshack.us/img433/8927/p10104435yx.jpg

And 535 St. Clair
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/118/p10104520oe.jpg

spyguy

October 27th, 2005, 11:29 PM

Great finds BVictor.

The Urban Politician

October 28th, 2005, 12:17 AM

Cut it out, Victor, you're killin me

I am getting overloaded with gorgeous views into Chicago's architectural future

The Urban Politician

October 28th, 2005, 12:54 AM

The developer of MetraMarket has a brochure on the internet, and it appears to be fairly updated (it cites residential and commercial data from Spring 2005).

It has floor plans and a few renderings, as well as other info. Click here:

http://www.usequities.com/Metramarket/MetraMarket.pdf

Chi_Coruscant

October 29th, 2005, 10:34 PM

From Chicago Crain's Mag webpage:
Road to riches: Buck's Wacker Drive
A developer comes home to pay dirt

http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/7316/247212xi.gifDeveloper John Buck is betting Wacker Drive can absorb another office tower. Photo: Erik Unger
Next month, a camouflaged and crouching John Buck will hide in the woods of his Downstate game preserve and try to bag his first wild turkey with a bow and arrow.
"You have to sit perfectly still and have the bow and arrow at the ready," says Mr. Buck, who hunted ducks as a boy in West Texas. "It's very difficult because if there's any slight movement, (the turkeys) see it and they're gone."
The 60-year-old developer moves more conspicuously in the downtown real estate market, where he's reshaping the landscape of Wacker Drive. More than anyone else, he's responsible for the West Loop boulevard's emergence as the premier corporate address in Chicago. Since 2001, he's added a pair of office towers to his Wacker Drive portfolio, projects that paid off handsomely for the developer and his investors.
Wacker Drive is Mr. Buck's home turf. He began his career as a self-described "water boy" on the original Sears Tower leasing team in 1971 and debuted as a developer across the street 10 years later. His efforts there attract scant interest from the architecture critics and preservationists who blasted his 1990s projects on North Michigan Avenue.
But as he prepares to launch another Wacker Drive high-rise, some downtown landlords grumble that Mr. Buck's building spree has deepened a four-year leasing slump.
"The growing supply is out of balance with the average ongoing demand," says George Kohl, Midwest-area director for Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. "It's just not healthy."

Mr. Buck agrees the downtown office market is glutted. Still, he's betting it can absorb another Wacker Drive tower. In April, his firm's second investment fund acquired two buildings at Randolph Street and Wacker that would be razed to make way for a 40-story office tower.
It would be Mr. Buck's fourth Wacker Drive building. He built his first high-rise there in 1981, a 40-story, 757,000-square-foot office building at 200 S. Wacker that he says is still his favorite.
He returned in 1999, launching a 48-story, 1.3 million-square-foot tower at 1 N. Wacker, followed four years later by a 51-story, 1-million-square-foot tower at 111 S. Wacker. That building, which cost about $300 million to build, is being sold to a German investor for about $410 million, or $410 a square foot, a record price for downtown Chicago.
Wacker Drive is the West Loop's main drag, and "whether you're driving or taking the train, the West Loop is the easiest place to get in and out of," Mr. Buck says, sitting in a 24th-floor conference room at John Buck Co. headquarters at 1 N. Wacker. "That quite simply is why Sears bought that block (for the Sears Tower) in the late 1960s. And nothing really has happened that would fundamentally change that."

NOT EVERYONE'S A FAN
Many office building owners are rooting against his new Wacker Drive project, which has yet to land the anchor tenant needed to get it off the ground. Between 2000 and 2009, developers including Mr. Buck will have added 12.5 million square feet of downtown office space, according to Chicago-based real estate firm MB Real Estate Inc. The additional supply has helped push the downtown office vacancy rate to 18% — including sublease space — and squeezed rents.
Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Office Properties Trust, Chicago's and the nation's biggest office landlord, summarized the situation bluntly in 2003, when he quipped that "three idiots are building 4.5 million square feet of office space in Chicago," Mr. Buck being one of them.
Mr. Buck calls the building rational, noting that many high-rises built even 20 years ago are obsolete in an era when big tenants want larger floor plans, fewer columns and other amenities.
"As the market moves, you must move with the market," he says.

'PAIN' ON MICHIGAN
Mr. Buck is hardly the lightning rod he was 10 years ago, when preservationists lambasted his plan to build North Bridge, a massive mixed-use project just off North Michigan Avenue. It was an "excruciating painful" period, he says.
Mr. Buck's office buildings have benefited from a boom in prices as big institutional investors have poured money into real estate. His first investment fund invested $10.9 million in 222 S. Riverside Plaza in October 2001, cashing out for $24 million in June 2004.
His second fund, with $160 million in equity, returned about 19% in the year ended June 30, beating a 16% return for an office benchmark index, says Jon Bauman, executive director of the Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois, which has about $51 million in the fund.
"We've been favorably impressed with their ability to set out a strategy and execute it," Mr. Bauman says.
But Mr. Buck is starting to look beyond Wacker Drive. He hopes to raise $350 million for his third and largest investment fund. In addition to office and residential developments, the fund will try to snatch up financially distressed condominium projects in Chicago, where condo building has boomed along with office projects.
"I feel there's overbuilding," Mr. Buck says. "If we're right about that, then I think there will be more takeovers by the lending community, who we enjoy a good reputation with, and that's really what our focus will be."

BVictor1

October 29th, 2005, 11:03 PM

River East garage, retail space sold
Boston developer pays $117 million

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 29, 2005

A Boston developer and pension fund adviser is paying $117 million to buy the retail space and garage in the mixed-use River East Center development in Streeterville.

Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. has a contract to buy the 1,150-car garage and 260,000 square feet of retailing in the two-tower development, which also includes an Embassy Suites hotel and a condominium high-rise. Tenants include upscale bowling alley Lucky Strike Lanes, high-end health club Holmes Place and a 21-screen AMC movie theater.

Driving the deal is the neighborhood's building boom.

"With all that residential coming, I've got to believe that the combination of a cinema, a workout club and Lucky Strike is a good thing," said Peter Palandjian, Intercontinental's chairman and chief executive, who confirmed the deal.

The transaction, which is expected to close in December, is another sign of investors' continued hunger for retail real estate. Although investments in other property types, such as warehouse and office buildings, have surged this year, the buying spree for large malls and smaller strip centers began three years ago, experts in the field say.

"The consumer spending that has fueled the economy has translated into great market fundamentals for retail: high occupancy levels and good rental rate growth," said George Good, executive vice president with real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc., who isn't involved in the deal.

River East Center is on the block bounded by Grand Avenue, Illinois Street, McClurg Court and Columbus Drive.

The seller is a venture managed by Chicago developer Daniel McLean, chief executive of MCL Cos. McLean developed the massive complex in 2002 and bought back the retail/garage component 18 months ago from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co.

The Tokyo insurer gained control over the development the same year after a construction loan default, amid a clash between McLean and some of his investors. Intercontinental is paying about $32 million more than the McLean venture, sources said. Yet Intercontinental sees a strong upside in leasing the remaining vacant space, including two large first-floor spaces totaling 26,600 square feet, according to a floor plan.

Also available: an 18,500-square-foot space in the second-floor lobby, near Lucky Strike and the ticket counter for the theater, which is one of the top financial performers locally among movie chains. The theaters themselves are on the third floor.

The retail portion of the building totals 260,000 square feet, including common areas. Other tenants include Harris Bank and Walgreens, which combined have nearly 16,000 square feet. The drugstore signed a 40-year lease in 2004.

The total value of sales of malls and other retail properties in the Chicago area more than doubled, to $376.2 million, during the first nine months of 2005 compared with the same period a year ago, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc. The average yield, or capitalization rate, is 7 percent for the 20 deals tracked by Real Capital this year.

On River East Center, the initial yield is expected to be a little more than 7 percent, but it could exceed 9 percent when the space is fully leased.

But the deal is not without risk. Lucky Strike was started in just 2003 and its success is not yet proven, and the Holmes Place gym is a joint venture of the London chain by the same name and troubled Chicago health club company Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp.

The two tenants combined have an estimated 68,500 square feet, with the fitness center accounting for 32,500 square feet.

And the retail real estate investment market nationwide may be slowing, reflecting "investor concern about either the impact of rising energy costs on disposable income, or rising interest rates, which could end the cash-out refinancing boom," according to a report this week by New York-based Real Capital.

But Intercontinental is accustomed to such risks. The company, which was founded in 1959 as a construction company by Palandjian's father, raised its first real estate investment fund in 1996 and now manages a $1 billion portfolio.

"In Boston, they are known more as developers, and they have obviously taken that to another level," said Paul Lundstedt, an executive director with real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

- - -

Retail space sells well

Amid the hot market for real estate investments this year, sales of retail assets in the Chicago area have grown faster than any other property type, increasing by 109 percent.

TOTAL SALES DURING FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2005 In millions of dollars Percent change from 2004 Downtown office $2,506 18% Apartment rentals $1,771.8 74% Suburban office $1,431.3 29% Warehouse $1,417.5 76% Strip centers $926.1 85% Malls and other retailing $376.2 109% Industrial office $137.6 60% Source: Real Capital Analytics Chicago Tribune ---------- tcorfman@tribune.com

BVictor1

October 30th, 2005, 05:27 PM

CITY REPORT
Another condo tower planned for Streeterville

By Jeanette Almada
Special to the Tribune
Published October 30, 2005

Another 328 residential units in two buildings will be added to the burgeoning Streeterville neighborhood.

Chicago developer Sutherland Pearsall Development Corp., through 535 St. Clair Inc., will build a 316-unit, 38-story building on the northeast corner of Grand Avenue and St. Clair Street and turn an existing four-story building on the southeast corner of St. Clair and Ohio Streets into 12 residential units.

The 535 project will go up across the street from another Sutherland Pearsall project, a 112-unit condo at 550 N. St. Clair, whose construction is expected to begin in early 2006.

"This project [at 535 N. St. Clair] is actually a sister project to the 550 N. St. Clair project," Mark Sutherland, president of Sutherland Pearsall, said in an interview last week. "We sold half of the 550 building's units the first week we opened our sales gallery and are now 70 percent sold."

The 535 development site consists of parcels at 531-49 N. St. Clair, 201-18 E. Grand, and 201-03 E. Ohio, a Department of Planning and Development official told the Chicago Plan Commission earlier this month. The commission approved the project as a planned development. City Council approval is still needed.

"There is an existing parking garage on the site, and a four-story building," Sutherland said. Chicagoan Andy Youkhana owns the entire development site, Sutherland said, adding that his company is under contract to buy the portion of the site that is occupied by the parking garage.

"We will demolish that garage to make way for the high-rise, on the northeast corner of Grand Avenue and St. Clair Street," Sutherland said.

Sutherland Pearsall, in partnership Youkhana, will rehab the existing four-story building at 201 E. Ohio, on the southeast corner of Ohio and St. Clair Streets, into 12 units atop 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Youkhana will retain ownership of that building, Sutherland said.

Sutherland Pearsall's 535 tower will face St. Clair and Grand with units ranging from 600-square-foot studios to 1,800-square-foot, 3-bedroom penthouse units. Sutherland said he expects they will be priced from the mid-$200,000s to more than $1 million.

Sales of the 535 units will start once 85 to 90 percent of the 550 building's units are sold, Sutherland said.

The 535 building will have 277 parking spaces on the ninth to 14th floor and 275 public parking spaces on the second to eighth floor.

Designed by Chicago-based Brininstool + Lynch Ltd. Architects, at least one plan commissioner deemed the building exemplary. "It is a model for future projects in the city, with sustainable development features," Linda Searl, the commission's acting chairman and an architect, said as she voted to approve the project.

Those sustainable features include exhaust air-filtering vertical gardens at each corner of all parking levels; a lighting system that will allow lights to brighten and dim as traffic enters and exits; and what the architects call winter garden space. "Every resident unit facing east will have its own glass-enclosed space. The glass can be opened in the summer and will create a buffer zone in the winter," Sutherland said.

There will be 7,700 square feet of retail space in the 535 building, Sutherland said, noting "interest from local restaurateurs and national retailers."

Sutherland hopes to begin construction of the 535 N. St. Clair building by late next year

The Urban Politician

October 30th, 2005, 07:02 PM

^ That 4 story building being preserved--is it an historic building?

spyguy

October 31st, 2005, 04:55 PM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0510310233oct31,1,7346615.story?coll=chi-business-hed

INSIDE INFORMATION
NEW CONSTRUCTION

Source: BidClerk.com
Published October 31, 2005

Chicago--Streeterville condominium building, 535 N. St. Clair St., 38-story condominium building, January, $25 million.

Chi_Coruscant

November 1st, 2005, 02:36 PM

InterContinental plans skyscraper
Hotel/condo tower would reshape part of Magnificent MileBy Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 1, 2005

The nondescript north tower of the InterContinental Chicago hotel on Michigan Avenue would be replaced with a 71-story hotel/condominium skyscraper, under a dramatic proposal that would reshape the south end of the Magnificent Mile.
The ambitious plan would not affect the key architectural features of the 42-story Art Deco south tower, which is topped by a Moorish-styled dome, said Laurence Geller, chief executive of Strategic Hotel Capital Inc., which acquired the hotel about seven months ago. The 26-story north tower, notable for its blank concrete exterior along the avenue, was built as a separate hotel in 1961.

The proposal must receive city zoning approval. Construction, which would depend on sales of the high-priced condo units, is not expected to start until mid-2007 at the earliest.

The proposed skyscraper, to be designed by Chicago architect Lucien Lagrange, "adds an elegance" to the historic tower, without a "dwarfing factor," Geller said. "Truthfully, it would replace a building that is not particularly pleasing," he added.

Even so, the new tower is sure to prompt scrutiny by preservationists, concerned about the continued "canyonization" of North Michigan Avenue, and by some Streeterville neighbors, who already feel cramped from the building boom east of the hotel, including plans for two 2,000-foot skyscrapers in the last four months.

But the financial aspects of the plan also are expected to spark questions on Wall Street, even for a company known as an aggressive asset manager. While most hotel owners would only consider development plans for a poorly performing property, Chicago-based Strategic is proposing a redevelopment of a well-performing asset to make it better.

"Strategic is never shy about changing a property type to maximize value," said hotel analyst John Arabia with Newport Beach, Calif.-based Green Street Advisors Inc., who hadn't been briefed on the plan. "It would be a pretty big move."

Strategic paid about $170 million for an 85 percent interest in the 807-room property at 505 N. Michigan Ave. The hotel pulled in almost $6.4 million in the second quarter, accounting for nearly 17 percent of the real estate investment trust's earnings of $37.6 million before interest and other expenses, according to a financial statement. Room rates averaged about $193 a night during the quarter, and the hotel was more than 83 percent occupied.

