Lincoln Commons Plan Gets Tweaked
It’s been four years since the plan to replace the old Children’s Memorial Hospital with a mixed-use development called Lincoln Common was approved, and it’s still getting some refinement. Construction of the two main towers in the McCaffery Interests and Hines development topped off long ago, and busy construction bees are buzzing all over the property, completing its 92,000 square feet of retail space, 60 condos,...
Another Crane Moving Out of Lincoln Park
It was just about a month ago that the south tower crane pulled out of the Lincoln Common project at 2335 and 2345 North Lincoln Avenue. Today, the north tower crane begins its long adieu. Lincoln Common, you’ll remember is the redevelopment of the property that used to be Children’s Memorial Hospital. That hospital decamped for Streeterville a decade ago, and its ugly bulk was removed from the Lincoln Park skyline....
Lincoln Park Tower Cranes Becoming Un-Common
If you’re waiting for the next big milestone in the construction of Lincoln Common (2335 and 2345 North Lincoln Avenue), that milestone is here. The process of removing the project’s south tower crane began today. The photograph above shows Lincoln Common as it was earlier this week when the south crane was still stretching out across the property like Julie Andrews atop an alpine meadow. The pic was taken by Joe Zekas...
LaSalle Street S.R.O. Reopens, Makes 0.001% Dent in Chicago’s Housing Crisis
Nine months after we reported that the Carling Hotel at 1512 North LaSalle Street was being renovated, the S.R.O. is open once again. The City of Chicago bought the rooming house for $10 million using money from its 2014 S.R.O. Preservation Initiative and the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund. The property was then sold to Michaels Development for $3.8 million, which pledged to put $27 million worth of improvements into it....
Community Groups Intensify Push for New North Branch Park
Ever since the City of Chicago released the framework for redeveloping the North Branch Industrial Corridor into a new bustling neighborhood of tech firms, trendy restaurants, and glittering high rises, people who actually live in and near the area have worried that an opportunity is being missed. An opportunity to create new parks for the people who will actually live there. The city’s redevelopment plan was shown at 18...
Neighbors Say They Were Sandbagged by Beach Boardwalk Idea
Lovers in Chicago may soon have another choice for taking a romantic boardwalk stroll in the moonlight. The Chicago Park District is floating an idea for a proper boardwalk at North Avenue Beach. Until now, the epicenter of wood-over-water hand-holding was Navy Pier. But that’s so crowded, it’s hard to call it romantic most nights unless the moon is really really full. The North Avenue Beach boardwalk is part of a...
Lincoln Common Getting Drilled, Losing Retail
No one ever said that construction was a quiet trade. And having spent too many years living next door to Chicago skyscrapers being constructed, I can say the king of all noisemakers is the caisson drill (no, not that caisson drill). People in Lincoln Park are going to get an earful starting this week, as the big Lincoln Commons project starts caisson work on the main triangle of what used to be the Children’s Memorial Hospital...
Two 20-Story Twin Towers On The Way To Lincoln Park
This past Wednesday and Thursday were good days for Hines, McCaffery Interests, the government of Abu Dhabi, and anyone else counting on the redevelopment of the old Children’s Memorial Hospital property in Lincoln Park into a new mixed-use micro-neighborhood called The Lincoln Common. That’s because the City of Chicago issued construction permits for the two biggest components of the enormous project. The first nod came...
Lincoln Common Filling in Abandoned Tunnel
People with an interest in Chicago’s history and urban fabric are often captivated by the number of tunnels – abandoned and otherwise – beneath the city. While it is often safely assumed that the majority of these subterranean fascinations are in the greater Loop area, tunnels do pop up in other places. One recent discovery is that of a tunnel beneath the former Nellie Black building, now known as Belmont Village as it’s...
With a New Owner, Proposed North & Clark High Rise Being Revised by SCB
The southwest corner of North Clark Street and West North Avenue is one of those places in Chicago with so much potential, and so little accomplished. But that is expected to change in the near future. Los Angeles-based CIM Group, Chicago’s Golub and Company, and Avoda Group have bought the project, most recently the site of a diner, to build a high-rise luxury residential tower currently known as 1550 North Clark. You may...