The new tower would include 150 hotel suites, 310 condos, parking and 11,000 square feet of prime, first-floor retail space. It would replace a building with 477 rooms, reducing the overall number of rooms to 480.

The 330-room historic south tower would receive a $15 million renovation, a key part of a repositioning of the property.

"We're moving it from being a big, bulk group hotel, which is doing very well, into a luxury hotel that will compete against the top end of the market," Geller said.

Strategic, which is represented by prominent zoning attorney Jack Guthman of Shefsky & Froelich Ltd., is filing an application for a planned development Tuesday.

The plans also include construction of a landscaped plaza over a portion of Grand Avenue east of Michigan. And the hotel's entrance would be moved to Illinois Street to reduce congestion on Michigan, Geller said.

The proposed 850-foot tower would be almost twice the height of the historic south tower, which was built in 1929 as the Medinah Athletic Club and is known for its blend of design features inspired by sources that range from ancient Egypt to the Italian Renaissance.

Moreover, some of the city's best-known skyscrapers of that era, including the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and the McGraw-Hill Building, which was rebuilt in 2000, are within steps of the InterContinental, further highlighting the differences in height.

But key to the new development is the continued strength of the high-end condominium market, which is seemingly overcrowded with projects.

"I believe a building like this on Michigan Avenue is a unique opportunity that stands to segregate itself out from the bulk of the stuff that's being put out there," Geller said

Strategic, which is advised by Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty Co., has already held talks with several local developers, including LR Development Co. and Magellan Development Group Ltd., he said.

----------

tcorfman@tribune.com

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/9582/hotel6ur.jpg
At 850 feet, the new skyscraper would soar above the Hotel InterContinental's dome-topped south tower.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8073/hotel19oi.jpg

geoff_diamond

November 1st, 2005, 03:56 PM

Looks fantastic from here!!!

wickedestcity

November 1st, 2005, 05:25 PM

prob. deserves its own thread

The Urban Politician

November 1st, 2005, 06:48 PM

This is ridiculous

ChicagoLover

November 2nd, 2005, 05:13 AM

^ I agree. I mean, comon, how many hotel condos are we going to sustain here?

spyguy

November 2nd, 2005, 05:59 AM

More.

spyguy

November 3rd, 2005, 11:51 PM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511030280nov03,1,3344332.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Wrigley adds Wards space for workers

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 3, 2005

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. has signed a large lease in the former headquarters of a Chicago business icon, Montgomery Ward & Co., where the chewing gum concern would move some employees from its overcrowded Michigan Avenue tower.

The lease could cut short a review of the company's long-term real estate needs that began this summer, observers say. Options include a possible headquarters move to a new skyscraper.

The historic Wrigley Building at 410 N. Michigan Ave. could then be converted to luxury residential condominiums, a market that has become flooded with projects.

"Maybe this is a way to take some of the pressure off at the Wrigley Building and solve their other, short-term requirement," said Richard Schuham, executive vice president with tenant representative firm Studley Inc., which isn't involved in the deal.

Wrigley is leasing about 100,000 square feet of space at 600 W. Chicago Ave., the redeveloped catalog building of the defunct department store chain. The deal would ease an acute need for space since Wrigley's $1.48 billion acquisition of the LifeSavers and Altoids brands, which closed in June.

Wrigley has signed a 10-year lease at the Chicago Avenue property, although the deal includes the right to an early termination with a fee payment, sources said. But sources also say Wrigley is already in talks to increase its space.

Stephen Smith, managing director with real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which manages the building, declined to comment.

The deal would be a boost to the 1.6 million-square-foot building, which is about 60 percent leased. After a slow start, the building, which is owned by a venture that includes Chicago-based Centrum Properties Inc., has gained some leasing momentum by offering trendy loft offices at inexpensive rents, compared with downtown towers.

A Wrigley spokesman, Christopher Perille, would not confirm the length of the lease and would not comment on the study of long-range real estate needs.

The Tribune reported in June that the company was considering various real estate scenarios, including a possible move from its historic namesake building. That would pave the way for developers to convert the terra cotta structure into condos.

The status of the real estate study could not be determined. That review, which is being conducted by a team of advisers that includes real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Inc., is quietly continuing, sources said. Another real estate firm, Transwestern Commercial Services, represented Wrigley in the Chicago Avenue deal.

The new space would house Wrigley's U.S. sales and marketing staff, which has grown rapidly with the purchase of non-chocolate candy brands from Kraft Foods Inc.

"The business is strong, the team has been growing and there is no place to put them," he said. "This meets our current needs, and also allows for some continued growth of the business and growth of the team."

The Wrigley Building is actually two towers separated by a courtyard, with addresses of 400 and 410 N. Michigan Ave. At the beginning of the year, the company was crammed into about half of the 453,400-square foot development.

In one sign of growth, in June Wrigley was looking for just 60,000 square feet of space for its near-term needs. Wrigley chose 600 W. Chicago because of its large, 146,500 square-foot floors, and because of the building's location between the Wrigley Building and the company's new research center at 1132 W. Blackhawk St. on Goose Island, Perille said.

Some companies would prefer not to occupy three locations, a factor that could favor another long-term real estate solution, said Schuham, who isn't involved in the deal. But it depends on how the operations are divided.

"You don't need accountants near the marketing people," he said.

The number of employees to be located in the new offices has not yet been determined, but the space is expected to be ready early next year, Perille said. Wrigley would be the second-largest tenant at 600 W. Chicago, after Bankers Life & Casualty Co., with 202,700 square feet.

Chi_Coruscant

November 3rd, 2005, 11:54 PM

Mr. Wrigley: now, it is a good time to talk to John Buck. :)

Frumie

November 4th, 2005, 01:54 AM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511030280nov03,1,3344332.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Wrigley adds Wards space for workers

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 3, 2005

[B]In one sign of growth, in June Wrigley was looking for just 60,000 square feet of space for its near-term needs. Wrigley chose 600 W. Chicago because of its large, 146,500 square-foot floors, and because of the building's location between the Wrigley Building and the company's new research center at 1132 W. Blackhawk St. on Goose Island, Perille said.

Is the Wrigley research center a new structure, and is it worthy of putting up an image of it?

spyguy

November 4th, 2005, 02:34 AM

Yes it is a new structure, but no, it's not worth putting an image up of :) A little better than a warehouse I guess, but the outside does not convey the message of innovation they're striving for.

Frumie

November 4th, 2005, 06:06 AM

Gotcha. Thanks

spyguy

November 4th, 2005, 04:43 PM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511040223nov04,1,2492363.story?coll=chi-business-hed

311 W. Monroe sold to VEF
Tribune staff, wire reports
Published November 4, 2005

As expected, real estate investment management firm VEF Advisors LLC said it bought 311 W. Monroe St., a West Loop office building, from a fund managed by John Buck Co., in a $43 million deal. The 355,000-square-foot building is about 70 percent leased to Harris Bank as a part of a 2001 sale-leaseback deal, said real estate research firm CoStar Group. The 14-story structure was built in 1969 but has been upgraded. Buck Co. paid $29.2 million for it and used its zoning rights to expand the firm's 111 S. Wacker Drive tower, which is next door and was built earlier this year. James Ryan, chief executive of Atlanta-based VEF, said he liked 311 W. Monroe's location, but "new construction has added significantly to inventory." VEF is an affiliate of Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP of New York.

spyguy

November 4th, 2005, 04:55 PM

http://www.suntimes.com/output/hlife/hof-news-print04.html
It's reprint time for Printers Row
November 4, 2005
BY LARRY FINLEY Real Estate Reporter

Printers Row is adding a new selection of first additions and updated 100-year-old classics.

New condominiums and conversions of existing buildings are continuing the decades-long transition from the city's printing and publishing hub, to a rental-loft neighborhood, to a new housing center.

First-time buyers are finding condos in the low $100,000s, while the older, empty-nester set is picking up places in the city for their breaks from the suburbs, according to Thad Wong, co-founder of @properties, brokers in the area.

"Printers Row and the South Loop have become major beneficiaries of the Loop's resurgence," Wong said. "It is desirable because of its proximity to the Museum Campus, the Theater District, Grant Park, Millennium Park and the lakefront."

Wong also noted that Printers Row benefits from its well-known history as the center of Chicago's print industry, founded near the Dearborn Station rail lines in the early 1900s and continuing until the 1960s.

"And in recognition of its storied past, the neighborhood hosts the annual Printers Row Book Fair every June," he said.

Models have opened at the largest new conversion, Printers Square, at 700 S. Federal. The four-towered building will include 355 condominiums, according to Jim Letchinger, president of JDL Development. Prices will range from the low $100,000s to the high $200,000s, he said.

JDL has been known for its custom homes and other new-construction projects such as Paulina Park Townhomes, at 1700 W. Diversey. Letchinger said he hoped to bring some new-construction techniques to its first conversion.

"We are an urban developer," he said. "This was the right building at the right time. There are really good layouts that allow us to add our finishes and our touches without having to do structural work."

Redeveloped units will get the Italian kitchen cabinetry used in its new homes, as well as granite counters, stainless-steel appliances and sinks, new bath vanities and fixtures, pantries, carpeting and painting. Options include hardwood floors.

Some of the units will be sold "as-is" without the renovation and new appliances, he said.

"A lot of tenants are very happy with where they are," he said. "And there is a huge price incentive to buy them 'as is.' There is a savings to the current tenants of $25,000 to $35,000."

The standard prices range from the low- to high-$100,000s for the studios, which come in a wide variety of configurations ranging from about 500 to 830 square feet. The 1-bedroom plans start at about $139,000 to the low $200,000s for between 550 to 895 square feet. The 2-bedrooms start in the mid- to high-$200,000s and have 1,100 to 1,400 square feet.

The building amenities include: a 24-hour fitness center, dedicated receiving facility, on-site dry cleaners, private storage, intercom entry and closed circuit TV monitoring.

Parking is provided for $250 a month rental, or for a daily fee, he said. Some suburbanites are getting the units as "in-towns" and will bring their autos in only on the weekends, he said. Other residents are students who don't have automobiles.

Some of the condos are being purchased by investors, who plan to rent them out to students and others, he said.

Models of remodeled units opened recently at 700 S. Federal. Sales are being handled by @properties, (312) 662-1111 or visit www.psqcondos.com.

Concord Homes will begin work early next year on its 17-story Library Tower at State Street and Congress Parkway, across the street from the Harold Washington Library.

About half of the 184 condominiums have been sold, although 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom plans are still available, according to David Radomski, president of Concord Homes' urban division.

"There are a number of people who have come down from the suburbs," Radomski said. "For example, there are people who have season tickets to the Bears. They are going to use this as a second home. In the fall, they will go to the Bears games and have fun in the city."

Many of the buyers are empty-nesters who "really aren't looking at going to Sun City and playing cards, yet," he said. "The baby boomer thinks he is still 30 years old."

Some of them have sold their suburban, single-family house and are buying at Library Tower and also will have another place "somewhere warm," he said.

The 1-bedroom plans range from 900 to 1,080 square feet and are priced from $267,000 to $350,000. The 2-bedrooms have 1,200 to 1,600 square feet and range from $390,000 to $570,000. The 3-bedrooms have up to 2,100 square feet and are priced in the $800,000s. Parking spaces are $35,000 or $40,000.

Features include granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, fireplaces and hardwood or carpeted floors. The building will have doormen, a 24-hour fitness center, a business room, indoor dog walk and rooftop deck with gas grills and a kitchenette for parties.

"We designed a building for the historic area," Radomski said. "It is made to look older to fit in with the Printers Row neighborhood. It will have its own park to the south for the residents and the neighborhood."

The sales center is at 511 S. Plymouth. Call (312) 386-9427 or visit www.concordhomes.com.

Printers Corner, at Polk and Wells, will be a mid-rise, 88-unit building for people who want all-new construction.

The building has 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom plans available, ranging from about $215,000 to $399,000, according to Bob Horner, co-principal of developer Winthrop Properties. Sizes range from about 750 to 1,150 square feet.

"It's a first-time buyers' market here," Horner said. "We are getting primarily renters from the city, although we do get some suburban renters and a few transferees. Location and rareness of new construction are big parts of Printers Corner's appeal."

All condos will come with balconies, corner views, crown molding, stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops, hardwood floors, individual heating and cooling, floor-to-ceiling windows, a computer niche and a new 42-inch plasma TV.

This is not Winthrop's first venture into Printers Row. Its Printers Row Lofts, at 732 S. Financial, sold out its 138 vintage, conversion lofts in a year.

The sales office for Printers Corner is in Dearborn Station, at 47 W. Polk. Call (312) 880-1800 or visit www.printerscorner.com.

Judy Howard lived in the Printers Row area for 20 years and now sells properties there as a sales associate for Rubloff Residential Properties' South Loop office.

"The changes down here are amazing," Howard said. "The student influx has been a major change."

Estimates are that there are some 55,000 students attending colleges in Chicago's downtown area.

"I have a couple looking right now to buy for their college student daughter," she said. "And then later they will hang onto it for themselves, for an 'in-town.'"

"In Printers Row, the lofts are still very popular," Howard said. "There are a lot of students buying those because they are usually a pretty generous space and they can put two people in one."

Parents can buy a condominium for their son or daughter, and then help defray the mortgage costs by renting space to another student.

Printers Row is also popular for "in-towns," small condominiums owned by suburbanites for weekends or overnight stays when things run long at work, she said.

"It's a neighborhood feeling in the city," Howard said. "People love it that you can walk around to the outdoor cafes and coffee shops."

There are also move-up sales to people who have lived in the area for many years and now want something newer and larger; other buyers are "reverse commuters," Howard said.

Printers Row also has proved to be an alternative to Lincoln Park, where home prices and real estate taxes have priced many people out of the market, she said.

Rubloff Residential Properties' South Loop office is at 80 W. Harrison. Call (312) 980-5151.

BVictor1

November 4th, 2005, 09:03 PM

When I went to city hall yesterday I tried to get information on 351 North Clark, and I was suprised by what I found.

Here are some scans from the zoning application.

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3097/rn12yt.jpg

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3520/rn21dg.jpg

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3870/rn30um.jpg

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/3558/rn46ip.jpg

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/5186/rn57ym.jpg

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/5290/rn67hu.jpg

As you can see, this appears to be a 3 tower project. I'm trying to get more information, but this is what I've come up with so far.

http://www.friedmanproperties.com/developments/default.asp#rivernorth
http://www.friedmanproperties.com/images/rivernorth_picture.jpg
River North Center occupies two blocks, which are bounded by Hubbard Street to the north, Clark Street to the west. Carroll Drive to the south and Dearborn Street to the east. The uses planned for this development include retail, Office, commercial, residential, hotel and parking facilities.

Plans are currently underway to immediately develop the North parcel with a 275 room Hotel along with a 400 car-parking garage. We are also creating approximately 20,000 sf of retail on the first level. The 15 stories, 275-room hotel of 200,000 sf is located above the garage along Dearborn Street. Atop the garage is a pool and landscaped terrace, with access to the Hotel. The corner of Dearborn and Hubbard will be developed as a landscaped plaza approximately 27 feet by 80 feet. Phase II of the development includes a 17-story office building of approximately 330,000 sf is proposed above the garage at the west edge of the site.

The entrances for parking are located at the center of the block on Clark and Dearborn Streets, opposite the alleys of the properties across the street. The parking exit is located on Kinzie, opposite the entry-exit to parking at the south parcel. There is also a drop-off for the hotel which is under the building and accessible from Dearborn which shares the entry to the parking garage. Loading berths are located on Hubbard across from the alley and on Kinzie adjacent to the parking exit.

The buildings are to be constructed of several materials. We have varied the building heights, materials, fenestration and details to have the street elevations relate to the scale of the neighboring buildings. The materials consist of limestone, cast stone and brick on the base, with architectural precast concrete on the office building and brick and tile on the hotel. The hotel's mass is articulated by large bay windows, which extend below the hotel portion to the 3rd level of the garage. The garage facades have been articulated using several methods, including variation of materials, recessing portions of the walls, stepping portions of the building inward as it gets higher and by varying the window sizes, which contain translucent or vision glass where appropriate (i.e. stairs, etc).

Chi_Coruscant

November 4th, 2005, 09:29 PM

Proposed Office: 603-0'
Proposed Condo: 496-0'
Proposed Hotel : 219-0'

I think it refers to this article "River North: Next Boom?" by Abby Gallum:
"Developers Richard A. Stein and Albert M. Friedman are planning two hotels and about 300 condominiums in a massive River North development......Despite dire predictions of a housing bubble, local developers are betting on a condo boom continuing, as well as resurgent hotel demand.
The Friedman-Stein plan is the bigger bet, revising an earlier proposal for a five-acre parcel bounded by Dearborn Parkway and Kinzie, Clark and Hubbard streets. In addition to condos, the plan includes 50,000 square feet of retail space, parking and around 500 hotel rooms, says Mr. Stein, senior managing director of Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. Merrillville, Ind.-based White Lodging Service Corp. would run the hotels, both Marriott franchises. One would be a long-term-stay hotel and the other a moderately priced SpringHill Suites, he says. The impact on Brasserie Jo restaurant, which is located on the site, is unclear."

The Urban Politician

November 5th, 2005, 06:12 PM

Wow, this is great news. All of these parking entrances/exits and curb cuts concern me that this doesn't become one of those developments that gets caught up in the circulation of traffic and fails to provide a good environment for pedestrians

Packerguy

November 5th, 2005, 08:04 PM

So is the River North Center still going? I saw last night that they have still have it as never built on emporis.com. I'm confused about this one.

spyguy

November 5th, 2005, 08:29 PM

http://www.crainschicago.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=18402

Hotel developers bet big on travel rebound
Downtown hotel construction is poised to grow from a trickle to a flood as developers try to capitalize on the rebounding hotel market.

Developers have at least 15 projects on the drawing boards that could add 3,366 rooms, a 10% increase in supply. With occupancies and room rates rising and an expansion of McCormick Place under way, demand is growing. The question is whether it will keep up with the additional supply.

The planned building "is off the charts," says John Jameson, managing director at Molinaro Koger, a McLean, Va.-based hotel brokerage. "I've never seen anything quite like it."

The development is certain to intensify competition at the high end, now dominated by hotels such as the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago and the Peninsula Chicago. Donald Trump is leading the way with his condominium hotel tower under construction on the Chicago River, which will include 286 rooms. Other planned luxury hotels include the Elysian Hotel & Private Residences, with 183 rooms, the Shangri-La Hotel, with 200, and the Mandarin Oriental, with 250.

"The luxury market's going to be getting more and more crowded," says Roger G. Hill, CEO of Gettys Group, a Chicago consulting and interior design firm.

Developers of the luxury projects are selling hotel rooms to individual investors as condos, a popular trend in the business. They're also building residential condos above their hotels, a way to exploit the booming downtown condo market and appeal to condo buyers who want hotel-style amenities and a prestigious address.

"When you have a great (hotel) name in a condo building, you get a premium," says Laurence S. Geller, CEO of Strategic Hotel Capital Inc., a Chicago real estate investment trust that owns the Hotel InterContinental on North Michigan Avenue and the Fairmont Chicago in the East Loop.

Last week Strategic announced a redevelopment of the InterContinental, including plans to replace the north tower with a 71-story hotel-condo high-rise. Strategic also plans to add a residential component to the Fairmont and has a deal to add 195 hotel rooms in an 80-story tower planned across the street, Mr. Geller says. [Studio Gang Tower in Lakeshore East]

Developers are betting the market will continue to rebound, getting an additional boost when the $880-million addition to the McCormick Place convention center opens in 2008. After dipping as low as 61.9% in August 2002, the downtown hotel occupancy rate, calculated as a 12-month moving average, hit 70.0% in September, according to Smith Travel Research, a Tennessee-based hotel industry research firm. The average daily room rate rose to $153.88 in September, up from a low of $143.08 in August 2002.

So far, few in the industry are voicing concerns that the building boom will result in a glut. Most projects won't be completed until 2008 at the earliest, when demand is expected to be stronger. And some existing supply will be taken off the market: The InterContinental redo, for instance, will shrink the hotel by 327 rooms.

Moreover, just three projects are under way; some others won't get off the ground.

"The reality is, they're not all going to happen," says Mr. Hill, the design consultant. "If they all happened, that would be a concern."

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3217/og110705q4of.gif

spyguy

November 5th, 2005, 08:30 PM

http://www.crainschicago.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=18401

McClurg Court snares a buyer
TVO Realty Partners has signed to buy McClurg Court Center, a 1,058-unit apartment building in Streeterville, according to people familiar with the deal. The Chicago apartment investment firm is acquiring only the building; TVO will lease the land beneath it through a 62-year lease held by the estate of late real estate mogul Jerrold Wexler. A price was not disclosed; a predecessor company to current owner Archstone-Smith Operating Trust paid $70 million in 1998. [Alby Gallun]

Chi_Coruscant

November 5th, 2005, 09:16 PM

Thanks for posting the Hotel article, spyguy.

ECD Co. is responisble for State/Lake project which the construction will begin on June 2006. The Hotel will include a high-end restaurant and lounge, a spa and gym open to the public and for use of the hotel guests, as well as 50 hotel-condos on the top five floors with studio, one bedroom, and two bedroom floor-plans available. and the Fritzel's upsdcale dining.

I can't find any rendering.

http://www.ecdco.com/statelake.htm

Chi_Coruscant

November 5th, 2005, 10:28 PM

By Sandra Jones
(11/07/2005 Chicago Crain's issue)
Waking up Water Tower
Once au courant, now old hat: Mall's new owner seeks to recover lost cachet
http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/6987/watertower3bq.png
Water Tower Place's new owner aims to restore glitz and glamour to the dowager of the Magnificent Mile.
Through a mix of new stores, restaurants, expanded evening hours and a live theater, the mall's managers hope to recapture its cachet — and make it a nighttime destination, as well.
The endgame: Make Water Tower Place one of the 10 most lucrative malls in the country.
It's an ambitious target, but critical to Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc.'s mission to make the most of its 2004 acquisition of Maryland's Rouse Co., a $7.2-billion deal that included Water Tower.
"This is the prime retail location in the city," says Gehard Plaschka, CEO of MindFolio, a Chicago consumer experience consultancy. "The wealthiest residents in Chicago live around it. Yet, it's not an icon for retail, not an icon for dining and not an icon for residents. It's completely outdated."
When Water Tower opened on Michigan Avenue in 1976, it rattled the industry by daring to bring a suburban-style mall to one of the nation's most exclusive downtown shopping streets.
But Water Tower's suburban style became a liability in the '90s, as glitzy new malls like 900 North Michigan Avenue Shops and Westfield North Bridge brought in crowd-pleasers such as Nordstrom and J. Crew and edgier retailers such as MaxMara and Bloomingdale's. Water Tower lost affluent shoppers bored with its mix of standard-issue mall stores such as the Gap, the Limited and Victoria's Secret.

General Growth recognizes the problem. "We need to make Water Tower very special," says President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Michaels. "We need to merchandise it so when people think of Chicago, they think about Water Tower and say, 'Let's go there because they have stores that nobody else has.' "
http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/2255/watertower20id.jpg
GOAL IS INCREASING SALES
An original Water Tower tenant, Sherry Bender, has watched the mall lose its tony status. The final straw for the owner of upscale jeweler Goldsmith Ltd. came when a customer asked if the landlord reduced her rent because of the new "picnic area," referring to the abandoned food trays and litter on the tables lining the balcony outside her store. The food court was on a separate level. Ms. Bender relocated to 900 North Michigan in August.
"I hated what was going on there," she says. "They chased away the upscale shoppers."
General Growth's Mr. Michaels says his goal is to improve sales from a mediocre $500 per square foot to $800 or $900 within three to five years. That would vault Water Tower ahead of 900 North and North Bridge, which both do more than $600 a square foot, and put Water Tower on par with such powerhouses as the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and the Galleria in Houston.
In the past few months, General Growth has brought in stores unique to Chicago, including C. O. Bigelow Apothecaries, an upscale bath and beauty shop and one of seven stores the Limited is testing nationwide; Soma, a lingerie store for women over 35 by Chico's FAS Inc.; Lillie Rubin, a women's special occasion dressing store that Cache Inc. is testing; an upscale tea shop out of Atlanta called Teavana; Lindt Chocolate Shop, and Lacoste sportswear. General Growth has also talked to Zara and Mango, two trendy clothiers from Spain.
The most dramatic change under consideration: extend the mall into the area now occupied by the driveway between the mall and the Ritz Carlton Hotel, a project that could cost more than $10 million. Mr. Michaels is talking to restaurateur Richard Melman about building a Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. concept in the empty thoroughfare. Chicago-based Lettuce already operates Foodlife and Mity Nice Grill on the mezzanine level and Wow Bao in the first-floor atrium. "Water Tower has been a very good location for us," says Mr. Melman.

One broker says vertical shopping centers like Water Tower are struggling because stores want their brand on street level. Photo: Erik Unger
Restaurants in general generate more in sales per square foot than specialty shops, a factor that no doubt plays into the decision to add eateries. Mr. Michaels says he would like to create an entire floor of restaurants to attract
theatergoers from the new Drury Lane Theatre and turn Water Tower into a nightspot. General Growth also extended store hours to 9 p.m. year-round, an edict that irked many tenants.

HAS TURNAROUND EXPERIENCE
General Growth has turned around malls in the past. Sales at Tyson's Galleria in McLean, Va., soared to $800 a square foot from $350 after General Growth bought it in 1995, says Mr. Michaels.
But Water Tower could pose its biggest challenge. The best-performing malls are only one or two stories high and count luxury stores among their main tenants. Water Tower has seven floors, a challenge for today's impatient and time-pressed shoppers. Many Water Tower retailers now have standalone showcase stores on the Mag Mile.
"Vertical shopping centers are struggling with stores wanting to put their brand on the street," says Lorraine Adney, a broker with Baum Realty Group Inc. in Chicago. "It's not the roaring '90s, where everyone wanted to be on Mag Mile and any Mag Mile address was all right."

ricardo

November 6th, 2005, 04:58 AM

I am glad they are doing something about this mall. Their is nothing in that mall that you can't get anywhere else . How many Gab, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor can we have in less than a mile. We have the same stores on every mall on michigan avenue. The reason to come to downtown is to go to stores that the suburbs do not have. I hope they succeed.

geoff_diamond

November 6th, 2005, 05:18 AM

Wait... since when is WTP open until 9PM?

spyguy

November 6th, 2005, 05:20 AM

I think it is, except Sunday.

STR

November 6th, 2005, 07:22 AM

They may attract some people with a store like this, but I wouldn't even step foot on the same floor this thing is located:
Soma, a lingerie store for women over 35 by Chico's FAS Inc.

*Shudder*

BVictor1

November 6th, 2005, 07:23 PM

November 17 Plan Commission Agenda

Now there's certainly no gurantee that all of these items will be on the agenda the day of the meeting, but I certainly hope that number 13 is.

2. A Resolution in support of a proposed Site Plan for a third story addition to the west section of the Art Institute of Chicago. The proposed addition will house new public amenities: a restaurant, winter garden and sculpture garden.

4. A proposed Residential Planned Development submitted by Home Sweet Homes, LLC for the property commonly known as 701-709 North State Street and 2-10 East Huron Street . The
applicant has proposed the construction of up to 100 dwelling units.

10. A proposed Residential-Business Planned Development submitted by 1712 THC, LLC, for the property commonly known as 1612-1640 and 1704-1722 South Michigan and 1639-1719 South Wabash Avenue. The applicant has proposed to construct dwelling units with accessory units while maintaining some of the existing buildings.

12. A proposed Residential Planned Development submitted by LaSalle and Grand, LLC for the property commonly known as 528-538 North LaSalle and 142-148 West Grand Avenue. The applicant proposes to construct a 19-floor, 28 unit residential building with 50 parking spaces.

13. A proposed Residential Business Planned Development submitted by Chieftain Construction Ltd.
for the property commonly known as 2131-2141 South Michigan; 100-132 East Cermak; 2124-2138 South Indiana. The applicant proposes to construct a 35 story residential building containing
336 dwelling units, 352 parking spaces and approximately 16,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Frumie

November 6th, 2005, 07:46 PM

The southward march down Michigan and Wabash Avenues is quite a drum beat of new towers. Once the former project sites receive their clearance and infrastructure and reconnect to the street grid, that same march should hopefully occur on South State Street.

The Urban Politician

November 8th, 2005, 06:51 PM

From the Columbia College Chronicle:

Columbia proposes $90 million tower
Campus Master Plan to unite north, south ends of campus
By Hayley Graham
Campus News

Chris Gallevo/The Chronicle
Columbia revealed a proposed plan to build a $90 million campus center building as part of the Campus Master Plan.
At a Town Hall Meeting open to Columbia students, faculty and staff on Nov. 4 Alicia Berg, vice president of campus environment, proposed a $90 million campus center as part of Columbia’s Campus Master Plan.

The new campus center would be built on the Columbia-owned property at Eighth Street and Wabash Avenue, currently the site of Buddy Guy’s Legends. The goal of having a new 14-story building in this location would be to unify the north and south ends of the campus by using the campus center for the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department and student center, Berg.

Berg presented the plan along with Joe Valerio of Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, which is partnering with Columbia to develop the Campus Master Plan, which is designed to improve the college’s image and its use of space on campus. The tower would be the first building on Columbia’s campus built by the college.

The Office of Campus Environment and the Institutional Research, Evaluation and Planning Department teamed up to research how students use Columbia’s campus and found that students use the north end of campus the most. Building the Campus Center at the corner of Eighth Street and Wabash Avenue would encourage students to also go down toward the south end of campus.

The first four floors of the 245,000-useable-square-foot campus center would be a student center, that would include a cafe, study area, an area for student organizations, rehearsal space and a performance stage.

“The building itself is really important to Columbia’s identity; it’s architecturally exciting,” Berg said.

The new building would hold relieve the space crunch that Columbia is experiencing now and continues to battle as the college is expected to grow 2 percent over the next 10 years, according to Berg.

The specific details of the trustees the specific details of the building’s layout will be planned while the funds are being raised, according to Berg. She said that the funding for the $90 million tower would come come partly from the Comprehensive Campaign, which is a major fundraising campaign that will encompass a range of projects from endowments to scholarships, according to Berg. The new chair of the board of trustees, Allen Turner, will be leading this campaign.

“[Turner] has gone through a capital campaign before, but he knows how hard it is,” Berg said.

Columbia plans to sell its properties south of Roosevelt Road to keep the campus between Roosevelt Road, Congress Parkway, Michigan Avenue and State Street. The proceeds from the property sales will also go to funding the campus center.

The details of the Comprehensive Campaign will be revealed to the public in 2007, according to Berg, who said she does not know when the construction of the campus center will begin.

The Campus Master Plan has already been put into action with the $8 million purchase of the building that houses the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 618 S. Michigan Ave. Berg revealed Columbia’s plan for the Spertus building at the Campus Plan Meeting. The first floor of the Spertus building, which Columbia is planning to move into by fall 2008, is going to house a temporary student center and gallery, the second floor will be a temporary student center and library, floor three will also be a library and floors four through 10 will be academic offices. The building will not be used for classroom space because of limitations in the building’s codes and its small elevators.

Berg also announced that the one of the goals of the Campus Master Plan is to make Columbia a dramatic presence in the South Loop. The idea is to make Wabash Avenue the heart of Columbia’s campus by adding Columbia-focused kiosks and creative street furniture, and by creating a public-wall gallery.

The Office of Campus Environment is currently talking with the Hilton located at 720 S. Michigan Ave., to use the blank wall of their parking garage, which faces Wabash Avenue, to display Columbia artwork.

“People are going to know where Columbia is,” Berg said.

http://www.ccchronicle.com/paper/images/1866_1.jpeg

wickedestcity

November 8th, 2005, 07:21 PM

does that mean , no more buddy guys!!!!?!????!!!

dvidler

November 8th, 2005, 07:47 PM

Well, yes. But according to an article a long time ago it stated that Buddy Guys would move one block north on Wabash.

mohammed wong

November 8th, 2005, 07:54 PM

Well, yes. But according to an article a long time ago it stated that Buddy Guys would move one block north on Wabash.

I thought it was taboo to question the destruction of any structure that would get in the way of development? :horse:

Certain places around downtown should be saved, Im not sure that the building that houses buddy guy should, but I dont think it that all small low rise old buildings in that area should be razed, in that you will destroy the feel of the neigborhood, Some development is good, and there are still alot of parking lots and parking structures that can come down!

Im not trying to say hold chicago back, but letting developers have free reign is also bad.

dvidler

November 8th, 2005, 08:09 PM

I agree with you however I feel this is a good thing for the neighborhood. To establish the area with an identity is always the best step toward creating a neighborhood. Right now the south loop doesnt really have an identity. Columbia College can create this in making the area a true college community. Plus the existing Buddy Guys building isnt much to look at, and I know since I live right across from it. '

I am all for this as long as Buddy Guys doesnt leave the area.

The Urban Politician

November 8th, 2005, 08:12 PM

I thought it was taboo to question the destruction of any structure that would get in the way of development? :horse:

Certain places around downtown should be saved, Im not sure that the building that houses buddy guy should, but I dont think it that all small low rise old buildings in that area should be razed, in that you will destroy the feel of the neigborhood, Some development is good, and there are still alot of parking lots and parking structures that can come down!

^ Dude, why don't you just come out and say it--you just don't like anything new

The "feel" of that area is friggin parking lots, vacant lots, and garages

Maybe you should get on your own 2 feet and actually WALK the area around Buddy Guys. Nobody is tearing down an historic structure for this planned building. Oh, and if you look towards the northeast corner of Wabash and Balbo, there is a 10 story building planned on a vacant lot that is supposed to house the new Buddy Guy's after it moves. Nobody has ever posted pics of it yet, but I have discussed it with Victor so perhaps the rendering will make its appearance on the forums sometime

Walking around the south loop I see a lot of potential for development, and whatever is already there is usually a mid-to highrise building, so 14-stories is nowhere near to being out of scale.

Seriously, Wong, you need to just stop whining about "character" as if it's an endangered species--you're sounding more and more like one of those anti-everything NIMBY's

dvidler

November 8th, 2005, 08:29 PM

Urban,

If its possible please do share those renderings.

True, right now this area is full of parking lots, etc but that will hopefully be different in the next 5-6 years. Along with the residential projects springing up we have the YMCA headquarters at State & Harrison, the retail development along Roosevelt, plus the true highlight of this article is the land Columbia will be selling south of Roosevelt along Wabash. This could really change Wabash. I dont know what property they own but if its significant there could be a tremedous amount of activity along that street in the years to come.

mohammed wong

November 8th, 2005, 09:09 PM

^ Dude, why don't you just come out and say it--you just don't like anything new

The "feel" of that area is friggin parking lots, vacant lots, and garages

Maybe you should get on your own 2 feet and actually WALK the area around Buddy Guys. Nobody is tearing down an historic structure for this planned building. Oh, and if you look towards the northeast corner of Wabash and Balbo, there is a 10 story building planned on a vacant lot that is supposed to house the new Buddy Guy's after it moves. Nobody has ever posted pics of it yet, but I have discussed it with Victor so perhaps the rendering will make its appearance on the forums sometime

Walking around the south loop I see a lot of potential for development, and whatever is already there is usually a mid-to highrise building, so 14-stories is nowhere near to being out of scale.

Seriously, Wong, you need to just stop whining about "character" as if it's an endangered species--you're sounding more and more like one of those anti-everything NIMBY's

Im not anti-everything if you would READ all of my posts, I think you just take offence if someone questions a development, hey did I ever say that getting rid of parking lots was bad? Part of what is cool about Buddy guys is it isnt new, and its old and has character. What is wrong with questioning the destruction of character? Hey I have walked around there, with my own two feet, I went there just a month ago, and I think its a cool area, sure it needs some development too. Im just questioning the destruction of buddy guys current location, sure from a money perspective it makes sense, ofcourse! I just think some of the old chicago should make it through this development.

I dont want everything to suffocated under the "blankets of gentrification" is all. And I aint whining, you know we cant tell the tone that we take here, its definitely not sniveling, :), did I take offense to the height, nope, totally fine, I dont care about traffic, cuz its the CITY. I just question character, it will be weird to go to buddy guys when its in a brand new building, wont it?

I do think that it can become an endangered species if we arent careful. I guess im sentimental and I want a balance of old and new, not just all new. :llama:

I just had never used the llama before, YEAH!
No its not a landmark building, so its not that big a deal to raze it, but it sure wont be the same without it :(. I would rather have the adelphi theatre on clark in rogers park saved.

wickedestcity

November 8th, 2005, 09:24 PM

mohammed i agree on some of your points . it def. wouldent be the same buddie guys. it will feel like its missing its heart and soal. its not a landmark building or even a pareticularly good looking one but the heart and soal of chicago is in that place.its a ratty run down peice of shit but its our peice of shit. in a simulare way that marshal feilds was a peice of chicagos history and charachter ,so is buddie guys. and truth be told there are plenty of parking lots in the area that can be used for developments like these .

NWside

November 8th, 2005, 09:27 PM

No its not a landmark building, so its not that big a deal to raze it, but it sure wont be the same without it :(. I would rather have the adelphi theatre on clark in rogers park saved.

Are they actually considering tearing down the Adelphi? Where did you hear this?

mohammed wong

November 8th, 2005, 10:00 PM

Are they actually considering tearing down the Adelphi? Where did you hear this?

Broken heart of rogers park blog,
check out the adelphi theater's website also you could probably find it by googling it, you will have to scroll down a bit but you will find that they discussed the adelphi about a month ago on the broken heart blog,
and you will find the hideous contraption that is supposedly a building that they want to put there :(.

Great website to keep up with all things rogers park, or anything that ticks of craig, and anything pertaining to the suckee alderman joe moore,

NWside

November 8th, 2005, 11:52 PM

mohammed wong

November 8th, 2005, 11:57 PM

Well it's certainly unfortunate that Chicago loses another theater, ironically it still reads "opening soon" on the marquee of the Adelphi....

Here's the rendering of the 5 story development....

http://morsehellhole.blogspot.com/2005/09/demolition-of-adelphi-theatre.html

I dont think its totally for sure yet. But that replacement builiding is fucking heinous! the first floor should be taller than the others ( I think that alot of the time commercial space is better served with more room and higher ceilings), and with better windows, that design is so blandsville. is it asking too much for a better design? it doesnt have to be landmark, but this is a just a vision of greed, and lets throw up the building with the most money making properties and hey I dont have to look at it afterwards.

But the people in the neigborhood will have to walk by that monstrosity, I dont care about its height, hell it could be twenty stories tall for all I care, how about that it just doesnt look like feces? I sure as hell wouldnt want to live in that buidling. THis "architect" and "developer" should be horsewhipped.
:ohno: :ohno:

wickedestcity

November 9th, 2005, 05:03 AM

November 08, 2005 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

Conrad(R) Hotels Announces Its Entry into the Chicago Market; Hotel on Chicago's Famed Magnificent Mile to Be Extensively Repositioned

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 2005--Conrad Hotels, the luxury brand of the Hilton Family of Hotels, has announced it will assume management and repositioning of an existing hotel at one of Chicago's most prestigious addresses on Rush Street overlooking Michigan Avenue.

The 311-room Conrad Chicago, previously a Le Meridien hotel, has been purchased by an investment group led by Chicago-based Lodging Capital Partners, LLC., which has signed an agreement with Conrad Hotels to operate and manage the hotel.

Plans for a complete repositioning of the hotel are being developed, and once complete, will significantly enhance the luxury experience -- providing new levels of exemplary service, contemporary decor and luxurious amenities, synonymous with Conrad hotels worldwide. In addition, special attention will be paid to infusing the hotel with Chicago's rich cultural and artistic flavor.

"We are excited that Conrad Hotels is now in Chicago -- no doubt, one of the most important and vibrant cities in North America -- and this is certainly an essential part of the Conrad brand's expansion plans in the region," said Dieter Huckestein, chairman and CEO, Conrad Hotels. "The synergies provided by the strong existing network of the Hilton Family of Hotels in Chicago will help ensure the success of this new luxury option."

The growth of the Conrad brand in North America will continue in March 2006 with the opening of the Conrad Indianapolis. The U.S. portfolio will then include the two Midwest properties, The Waldorf Towers(R) in New York City and the Conrad Miami.

The Conrad Chicago is located between Rush Street and Michigan Avenue in the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile. With an exclusive entrance at 521 North Rush Street, the Conrad Chicago rises above the Westfield North Bridge shopping center and the Nordstrom department store on North Michigan Avenue. The hotel's favorable location gives it close proximity to The Loop, Chicago's financial district, Lake Michigan, Navy Pier and the Merchandise Mart.

"We have every confidence that the Conrad Chicago will offer an excellent luxury product in such a strategic market place," said Steve Kisielica, principal, Lodging Capital Partners. "We are pleased that Conrad, one of the world's finest hotel brands, has joined us in this partnership, which will lead to a range of mutually beneficial achievements for our two companies."

LA1

November 9th, 2005, 08:23 PM

What is going up on Hubbard, between Clark and LaSalle? Its about 10 stories right now.

spyguy

November 10th, 2005, 12:14 AM

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051109/cgw048.html?.v=33

Solis Hotels and Resorts Names Gregory Naylor Director of Sales & Marketing for Flagship Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums
Wednesday November 9, 4:23 pm ET
Industry Veteran Tapped for Luxury Brand's Premier Property in Chicago, IL

CHICAGO, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Solis Hotels and Resorts, a new luxury hotel and resort brand, has named industry veteran Gregory Naylor as director of sales and marketing for its flagship property, Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums, located adjacent to Chicago's Magnificent Mile at Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue and slated to open in the spring of 2006. The Solis brand was created in response to discerning guests' quest for distinctive experiences and exceptional service.

"Gregory's experience in launching some of the city's premier hotels made him a clear choice for the position of director of sales and marketing for Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums," said Horst Schulze, president and CEO of Solis Hotels and Resorts. "As the first city property of the Solis brand, Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums will set a new standard of luxury and elegance, catering to the world's most sophisticated travelers. Under Gregory's leadership, we are confident the hotel will enjoy a high-profile debut in the community, and be embraced by discerning guests and owners from around the world."

Naylor will oversee Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums' sales, marketing, advertising and public relations once extensive renovations are completed on the existing property in spring 2006, including the addition of state-of-the-art meeting facilities, a 4,000-square-foot ballroom and a new 7,000-square-foot spa and fitness center encompassing the entire fifth floor. Naylor's extensive luxury hotel experience includes prior leadership roles at the W Chicago City Center, with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and The Ritz- Carlton Chicago, a Four Seasons Hotel. More recently, Naylor was instrumental in the opening of Hard Rock Hotel Chicago.

"Overseeing the sales and marketing for the Solis brand's flagship property is an exciting opportunity," Naylor said. "With its premier location, highly trained staff, and the guidance of Horst Schulze's executive team, I believe Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums is poised for tremendous success."

Naylor earned a Master of Arts Degree in International Hotel & Tourism Management and graduated with highest honors from Schiller International University in London, England. He has been recognized repeatedly for his exceptional sales and marketing acumen, including the distinction of being honored as one of the top two sales representative in North America for Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

About Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums

Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums is the flagship city property of the new Solis Hotels and Resorts brand, developed by the West Paces Hotel Group. The premier Solis Hotel celebrates Chicago's passion for life's pleasures with unique experiences, world-class facilities and designs appealing to upscale travelers. Distinctive accommodations, combined with urban activities, will be characterized by unprecedented customer service. Solis Chicago Hotel and Condominiums will also feature 454 guestrooms and suites, a signature bistro- style restaurant with al fresco seating, a 4,000-square-foot ballroom, state- of-the-art meeting facilities and a new 7,000-square-foot spa and fitness center encompassing the entire fifth floor and including floor-to-ceiling windows with breathtaking skyline and river views.

ChicagoLover

November 10th, 2005, 03:02 AM

Odd.. no mention that Solis Hotel Chicago is called Hotel 71. Will the name change--I thought it just changed?

The Urban Politician

November 10th, 2005, 04:17 AM

What is going up on Hubbard, between Clark and LaSalle? Its about 10 stories right now.

^I feel so bad that both here and at SSP, nobody is answering your question

spyguy

November 10th, 2005, 04:20 AM

If I knew I'd answer...

bobablob

November 10th, 2005, 06:20 PM

Can't remember where else this was discussed:

I stopped by ABC-7 yesterday. The street level studio's opening (its been under construction for months) has been kicked back to March 1st, 2006.

dvidler

November 10th, 2005, 06:47 PM

Damn, that sucks. I was looking forward to that.

spyguy

November 10th, 2005, 11:17 PM

No wonder why they give no updates on it.

Chi_Coruscant

November 11th, 2005, 04:45 PM

Convention center hotel may expand

By Kathy Bergen
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 11, 2005

The time may be ripe to build a second tower at the 800-room Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, the city's top convention executive told business and civic leaders Thursday.

Trade show, convention and meeting business is building at the massive exhibition hall, and it will escalate even further with the 2008 opening of the West Building addition, Leticia Peralta Davis, chief executive of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, said in a luncheon speech to the City Club of Chicago.

Also, the travel industry has revived, and the Near South Side is experiencing rapid redevelopment, she said.

"All the things you think of as needing to be aligned are there, are trending positive," she said in an interview after the luncheon. "So maybe now's the time to look at the hotel."

Within the next month, the authority, which owns the hotel and McCormick Place, will retain an outside firm to study the feasibility of adding up to 600 more rooms to the 800-room hotel, as well as a second restaurant and a second ballroom, she said. The existing 33-story hotel was built in 1998 for $108 million.

Managed by Chicago-based Hyatt Corp., the hotel has been profitable, Davis said, generating operating income of $12.6 million to $17 million annually over the past few years, she said.

For the last fiscal year, ended June 30, the hotel had an occupancy rate of 62.4 percent and an average daily room rate of $153.79. By comparison, downtown hotels last year had an average occupancy rate of 70.6 percent and an average daily rate of $154.71, according to Smith Travel Research.

Cost estimates for the second tower and a financing structure have not been determined, although one possibility would be issuing bonds that would be paid back with hotel revenues, Davis said.

Hyatt officials could not be reached for comment.

Such a project is likely to cost more than $100 million, according to Ted Mandigo, president of T.R. Mandigo & Co., an Elmhurst-based hotel consulting firm.

He voiced some concerns over the expansion idea, noting the immediate surrounding area doesn't have a critical mass of restaurants, retail and upscale residential to support the hotel between conventions.

"It would have to live off the convention business and group meeting business," Mandigo said.

And while the West Building will bring in some new meeting business, there will be intensifying competition for that slice of the industry, including from suburban facilities under construction in Schaumburg and Lombard, he said.

The Hyatt expansion idea is being floated just as myriad other hotel projects are being proposed in the city.

----------

kbergen@tribune.com

spyguy

November 12th, 2005, 02:53 AM

- edit

The Urban Politician

November 12th, 2005, 08:05 PM

Some cool info about Columbia College's upcoming plans. From Chicago Journal:

Columbia proposes new student center
After years of making do with aging buildings, college has no small plans

By HAYDN BUSH, Managing editor

File photo
Columbia College students may be getting more space to stretch out and study if a new campus plan is approved.

South Loop
For years, Columbia College Chicago has grown largely by adding one South Loop building at a time, eschewing new construction in favor of collecting aging properties scattered around a neighborhood. But an ambitious new master plan, which Columbia College Vice President of Campus Environment Alicia Berg rolled out an early draft of at a school planning session Nov. 4, would include the first new construction on the South Loop campus in decades, along with a dramatic, arts-inspired effort to liven up South Wabash Avenue.

With the school’s on-campus population projected to rise to 2,800 by 2015, Berg said the school is expected to need another 427,000 square feet of academic space. Berg said the school currently only uses 60 percent of its total square footage, adding that Columbia’s aging buildings devote far too much space to hallways and other areas that aren’t used for activities. The recent acquisition of the old headquarters of the Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies, Berg pointed out, would add a mere 19,700 square feet to the campus.

"It points to how inefficient old buildings are," Berg said. "We haven’t ever done new buildings."

If all of Columbia’s plans are realized—which include a new student center, a media production hub, and a performing arts center—they would cost $160 million, Berg said. The majority of the funding for the new buildings, Berg said, would likely come from a fund-raising campaign expected to start in 2007.

The centerpiece of the new campus would be a 14-story student center on property already owned by Columbia at Eighth and Wabash, which would cost roughly $90 million to build. Originally, Berg said, the student center was slated to rise to only four stories, but with the student population on the upswing, the school decided to maximize its space and build 10 stories of academic space above, with room for expansion on the 14th floor.

The building would include a bookstore, cafe, and four new common rooms for students to gather and study, an amenity Berg said is nonexistent at present.

"Right now, students don’t have space to do work," Berg said.

Vanessa Torres, the president of Columbia’s Student Government Association, said she thought the ideas contained in the new plan are "fantastic," but pressed Berg about the timetable for the fund-raising effort and the construction schedule. Berg, though, demurred, saying the fund-raising campaign would likely not be announced publicly until the school receives a few large private donations.

"You don’t announce and go public until you have starter gifts," Berg said.

Further afield, Columbia is tentatively planning to build a performance center, complete with three theaters, on the south end of campus. Under the new plan, Columbia would also squeeze its campus from the greater South Loop to an area bounded by Congress, Roosevelt Road, State Street and Michigan Avenue, which Berg said would allow the school to sell a few outlying properties to raise cash for other projects.

"South of Roosevelt Road, we would be looking to sell those properties over time," Berg said.

Berg said the school may also decide to demolish some existing buildings, but that most of Columbia’s existing buildings would likely stay intact.

"Columbia has always emphasized sustainable strategies, which has meant reusing some crappy old buildings," Berg said to a series of knowing laughs.

The new master plan will try to establish Wabash Avenue as more a hub for students. When Columbia studied where students walked around campus, the school expected to find that the most trips were made on Wabash, but were surprised to learn that Harrison Street is actually the most heavily trafficked street on campus. Joseph Valerio, an architect with Valerio Dewalt Train who Columbia hired to consult on the new master plan, said he envisioned Wabash Avenue storefronts with student art pieces literally spilling out onto the sidewalk, along with benches and other sidewalk furniture. And Berg said the school, with a mural alongside the Hilton Hotel garage facing onto Wabash, has already begun to spruce up the streetscape there.

Other proposals include the possibility of swirling LED screens in the windows of Columbia buildings at street level, Valerio said.

Dominick Cattone, Columbia’s director of student leadership, said the new emphasis on visual displays meshes well with the school’s emphasis as a media-oriented liberal arts school.

"We’re a visual campus," Cattone said. "It’s about time we did something visually appealing.

The Urban Politician

November 12th, 2005, 08:06 PM

Amen!

11/9/2005 10:00:00 PM*
Email this article • Print this article*

State Street falls far short of greatness

BONNIE McGRATH

In the South Loop, State Street ain’t That Great Street. Everyone knows the west side of State Street hugs the east side of Dearborn Park. But why, I don’t know—it should be slapping it silly. It’s treated so shabbily, it should pull up its sidewalks and leave. The famous street is getting short shrift from several ordinarily good citizen South Loop homeowner associations—and it’s making me mad as a State Street hatter.

Start at Polk Street, near the Terraces building. Yes, nice lilac bushes line the State Street side of the street, but they still don’t cover up a long line of huge ventilation exhaust panels, which can exude tons of dust and debris right over the bushes and onto State Street. The lilacs must grow to cover these industrial-sized pollution-gushers, so don’t trim them anymore!

At 899 S. State, the same type of foliage lines the high-rise, but since the building is often obscured by scaffolding and other signs of work in progress, the bushes are overshadowed and diminished. At 901 S. State, a three-level open-air parking garage covers a big chunk of the street. It was built in a decidedly different era, and these days, it’s the kind of structure that would have neighbors chaining themselves to light posts to stop it from being constructed. But it’s here to stay, and once again, lilac bushes are not up to the job of sufficiently obstructing it.

Speaking of light posts, this part of State Street needs some new ones. The poles that are there can only take so many years of hanging wires, patchy maintenance, flybills, posts-its and other forms of abuse. How about some nice gaslights like in Little Italy?

Moving south, there are three red midrise buildings, interwoven with townhomes, which are filled with homeowners who have treated State Street like an alley for the last 25 years. Blank red brick walls line the way, punctuated by some tired ivy, electric boxes, strung telephone wires, lots of weeds and rocks and oodles of mud. It’s the Tobacco Road of the South Loop.

Yes, there are a couple of small stained glass windows that face State, as well as some little Gothic square portholes installed by some guilty homeowners looking for redemption. And there is a lovely swimming pool. But it is behind a wrought-iron fence that is generally covered by blue garbage bags. And, glory be—there are also the beginnings of a new strip garden, probably put in by the same homeowners with the quirky windows. Someday, that little garden will be nice—if it isn’t trampled by people trying to get to the utility boxes.

Crossing Roosevelt, it’s apparent that my very own homeowners’ association in Dearborn Park II does its part. We declared our love of our part of State Street years ago by joining the city’s Adopt-a-Street program. You can see the signs attached to the light poles that say the Chicago Homes of Dearborn Park have adopted their street. Although we are giving the street a good home and upbringing, its biological parent, the City of Chicago, hasn’t chipped in with post-birthing costs. They are no flower boxes, no new trees, no fancy street lamps, no nothing. We simply put down a meager amount of mulch around the small trees in front of us, and then concentrate on our own front yards which proudly face the street—unlike our neighbors to the north and south.

After us, there are several townhome complexes to the south which don’t shovel snow, rake leaves, pick up trash, or even bother to look at State Street. They don’t even treat it as well as an alley. It’s more like a back canal. Behind red brick garden walls, they treat State Street as though it might harbor raw sewage—or as thought it doesn’t even exist.

At 15th Street, there is a final group of several single family houses with backyards that face State Street, and they also thumb their nose at The Great Street. They top on my list of homeowners-that-should-be-doing-more-than-they-are, and are so State Street averse that their yards sport bushes on steroids, which block their view entirely and are so deep and heavy that they prevent pedestrians from walking down the street completely. They need hedge trimmers, big time.

I’m convinced that the new residents of State Place at 1111 South State, and future residents of several buildings planned for the east side of the street, will ultimately file nuisance suits. For their part, State Place has invested in a lovely array of trees, plants and planter boxes in front of their building, and they deserve better than what their neighbors have to offer.

Get with it, State Streeters. Halloween is over. Spring is around the corner. And Homeowner Purgatory is at your back.

ChicagoLover

November 12th, 2005, 09:59 PM

^I love it! That article should be distributed personally to every person living in Dearborn park I!!! If I were in Chicago, I would do it!

Chi_Coruscant

November 12th, 2005, 10:51 PM

- edit

Chi_Coruscant

November 12th, 2005, 11:06 PM

- edit

Dale

November 13th, 2005, 07:11 AM

^ Looks like Chicago's doing a good job attending to the little things also.

nomarandlee

November 13th, 2005, 08:07 AM

Yet the revamp plan isn't as bold as one proposed earlier this year by a New York design firm, which floated ideas like plants that grow from underneath the el tracks (Crain's, March 7). The tracks have long been considered a liability for Wabash, creating a dark and noisy atmosphere.

I always thought that would be a good idea for the loop tracks. More vegetation around the actual tracks I think would be a good idea. Nobody has the renderings of what the New York firm proposed do they?

Also a dark maroon sounds ok though I think a green might look better.

Chi_Coruscant

November 13th, 2005, 02:59 PM

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/9657/chicago3ga.jpg
http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/6294/chicago23tn.jpg

HIGH ANXIETY
Tall and thin may be the future, but city's mission must be to see the light -- and patches of blue -- as its new, dazzling towers reach for the sky
By Blair Kamin
Tribune architecture critic
(www.chicagotribune.com)
Published November 13, 2005
Chicago has long been a city of cloud busting skyscrapers, but its latest push toward the sky is enough to make jaws drop, eyes pop and start alarm bells ringing.

Every week, it seems, a rendering of a new tower is splashed across the front page or the business page in the hopes of generating positive "buzz" and attracting potential buyers and investors.

Some of this may be pure hucksterism. Nothing like a sexy architect's rendering to drum up a prospective tenant or two. Still, every proposal bears watching. It's the ugly one we ignore that -- surprise! -- will get built.

The trend goes beyond the biggest headline grabbers, the 2,000-footers that have spawned nicknames such as "the Drill Bit" and "the Tweezer Tower." Not since the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Sears Tower, the Standard Oil Building (now the Aon Center) and the John Hancock Center redefined the Chicago skyline, have there been such spectacular possibilities for aesthetic payoffs and pratfalls. At stake in this profusion of residential towers and one proposed broadcast tower is the character of North Michigan Avenue, the lakefront, the riverfront and the walls of buildings flanking Grant Park. The skyline is sure to assume a new center of gravity along a new Gold Coast -- the once-foul Chicago River, where Donald Trump's much-hyped, 1,361-foot hotel and condo tower soon will rise out of a construction pit, and more giants may follow.

None of this is accidental. With little public discussion, Mayor Daley's administration has made a dramatic policy reversal, encouraging great height rather than forcing developers to make their towers shorter. At the House of Daley, where the city's architectural cloth gets cut, tall and thin is in. Short and squat is out. It is, on the whole, a change for the better.

City planners envision a skyline comprising pencil thin "point" towers that leave space around them for light and air. When it works, it should be dazzling, offering the best of both worlds -- great height without overwhelming congestion.

Yet all architecture, like all politics, is local. Tall towers do not belong everywhere. Some stand to do as much harm as good, canyonizing streets, dwarfing waterfronts or marring the skyline with bizarre Buck Rogers silhouettes. The emphasis on bigness still has to come to terms with smallness -- the shops, restaurants and other human-scaled features that give cities their accidental, quirky appeal.

Almost no one suggests that Chicago adopt a highly prescriptive set of design rules that would mandate the shape of towers. That could well kill off a building boom that is the envy of other cities and staunch the city's celebrated tradition of innovation.

But there is a need for the city to develop a planning framework that offers specific guidelines about where tall towers should go, how they can be placed so they block as few views as possible, and how they should behave at ground level to avoid the sort of city-deadening blank walls that now blight River North.

Such guidelines offer the prospect of carefully managed growth instead of unchecked, Dodge City growth, a specter that became very real last month when developers J. Paul Beitler and LR Development Co. unveiled plans for a 2,000-foot broadcast tower along the lakefront.

The plan, it turns out, was a slick switcheroo.

For months, the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR), a respected neighborhood group, negotiated with LR over a condominium tower of about 60 stories that was to rise on the west side of Lake Shore Drive just across from Lake Point Tower. Chicago architect Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will, who has produced some of the city's finest residential towers, designed the structure, whose details haven't been made public. SOAR members were happy with the broad strokes of Johnson's design and with details such as a dog run.

Then they woke up on Oct. 25 and read the front-page story about the broadcast tower, designed by New Haven, Conn., architect Cesar Pelli.

"Basically, it's a giant utility pole," said Brian Hopkins, a SOAR board member.

Following the route usually taken by developers, Beitler and LR only pictured their plan when they announced the tweezer-shaped tower, conveniently ignoring another planned 2,000-foot skyscraper just a few blocks to the south, Santiago Calatrava's Fordham Spire, which would be shaped like a giant drill bit.

Calatrava's design, which still must be financed and receive city approval, appears astonishingly graceful when it stands alone, an extraordinary piece of architectural sculpture that marks a special place in the city, the meeting of the lakefront and the river.

But with the broadcast tower alongside it, as pictured in a composite photo prepared for this story, it looks like one-half of the world's largest set of football goal posts.

This is but one example of the costs of unchecked growth.

Chicago's explosion of tall towers is at once a real estate phenomenon and an urban planning phenomenon, illustrating how quickly ideas from one city can migrate to another in the global age.

One reason for the tall towers, real estate experts say, is that developers have moved from secondary sites, such as the West Loop and the western flanks of River North, to marquee locations, such as North Michigan Avenue. There, land is more expensive and the developers need to build taller so they can make a profit.
Then there is the Trump factor. The developer and reality TV star has pushed Chicago's luxury condominium market to new physical and financial heights, blazing a trail that competitors lust to follow. Trump reportedly is getting stratospheric prices at his Trump International Hotel & Tower -- about $1,000 a square foot, up from roughly $675 a foot when he started selling condos there a few years ago.

"Other developers are looking at his numbers and drooling," says Gail Lissner, vice president of Chicago-based Appraisal Research Counselors.

Last but hardly least is City Hall's changing attitude toward tall buildings, a shift that reflects the growing influence of Vancouver in urban planning circles.

Why Vancouver? Because it offers an eminently livable model of tall, thin high-rise towers set on townhouse podiums.

That prototype clearly is familiar to key city planners, including Lori Healey, the city's new commissioner of Planning and Development, and Sam Assefa a former San Francisco planner who is Daley's deputy chief of staff for economic and physical development.

Assefa helped encourage Chicago architects David Haymes and George Pappageorge to stretch their planned One Museum Park condo tower at the southern end of Grant Park to 720 feet from an initial proposed height of 450 feet. That move shocked the architects, who recognized that the site demanded a commanding presence, but were used to the city's old ways of knocking down height to make towers palatable to neighbors.

"They said: `Can't you make it taller?' We were taken aback by that," Haymes said.

Healey said: "There has been a growing movement in the design community to educate the development world that tall, slender buildings are not bad things . . . [They allow] developers and their architects to be innovative."

Of that, there is little doubt. Look at the contrast between the tall and thin Park Tower, which soars 844 feet above the sidewalk at 800 N. Michigan, and the short and squat Peninsula Hotel building, which sits just to its south at 730-750 N. Michigan, and you see the basic wisdom in the city's shift.

Yes, the mansard-roofed Park Tower, which was designed by Lucien Lagrange Architects, looks like a big yellow rocket ship and could have been more architecturally daring. But it's still a good piece of urban design, with elegant proportions and a silhouette that doesn't overwhelm the neighboring park around the old Chicago Water Tower.

By contrast, the 20-story Peninsula building is a stump, a five-star hotel with a one-star public face.

More skinny towers are on the way, and with Daley warming to adventurous design in the wake of Millennium Park's success, they promise to be fresh and modern rather than tried-and-true traditional.

One intriguing example, now under construction at 340 E. Randolph Drive and designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, will soar 672 feet and will include a 25th-floor winter garden with exterior glass walls that open in warm weather, allowing residents to proceed onto a terrace and gaze over Millennium Park.

But top-of-the-line amenities for affluent buyers by no means guarantee the quality of the public realm we all inhabit.

As towers rise, so do concerns about snarled traffic, blocked views and pedestrians being blown off their feet by downdrafts that woosh off the sides of skyscrapers. Density is good because it means people can walk or take public transit to their jobs instead of driving. But when it takes 10 minutes to drive a few blocks in Streeterville at rush hour, are we starting to reach the limits of density?

Streeterville is especially vulnerable to congestion at street level, for unlike the Illinois Center mega-development south of the Chicago River, it has no three-tiered subterranean circulation system. Thank goodness for that. But this means Streeterville's narrow, at-grade street grid must carry the load -- delivery vans, garbage trucks, taxis, even the pizza guy.

Such quality-of-life concerns transcend architecture, suggesting that there is far more to the debate over the city's growth than the graceful presence of towers on the skyline. Indeed, while the design standards of the new towers are head and shoulders above the concrete hulks of River North, good architecture in some cases may not be enough.

A fresh example is the newly announced proposal that would replace the banal north tower of the InterContinental Chicago hotel on North Michigan Avenue with an 850-foot hotel and condominium skyscraper while leaving intact the hotel's 42-story Art Deco south tower. The plan, designed by Lucien Lagrange Architects, calls for a glass-sheathed tower that would rise straight up from the North Michigan Avenue sidewalk.

And that has the potential to cause great trouble.

Even though the architectural quality of buildings along North Michigan Avenue has declined precipitously in recent years, it remains a delightful place to walk -- not a darkened canyon, like LaSalle Street, but a boulevard with abundant sunlight and patches of blue sky. The chief reason for this blessing is that nearly all the very tall buildings along North Michigan, from the John Hancock Center to Lagrange's own Park Tower, have towers that are set back from the street, either behind plazas, parks or retail podiums.
The InterContinental proposal offers something very different. While it would have notches in its upper reaches, there would be no setbacks. The architecture is appealing enough, at first glance, and could, with considerable tweaking, form an elegant backdrop for the Art Deco tower to its south.

But if the building rises without a significant setback, it might open the door to other, very tall towers along North Michigan. And that would risk turning the street into a darkened canyon.

Trump's tower offers a taller, bulkier variation on this theme.

No one doubts the ability of its architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago, to superbly detail the giant. What remains very much in question, however, is whether Trump's mega-tower will overwhelm the riverfront with the substantial girth of its clifflike southern wall. The squat Chicago Sun-Times building that used to occupy the site looked, at best, like a marooned river barge. But at least its seven stories didn't hog the sky.

All this demands a question: Can the city do a better job guiding where tall towers go?

Healey, the planning commissioner, expressed satisfaction with the way things work. When it comes to the placement of skyscrapers, "we respond to the private sector," she said.

Asked if that means the Department of Planning and Development is essentially passive, more like the Department of Reacting and Development, she responded that Chicago does guide growth by regulating density. Many of the new tall buildings, she added, are actually less dense than zoning laws allow.

It's true that Chicago's Planning Unit Development zoning category has been an effective, if secretive, arm-twisting device for winning public amenities. But typically, as the pitiful public art and other decorations tacked onto the bases of the monstrous high-rises of River North reveal, these efforts amount to little more than damage control -- the regulatory equivalent of perfuming the pig.

Why not develop flexible planning guidelines that direct growth in advance rather than forcing planners to engage in futile rear-guard actions?

Architect Johnson, whose credits include the acclaimed Skybridge and Contemporaine high-rises, offers some answers: He suggests that the city spell out where conventional wall-like buildings should go (along Grant Park and the lakefront) and where tall "point" towers would be appropriate (behind the clifflike lakefront wall). City planners, he adds, also could encourage developers to provide lively streetscapes instead of brute walls, lining parking podiums with townhouses, plus the shops and restaurants that provide essential neighborhood gathering places.

"A framework like this might make sense out of what we are doing," Johnson wrote in a series of sketches laying out his ideas. "It's at least better than nothing."

He's right. Without more fine-grained tools to guide growth, Chicago risks becoming a city of mega-projects where the small gets lost in the big and the big is placed indiscriminately amid the cityscape with devastating consequences.

There is a difference between a vital city and a healthy city. In a healthy city, traffic is not perpetually snarled, tall towers inspire awe rather than fear, and there is not a Darwinian struggle for access to light and views. Chicago's reach for the sky is heading in the right direction, but it must be refined if the cityscape is to reach its highest, humanistic potential -- truly healthy rather than merely vital.

----------

bkamin@tribune.com

BVictor1

November 13th, 2005, 04:16 PM

CITY REPORT
South Loop condo project swaps land for public park

By Jeanette Almada
Special to the Tribune
Published November 13, 2005

The Community Development Commission has approved a complex land swap between a developer and the city, clearing the way for construction of a 17-story condominium project at Congress Parkway and State Street.

The deal also paves the way for city construction of a public park at Harrison and State Streets.

The swap is part of a compromise by Library Tower LLC, the development entity that Concord Homes created to build the Library Tower condominium project on the west side of State Street.

Under terms of the land exchange agreement, the developer will exchange a parcel at the southwest corner of Harrison and State with a city-owned parcel at the northwest corner of Congress and State.

The developer's original plans ran into resistance from residents of the South Loop neighborhood, who expected a public park to go up on the development site, development commissioners were told Tuesday. They particularly opposed the originally proposed 32-story building, a Department of Planning and Development project manager told commissioners.

The developer agreed to the land exchange and to build a 17-story building after two years of negotiations with neighborhood residents and the alderman. "It has been a long journey. The whole community is satisfied and that is what we wanted," Ald. Madeline Haithcock (2nd) told commissioners.

Library Tower LLC will transfer to the city its 3,542-square-foot development site at 544 S. State St., and in exchange will receive the 4,691-square-foot, city-owned parcel at 500 S. State, according to the Planning Department project manager.

The developer will pay $150,000 to the city because the city-owned parcel, valued at $610,000, is larger than the developer's appraised $460,000 parcel, the Planning Department project manager told commissioners.

At 518 S. State, Library Tower will have 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom, loft-style condos with 865 to 2,130 square feet of space, according to Andrew Baasen, a sales representative. Prices begin at $267,995 and range to $842,485 for a 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath penthouse, Baasen said. Half the units have been sold, he said.

The building is designed by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates Inc.

"We are getting buyers from all over the world, empty-nesters and people who want to downsize are coming from the local neighborhood; people coming in from Puerto Rico, from out of state like Arizona, California and Florida," Baasen said. "Some of them want second homes in the city, others have students in the area and want a place for when they come to visit. "

Concord Homes will make a one-time $250,000 contribution to a fund that will be used by the Library Tower condo association to maintain the public park, according to Moises Cukierman, president of land acquisition at Concord Homes' Chicago Urban Division. The association will also direct a portion of assessment fees toward the maintenance fund, Cukierman told commissioners.

ChicagoLover

November 13th, 2005, 11:06 PM

^ In the list of projects above, the architect of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel near the Lakeshore East development is written as Solomon Cordwell Buenz. I guess I'm confused. I thought Studio Gang was the architect for that project (??)

NWside

November 13th, 2005, 11:50 PM

The Studio Gang project isn't shown on the graphic, it's a completly different project slated for LSE.... No rendering for the project has yet been made available.

Chi_Coruscant

November 15th, 2005, 04:44 PM

Downtown Chicago tops all in city living
By Antonio Olivo
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 15, 2005

Chicago's downtown housing market leads the country in a widespread revival of residential urban centers, a study set to be released Tuesday reports.

During the 1990s, the city's downtown population jumped by a third to 72,843 residents, according to a report from the Washington-based Brookings Institution, which does not account for the latest wave of condominium development in the Loop, South Loop, Streeterville and nearby neighborhoods.

More significantly, the rate of homeownership downtown increased by 1,500 percent between 1970 and 2000, with four out of every 10 residents owning their own homes. That trend is essential for cities striving to create vibrant "24-hour" downtown neighborhoods, said Eugenie Birch, author of the study, which is based on U.S. Census Bureau data.

"It's all about a combination of features that make Chicago a leader in this regard," said Birch, a University of Pennsylvania researcher. "Chicago's downtown districts are very amenable in that they're near the lake, close to jobs and near restaurants and retail."

The report, called "Who Lives Downtown," analyzed 45 city center communities around the country to detail a return to urban living that picked up steam during the 1990s.

During the mid-20th Century, once bustling urban cores around the country were transformed into primarily commercial centers, filled with office towers and warehouses. What housing remained sometimes deteriorated into flophouses and tenements as new highways and cheaper home prices made suburban living more attractive, the report states.

That changed in the 1990s, as cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles built new sports stadiums and hotels and others such as New York and Philadelphia revived commercial strips.

In recent years, downtowns across the country have become magnets for young professionals, "empty-nesters" and childless couples who want to be close to jobs, museums and restaurants, the study says.

Nearly one-third of Chicago's downtown residents in 2000 were between 25 and 34 years old, while 67 percent held bachelor's degrees, the study shows. About a quarter of Chicago's downtown residents were ages 45 to 64.

In order to maintain long-term prosperity, other downtowns across the country need to achieve the level of ownership already found in Chicago, Birch said.

"If someone invests in a place, they begin to invest in the community, to participate in helping to make the neighborhood a better place," she said. "As you get older and have children, if you can't invest in a home downtown, you're going to leave for the suburbs."

spyguy

November 16th, 2005, 12:05 AM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511150233nov15,1,4523984.story?coll=chi-business-utl

CHA may relocate to CNA building
City grant helping in site's redevelopment

By Thomas A. Corfman
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 15, 2005

Outgrowing its offices on the edge of the West Loop, the Chicago Housing Authority has narrowed its search for a new home to the East Loop headquarters of CNA Financial Corp., which is undergoing a city-subsidized redevelopment.

The CHA would lease as much as 180,000 square feet in CNA's prominent red tower at 333 S. Wabash Ave., according to people familiar with the public housing agency's selection. The CHA would move from 626 W. Jackson Blvd., a 103,000-square-foot building that the agency has owned since 1993.

In a cost-saving move, the agency would also consolidate some operations in neighborhood offices. An estimate of savings could not be determined.

Representatives of the CHA and CNA declined to comment.

The CHA board must still review the selection, and the deal could still collapse. For example, in 2002 the Cook County Board abandoned plans to buy the former Helene Curtis building, 325 N. Wells St., for a new domestic violence court after Mayor Richard Daley disapproved the plan.

The CHA deal would be a big boost to the $58.5 million conversion of the 45-story CNA Center from a single-tenant structure to one that would accommodate multiple firms. In February the Daley administration agreed to help fund the project with a $13.5 million subsidy, part of a deal to keep the company's 3,000 employees in Chicago. The tax increment financing agreement is awaiting City Council approval.

"It shows the city's commitment to help CNA," said tenant representative Alain LeCoque, managing principal with Newmark & Co. Real Estate Inc. "They gave them a TIF and now they are giving them a tenant."

The TIF subsidy would be key in the agency's selection of the CNA building, assuming other factors were roughly even, observers say.

Before moving to the edge of the West Loop, the CHA had for many years leased space at 22 W. Madison St. The agency moved to its own building in part to save money on property taxes, which the CHA would again pay as a tenant in a commercial office building.

Property taxes are just one factor in a tenant's rents, and they could be offset by lower operating expenses and cheaper base rent, which is the amount that landlords put in their pockets. "It comes down to total overall dollars, wherever they may go to," LeCoque said.

At CNA Center annual taxes and operating expenses combined are $12.50 a square foot, according to real estate research firm CoStar Group.

CNA, a commercial property and casualty insurer, no longer needs all the space in the 1.1 million-square-foot building, which was built in 1972. The company's real estate adviser, Chicago real estate firm John Buck Co., is marketing four floors totaling 207,000 square feet of space, CoStar Group says. As much as 300,000 square feet of space could be put on the market once the rehab is completed.

The deal is also a boost to the East Loop office market, where vacancy rates are higher than the downtown average.

"Given that it's been flat over the last couple years, it's a real positive for the East Loop as a whole," said Michael Klein, a principal with Chicago-based GlenStar Properties LLC, which in a joint venture is acquiring 55 E. Monroe St., another building near CNA Center.

The CHA has been reviewing its real estate needs since March 2004, when the agency hired the Chicago office of tenant representative Staubach Co. The agency has been looking to lease for about 15 years between 170,000 square feet and 180,000 square feet of space, sources said.

The agency acquired its headquarters when the loft office boom in the area west of the Loop was in its in early stages.

Chi_Coruscant

November 16th, 2005, 09:59 PM

Strategic Hotels to Test Condo Market at Fairmont
By Mark Ruda
Last updated: November 15, 2005 03:13pm
http://www.globest.com/news/415_415/chicago/140242-1.html

CHICAGO-Even though Donald Trump is among the players in the local hotel condominium market, Strategic Hotels & Resorts sees a still untapped market, and hopes to begin selling units in at least one of its Downtown holdings before the end of the year. The REIT will test the market by attempting to sell up to 156 units at the Fairmont hotel overlooking Millennium Park as condominium and fractional ownership units.

“Our market research has indicated that despite the growing number of for-sale condominiums in the Chicago market, there may be a separate demand for fractional ownership within the context of the full-service, branded, luxury hotel format,” says president and chief executive officer Laurence S. Geller during his company’s recent earnings conference call. The test marketing at the 692-room Fairmont, which the company acquired for $158 million earlier this year, will include an equal number of condominium hotel units that will be models for new Gold rooms in the rest of the property at 200 N. Columbus Dr., and fractional ownership units that will be two-bedroom apartments.

If the test marketing is successful, Strategic Hotels & Resorts could sell up to eight entire floors under the condominium and fractional ownership concepts. “If it’s not successful, the downside is we have a great two-bedroom apartment unit to offer,” Geller says.

Further west, Strategic Hotels & Resorts hopes to replace the north tower of the InterContinental with a 71-story building that will include 310 condominiums in addition to 150 hotel suites as well as 11,000 sf of new Michigan Avenue retail space. “We believe there’s a real opportunity to take advantage of a large and strong residential premium for Michigan Avenue condominiums, particularly on the higher floors,” Geller says.

The company will likely sell air rights to a developer, who would built the new tower after landing financing, Geller says. “We’re not a high-rise residential developer, and we’re not in the business of taking high-rise residential development risk,” Geller says. If the company does not proceed with its InterContinental plans, it will have zoning in place to pass on to a new owner, he adds.

The remaining 330-room hotel, built in 1928, would remain but undergo renovations to reposition the rooms for the luxury market, company officials say. Lucien Lagrange Architects has been hired to design the new InterContinental tower while Rockwell Group is working on designs at the Fairmont hotel.

spyguy

November 17th, 2005, 12:35 AM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0511160052nov16,1,4720593.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Prudential Plaza readied for sale

THOMAS A. CORFMAN
Published November 16, 2005

Another Chicago landlord is looking to take advantage of the dynamic investment market, as Shorenstein Properties LLC prepares to put up for sale Prudential Plaza, the two-building office complex overlooking Millennium Park.

Eastdil Realty Co. is expected to be hired to market the development, which includes the original Prudential Building at 130 E. Randolph St., built in 1955, and Two Prudential Plaza at 180 N. Stetson Ave., built in 1990, sources said.

A spokesman for the San Francisco investment firm declined to comment, except to say, "As an active investor, we are constantly buying and selling assets."

The largest tenants in the 2.1 million-square-foot complex are Peoples Energy Corp., with 238,700 square feet under a lease that runs until 2014, and law firm Baker & McKenzie, with 187,700 square feet under a lease that runs until late 2012.

Base rents (the amount landlords actually pocket after expenses), parking revenue and other income is at least $40 million a year, according to documents related to a June refinancing.

After the defection from Pru Two earlier this year of a key tenant, Deloitte & Touche, the vacancy rate has risen to 18.5 percent this year, according to CoStar Group. But a strong pipeline of leases could quickly backfill as much as half of the 310,000 square feet the accounting firm occupied.

A Shorenstein investment fund bought Pru Plaza five years ago for $387 million. The company itself has a 7.1 percent ownership stake.

Treasure Island in Loop: The joint venture building Lakeshore East has signed its first retail tenant in the massive mixed-used development overlooking Grant Park.

Treasure Island Foods Inc. has signed a 15-year lease for 27,000 square feet in a proposed three-story, 85,000-square-foot retail building, said David Carlins, president with Magellan Development Group Ltd., which is a joint venture partner with NNP Residential and Development. The upscale grocer currently has six locations.

To be completed in the third quarter of 2006, the retail center would be located just north of a high-end condominium high-rise under construction at 340 E. Randolph St.

Hoffman Estates mall sold: Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has handled the sale of a 158,300-square-foot shopping center in Hoffman Estates anchored by Dominick's, said Rick Drogosz, a principal with the Oakbrook Terrace real estate firm. Located at Golf and Barrington Roads in the northwestern suburb, the center is 93 percent leased.

The price was almost $23.4 million, and the seller was a venture managed by Deerfield real estate investor Jerry Jaeger, according to sources and property records. The buyers are private investors based in Tarzana, Calif., whose projected return is about 7.2 percent.

URS lease in Hartford Plaza: URS Corp. has leased almost 51,600 square feet of space at Hartford Plaza, 100 S. Wacker Drive, consolidating two local offices, said Steven LaKind, executive managing director with Studley Inc., which represented the San Francisco planning and design firm.

With the 12-year lease, URS is combining offices located at 122 S. Michigan Ave. and 1701 Golf Rd. in Rolling Meadows.

Loans arranged: GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. said it has arranged long-term loans totaling $36.5 million for a 1.5 million-square-foot distribution center in south suburban University Park leased to Solo Cup Co.

The development is owned by Barrington investor Marvin Herb, who acquired the site two years ago from developer USAA Realty Co., records show. The lender is a unit of insurance firm Aegon Group.

geoff_diamond

November 17th, 2005, 05:54 AM

Ugh... there goes the naming rights to another Chicago building :(

nomarandlee

November 17th, 2005, 09:56 AM

geoff_diamond

November 17th, 2005, 03:09 PM

*begin slam* At one point, One Prudential Plaza was the tallest building in Chicago and serves as a fantastic point of reference for just how far we've come. Tear it down and we start to lose appreciation for what we're capable of now. *end slam*

Steely Dan

November 17th, 2005, 05:07 PM

^ yeah, it was once the city's tallest. only a moron would want to destroy our history like that. besides i've always loved the composition of 1 pru, 2 pru, and aon. they make a very pleasing and balanced skyscraper arrangement.

and the good thing is that 1 pru will not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Frumie

November 17th, 2005, 06:09 PM

bobablob

November 17th, 2005, 06:24 PM

Not sure where else to post this:

The Bank One Center's state street ground level has been vacant since construction, I believe. That's about to change. There's signs there of a new Starbucks (surprise surprise). Looks like it'll occupy at least 1/3 of the street front, which will be a pleasant change.

Further down the old Toys 'R Us conversion is speeding along. They've just put up the Office Depot banners and logos. The Urban Outfitters will start peeking out in a month or so, I imagine.

Men's Warehouse is drawing in the same crowds is always has.

The condo-conversion, I belive called the metropolitan, on State in the South Loop looks like its finally making some progress.

Why is this a big deal? With the influx of students into the south loop as well as other young residents, the area is undergoing a rapid transformation. I never thought I'd get excited about a Starbucks, but to be honest, bustling street level commerce on the main artery of the city is a good thing. Much of State street south of Marshalls has been borded up/covered with scaffolding/vacant for over a decade. Its very exciting to see so many spaces spring up in such a short time.

Already if you stand at the corner of Washington and State and look South you can see the increased commerce.

dvidler

November 17th, 2005, 08:51 PM

I agree with feelings regarding State St. Things are starting to change and its for the better. B37, MoMo, new hotel at State & Lake, the new ABC studio, and the continued revamping of the south end of State St.

Its important for the Loop to have a great State St. Take note of Michigan Ave and what it has done for the surrounding areas. I am not anticipating that State St will become Michigan Ave ever but if its 1/2 of that then the whole loop will become a much better place to work, live, and play. And I emphasize the play part.

The loop needs some more entertainment spots for after work, tourists, and new residents. B37 looks to bring this element but there will need to be more. And this will need to be advertisied once done.

The Urban Politician

November 17th, 2005, 10:56 PM

mohammed wong

November 17th, 2005, 11:28 PM

Ok, some will slam me for this but I wish they would tear down the old Prudential. The thing is just but ugly in my view. I know it has been an important building in the city for many years in many respects but with its prime location and high visiblity there should/would be something to take its place that I bet would go up that would be much more aesthetically pleasing.

I have to slam this guy. WTF?
yes lets make chicago unrecognizable to all, this would be unforgiveable,
Maybe you should move to dubai where everything is BRAND NEW.
Why do you want to live in chicago? I want to live there because I grew up there and I love the MIX of OLD and NEW. Not just ALL NEW.
That is retarded. We need buildings from EVERY ARCHITECTUAL PERIOD, in order to be a WORLD CLASS CITY, it gives you more perspective and also its neat because you can compare buildings that from different periods.

Cities EVOLVE, and in america there is too much of this, ugh this is old, tear it down. Europe does the old stuff TOO MUCH, but that is far better than overdoing it the other way.
Prudential is a building that IVE known since I was a teeny tiny kid, and it used to have red signage and its been cleaned up quite a bit, I think it looks great with it "rock" on the side. So please dont encourage the destruction of ties to my childhood :(

There are plenty of buildings that can go up on blighted sites.
That is WASTEFUL to knock down a PERFECTLY good building. Think of all the money you would lose if you owned that building and had it torn down and build something else, you would have to be very very very rich AND it would be economically a RETARDED move.

spyguy

November 17th, 2005, 11:51 PM

Office tower on the block

Tribune staff, wire reports
Published November 17, 2005

Yet another downtown office tower is going on the market, as Beacon Capital Partners LLC said Eastdil Realty Co. has been hired to market 222 S. Riverside Plaza, a 1.2 million-square-foot building in the West Loop. The 35-story building is owned by a $1 billion fund managed by a Boston investment firm. Included in the sale would be an adjacent, 72,000-square-foot health club at 444 W. Jackson Blvd. The club is leased by Fitness Formula Ltd., parent of the Multiplex chain.

The announcement comes about two weeks after Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank said it had leased 150,000 square feet in the riverfront structure, consolidating offices located in Rolling Meadows and another downtown location. The office move is to be completed in January. Next spring Fifth Third also will open a 4,000-square-foot branch on the first floor. Research firm CoStar Group says the building is nearly 97 percent leased.

Chicago Shawn

November 18th, 2005, 04:38 AM

All three towers presented to the Plan Commision today passed.

The 27 story 345 foot tower at State and Huron had some opposition from 2 fordham residents that complianed about lost views, shadows, traffic, too much congestion, and too tall a building. Same old bull shit now comming from a new source. I couldn't help but laugh at those complaints considering she only lived in the building for a year and a half, and that the Fordham is also nearly twice as tall.

Never fear though, Alderman Naturas was quick to fire back at those two, claiming that the fordham condo board was okay with this, and that this project which has been downsized was originally proposed in 2002, before the Fordham was completed. He also mentioned his disgust over some letters of opposition filed in his office from some residents of the Fordham who were protesting developer contributions to the affordable housing fund; with phrases like "why should we give money to poor people."

I swear to god, this NIMBYism is getting worse and is really putting me on the edge of going insane. :bash: The affordable Housing trust fund is completley made up of developer contributions (about an additional $1.6 million will go into it with just these three newly approved high-rises), none of thier tax money ends up in it, so I can't understand why people would be so pissed over it. I guess they don't want any low income or middle class people in the city at all. I just thank god that I live in a city whose progressive government doesn't listen to or put up with that shit.

Anyway, yes all three towers presented today have been approved and all three are pretty nice. The Cermak-michigan project in particular looks real good, with 27,000 square feet of retail and a 35 story tower that looks like the two towers of 600 LSD placed side by side on a common wall. The Michigan Avenue side of the project has a low-rise 7 story loft midrise that will fit into the Historic Motor Row district, but will keep the same contemporary architectural design as the 35 story tower.

The Urban Politician

November 18th, 2005, 05:21 AM

Chi_Coruscant

November 18th, 2005, 06:17 AM

All three towers presented to the Plan Commision today passed.

The 27 story 345 foot tower at State and Huron. . . The Cermak-michigan project in particular looks real good, with 27,000 square feet of retail and a 35 story tower that looks like the two towers of 600 LSD placed side by side on a common wall. . .The Michigan Avenue side of the project has a low-rise 7 story loft midrise that will fit into the Historic Motor Row district, but will keep the same contemporary architectural design as the 35 story tower.
Who is the architect for each tower? BTW, good work, ChicagoShawn!

ChicagoLover

November 18th, 2005, 07:55 AM

Excellent.. don't we have renderings for these somewhere? Steely Dan's SSP gallery, say? I can't go over there an check as their gallery is down. I seem to recall a project with townhouses attached on one side, although I don't remember it being contemporary.

geoff_diamond

November 19th, 2005, 06:14 AM

Why do I feel like this is the first I've heard of the Huron/State tower? How is that possible - it's a block from my place!

Also... that tower at Mich/Cerm sounds huge... gonna blow the scale of the neighborhood! (in a good way!)

geoff_diamond

November 19th, 2005, 06:16 AM

Sry for the double -

hey Steely... I hadn't been to the boom rundown in a while and I noticed that the Columbian is listed as "UC." Is that true!? Did they really start that fucking thing finally?

UrbanSophist

November 19th, 2005, 12:08 PM

State St has 1 thing that North Michigan Avenue lacks:

TONS of character. I think they should landmark all of State St from the river down to Congress. Those buildings were built during Chicago's great golden age, and none of them are reproducible

I think in the eyes of history, Chicago's "golden age" has yet to occur.
;)

BVictor1

November 19th, 2005, 06:33 PM

Here is a rendering of The Huron Club and the Cermak-Michigan Condominiums that I took at the plan commission meeting last Thursday.

The Huron Club
Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates
https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/11/416875.jpg

Cermak-Michigan Condominiums 365'0"
VOA Associates
https://extranet.emporis.com/files/transfer/6/2005/11/416881.jpg

The Urban Politician

November 19th, 2005, 07:02 PM

Thanks Victor!

The Huron Club is not bad. However, I'll reserve my judgement on Cermak-Michigan until a more detailed rendering is released

spyguy

November 19th, 2005, 08:37 PM

Looks like 600 N. LSD

ChicagoLover

November 19th, 2005, 08:45 PM

The Huron Club... hah.. it seems they're running out of names.. and designs... it looks like a love child between Jahn's new Streeterville Building, and... maybe 550 St. Clair, or a host of other buildings.. Parentage unknown...

I like what I see of the Cermak-Michigan condos... very much. And its encouraging to finally see another architect that isn't the usual suspects of Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Lucien Lagrange..

spyguy

November 19th, 2005, 09:17 PM

http://www.crainschicago.c m/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=18559

Owner to sell stake in 233 N. Michigan

Parkway Properties is selling a 70% to 90% stake in the 30-story office building at 233 N. Michigan Ave. The Mississippi REIT has hired Dallas-based real estate firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler to sell the 1-million-square-foot property. Parkway in January bought out its previous partner in the building in a deal that valued the property at $194 million, or $182 a square foot. Parkway disclosed the plan in a conference call earlier this month. [Alby Gallun]

Chi_Coruscant

November 19th, 2005, 09:34 PM

Thank you, BVictor! Huron Club kinda looks shorty.

Condo boom is not confined to the River North but now strectches southward on Michigan Ave. This is fantastic.

The Urban Politician

November 21st, 2005, 06:19 PM

From Columbia College Chronicle:

South Loop’s coming attraction
New theater could break ground as early as 2008
By James Ewert
Assistant City Beat Editor

Eric Davis/The Chronicle
A movie theater is scheduled as part of a new development near the intersection of Clark Street and Roosevelt Road by 2008.
With the recent closure of the Burnham Plaza Theater, South Loop residents wanting to see a movie have had to trek across town to see one, until now that is.

According to Dean Kerasotes, chief operating officer of Kerasotes Theatres, the company planning on opening a new theater in the South Loop, 2008 could be a rough estimate for year of the theater’s construction. Kerasotes said the theater company has been trying to finalize plans with a developer and is in the design process for a 14 to 18 screen theater that would go up between Roosevelt Road and Polk Street.

The developer, Chicago-based Centrum Properties, is also planning to build a 500,000-square-foot, mixed-use development that would incorporate the new theater into its design.

“It’s a big, huge, mixed development that includes way more than just a theater,” said Lisa Balis, vice president of retail development for Centrum Properties. “It’s several hundred thousand square feet of property and they’re just one tenant.”

Balis said since the project is still in the early stages of development, Centrum is not yet naming retail tenants, and many things in the plan still need to be worked out with the city.

“There are a lot of moving pieces, and the theater deal is very far along to the point where they feel comfortable announcing it, but we haven’t finalized the exact layout of their space,” Balis said. “There’s details that are still in the works, and it’s going to take a few months to finish that.”

Balis declined to comment on exactly what details need to be worked out, but said Centrum Properties is working with the city on the architectural plan.

“We’re working with [Centrum Properties] to tailor a movie theater inside of the development, which is a much larger-scale development besides just us,” Kerasotes said. “The developer has to go through the process with the city and get all their approvals in place before construction can start.”

Kerasotes said he has received numerous e-mails and inquiries from residents of the area who would like to see a new theater in the South Loop.

Bonnie Sanchez-Carlson, president of the Near South Planning Board—a nonprofit, community-based organization established to help improve the surrounding areas through retail and residential development—said that although South Loop residents haven’t formally made an effort for a theater, it has been talked about for some time.

“Nobody has gone out and really pushed for [a theater], but it has been suggested by residents at recent meetings that they would like to see a theater in the area,” Sanchez-Carlson said. “I haven’t reviewed the whole piece yet, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it, because right now we are lacking a theater in the area.”

From 2000 to earlier this year, South Loop had one movie theater, the Burnham Plaza Theatre, but it closed down this September. The closest commercial theater to Columbia, which is known for its film and video program, is the AMC River East 21, which is almost two miles away from campus.

Columbia film and video majors Chris Hyatt and Von Bilka both said they would be interested and pleased to see a theater in the South Loop.

Bilka, a freshman from Indiana, said he sees an obvious lack of theaters in the area, and if one were to go up and play movies all day, it could become a place for students to go when they have time between classes.

“It’d be a good idea, especially around here,” Bilka said. “Of all the things going up here, you would think there would be a theater, but there isn’t at all.”

Hyatt, a freshman living in the University Center, said he would see movies at least once a week if the South Loop had a theater.

“It would be a lot easier to have a theater around. Usually I have to go to the AMC if I want to see a movie,” Hyatt said.

Both students said they would like to see a theater that plays more than just big-name movies and new releases. They would like to see more independent films, which most large movie theaters don’t offer.

Kerasotes said the theater would play mostly first-run movies, but considers independent films to be in that same category.

Although Kerasotes and Balis said it is still too early to definitively say when construction will start on the new theater, Kerasotes said the story will be developing over time.

“Hopefully it can start as early as late 2006, but there’s a lot that has to get built before we can do our portion,” Kerasotes said.

wickedestcity

November 21st, 2005, 08:29 PM

cool , now they need to build one on block 37 and well be good to go

UrbanSophist

November 21st, 2005, 11:06 PM

I think its so weird that there is such a lack of theaters in the loop, the historic movie theater central of Chicago.

ChicagoLover

November 22nd, 2005, 02:09 AM

^ An added bonus here is that Kerasotes is essentially a locally based chain. Given that most theaters are now owned by large out-of-state chains, including even most art houses (e.g. the SF-based Landmark chain with theaters in Lakeview and Evanston), I like seeing a local chain like this fill in the gaps. That neighborhood is hungry for a theater. Daley is crazy not to want one in the Loop.

wickedestcity

November 22nd, 2005, 02:39 AM

we all know his reason but what i think he fails to realize is that the loop was a very dif. place than it is today .

Chicago Shawn

November 22nd, 2005, 05:09 AM

Kick ass! I love Kerasotes Theaters, I used to live near one out in the outer burbs. The theater had stadium seating, nice seats and steep discounts for students, it was only $3.25 to see a first run movie!

geoff_diamond

November 22nd, 2005, 05:22 AM

The Urban Politician

November 22nd, 2005, 05:46 AM

Yeah... I think this is one of the first things that I've ever seen Daley miss the boat on. The Loop is, indeed, a very different place with very different visitors than it was the last time there was a movie theater there.

Oh... and when in the hell did Burnham Plaza close?!

^yeah, theaters on Block 37 would be an easy way to fill up so much vacant retail space. Surely cinema operators would see this as an ideal place to set up shop--high pedestrian traffic, lots of downtown workers, increased residential population, lots of tourists and hotels, a LACK of other cinemas, and the neighboring theatre district

spyguy

November 22nd, 2005, 05:52 AM

Maybe in a future announcement...

The Urban Politician

November 22nd, 2005, 05:54 AM

Maybe in a future announcement...

^hmmm....

Do you know something that we don't?

spyguy

November 22nd, 2005, 06:01 AM

Not necessarily. I see it as either they are not having much luck with the retail section or they will wait until groundbreaking of the other phases before revealing their complete list of retail tenants and what new entertainment ideas they've come up with, which could include a theatre.

Chicago Shawn

November 23rd, 2005, 07:43 AM

Some demo pics from last Thursday the 17th...

State-Lake One floor has already been scalped from the top....
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp336%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D3233345%3A32526nu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp335%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D3233345%3A32528nu0mrj

old substation next door....
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp335%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D3233345%3A3252%3Anu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2344%3D%3A4%3B%3D6%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2324254%3B2343%3Aot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp54%3Dot%3E2344%3D%3A4%3B%3D6%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2324254%3B23442ot1lsi

Shit Box Walgreens at the MoMo Site
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2344%3D%3A4%3B%3D6%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2324254%3A%3B%3A74%3Bot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2344%3D%3A4%3B%3D6%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2324254%3A%3B%3A752ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp336%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D32333459%3C9844nu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp336%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D32333459%3C9845nu0mrj
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp43%3Dot%3E2344%3D%3A4%3B%3D6%3A8%3DXROQDF%3E2324254%3A%3B%3A755ot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3455954323232%7Ffp335%3Enu%3D3253%3E95%3A%3E5%3B7%3EWSNRCG%3D32333459%3C9847nu0mrj

:cool:

Chi_Coruscant

November 23rd, 2005, 01:35 PM

^Great shots, ChicagoShawn! They should delay tearing down the building on State/Lake site until the rendering is shown to the public.

Chi_Coruscant

November 23rd, 2005, 01:37 PM

http://www.suntimes.com/output/roeder/cst-fin-roeder23.html
Selected news from our guy at Sun-Times:
The meter's running on Carley's Calatrava

November 23, 2005

BY DAVID ROEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement

Developer Christopher Carley, he of the 2,000-foot-tower-on-the-lakefront plan, has made progress with the deal since announcing it in July. But he's racing the clock.

The 115-story building with the drill-bit profile would go on the 400 block of East North Water Street. Carley has a contract to purchase the property from LR Development Co. LLC. Sources said the deal expires in March and that LR isn't inclined to extend it.

Carley, chairman of Fordham Co., said the expiration is later next spring, and he insists he'll have his financing nailed down by then. But he also said he's about 30 days away from introducing his plan to the city. Since zoning approval is a prerequisite for loan commitments, the timing leaves Carley little room for delay.

He said his project has taken longer than expected to get to the city because of the busy schedule of his celebrity architect, Santiago Calatrava. Carley also said the base of the building has undergone some design changes based on comments made in community meetings.

People have been positive in those sessions, Carley said, because they respond to the argument that a thin, 115-story building will block less sunlight and views than what the site already is zoned for, two buildings in the 35- to 50-story range. "They like the building and think it would be great for Chicago," he said.

Carley also said more than 1,000 people have registered for information about the building's condo and hotel units. We'll see if they get a chance to put down hard cash.

NO BLARNEY: A new developer on the scene hopes for a little Irish luck in its first large undertaking in Chicago. That's because the developer, Chieftain Construction Ltd., hails straight from Limerick, Ireland, where it's a big name. It has gained control of the north side of Cermak from Michigan to Indiana, where city officials have approved a two-building plan for 336 condos.

Chieftain may be a newcomer, but it's covered its Irish bases in Chicago, hiring the firm of Daley & George as its zoning lawyers. Partner Jack George said the project consists of a 34-story building at the northwest corner of Indiana and Cermak and a seven-story structure that includes some retail space at the northeast corner of Michigan and Cermak.

If the site rings a bell, it's because it is the old location of Al Capone's Lexington Hotel, which was torn down in 1995, some nine years after TV reporter Geraldo Rivera found nothing but glass bottles after covering the live opening of Capone's "vault."

DOING THE DEALS: . . . . The Lakeshore East development downtown has signed the Treasure Island supermarket to anchor a retail center planned near Randolph and Columbus Drive. . . .

ChicagoLover

November 23rd, 2005, 07:25 PM

Some good news for the downtown office market --

INSIDE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Blue Cross Blue Shield nears deal for space in nearby tower

THOMAS A. CORFMAN
Published November 23, 2005

Already outgrowing its headquarters overlooking Millennium Park, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois is in advanced negotiations to lease about 200,000 square feet of space at nearby One Illinois Center.

The deal would give the health insurer time to ponder an upward expansion of its 912,000-square-foot building at 300 E. Randolph St., which it built in 1997 to move from another building in the Illinois Center complex.

In the meantime, Blue Cross is about to sign a lease at One Illinois Center, 111 E. Wacker Drive, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Designed by Mies van der Rohe and built in 1970, the 32-story building is co-owned by Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co.

A spokesman for Blue Cross confirmed that the building was one of the company's options for expansion but said a lease had not been signed. John Grissim, executive vice president in Lincoln's Chicago office, could not be reached for comment.

The Blue Cross building was designed for construction of a 24-story addition on top of the existing 30-story structure, according to research firm CoStar Group. The insurer's real estate adviser, CB Richard Ellis Inc., has presented the expansion plans to potential tenants who would divide the additional space with Blue Cross. Now, that plan is being put on hold in favor of a quicker, more economical alternative.

The lease at One Illinois Center is a 10-year deal but includes early termination options, should Blue Cross' needs change, sources said.

Fulcrum to buy tower: Barrington-based Fulcrum Asset Advisors LLC has emerged as the new buyer of 33 N. Dearborn St., after a deal to sell the 25-story structure to Chicago-based Golub & Co. collapsed, sources said.

Fulcrum would pay about $48 million, a couple of million dollars more than the Golub bid, sources said.

Two months ago, Chicago-based Golub had a non-binding agreement to acquire the 334,000-square-foot building, which was quietly marketed by Vornado Realty Trust without a real estate broker.

But the deal fell apart after questions arose about financial projections for the building provided by Vornado, sources said.

A spokeswoman for Vornado's Merchandise Mart Properties division declined to comment. A Fulcrum executive could not be reached for comment.

Apartments planned: Developer Steven Fifield, who already is proposing a 432-unit rental tower on the southeast corner of Halsted and Kinzie Streets, is working up long-range plans for a 375-unit apartment building for an adjacent site a half-block south.

The latest tower would be on 1.24-acre site that stretches east from Halsted along a rail line to Union Avenue, plans show. The 30-story building would include parking for 300 cars and up to 30,000 square feet of retail space, said Richard Cavenaugh, president of Chicago-based Fifield Realty Corp.

In April, the company signed a contract to buy the land from Gray Cardiff & Co. The Danville, Calif., investment firm runs a self-storage operation on the property, with an address of 360 N. Union Ave., using large freight containers.

TA acquires buildings: In a $58 million deal, Boston-based investment firm TA Associates Realty LLC has purchased 19 buildings totaling nearly 752,000 square feet in Yorkbrook Park, an industrial/office complex in Lombard, property records show.

With the sale, Trammell Crow Co. took over management of the properties, confirmed David Petersen, a principal in the firm's Chicago office.

The buildings are 80 percent leased.

The seller was a fund operated by the investment management unit of Chicago real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., which paid about $50 million for the development five years ago.