Onni Adjusts Its Plan For 353 West Grand, But Is It Enough?
Some skyscrapers go from announcement to completion in a couple of years. Others take longer. 353 West Grand, a proposal from Vancouver’s Onni, is one of the ones taking the more ponderous route. We’ve known since 2013 that something big was coming to the southwest corner of Grand and Orleans, the former location of the Clark and Barlow hardware store. In 2015, Onni put forward a plan from River...
If You Believe in Chicago, Rahm Has a Bridge to Sell You — No, Really
How Chicago are you? Sure, you’ve got a game ball you caught in the cheap seats at Wrigley Field. Yes, you have all 5,600 Studs Terkel WFMT recordings on your iPod . You even have the CTA map shower curtain. But do you have a Chicago bridge of your very own? Loop North News reports that the city is going to part with one of its most traveled bridges: The Chicago Avenue bridge. The best part is that this unique piece of city...
353 West Grand Debuts Tonight. Again.
Last week we told you that the residential skyscraper planned for the corner of Grand and Orleans in River North is back on. Tonight we find out if it’s on like a lunch date with your mom, or on like Donkey Kong. Whatever that means. Onni is the semi-familiar name behind this project to replace the old Clark and Barlow hardware store at 353 West Grand Avenue with 356 new homes in a 38-story tower. The Canadian developer is...
Three Years Later, a River North Skyscraper is Redesigned and Reproposed
It’s been a little while since the last proposal for a residential skyscraper in River North. But things are starting to roll again. In an e-mail to constituents, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly announced that 353 West Grand is in play again. You may remember that address as the former home of the Clark and Barlow hardware store. It’s been a little over a year since we last wrote about this property. Back in April of...
Wolf Point East Becoming a Thing
The second sister of Wolf Point is starting to look like a thing. The photos above and below, sent in by River North Spy Chris, show the residential tower is just about ready to rise above street level. Wolf Point East is the second of three skyscrapers slotting into what used to be a surface parking lot in front of River North Point (350 North Orleans Street). Wolf Point West, designed by The Loop’s bKL Architecture, opened...
Time Lapse Video Shows Construction of Hubbard221 and 412 North Wells
People ’round these parts love construction photos. And the only thing people love better than a construction photo is 1,485 of them strung together in a 49½ second video. The video below shows the construction of the residential building styled HUBBARD221 and the neighboring office building at 412 North Wells. Both are a Hubbard Street Group/Centrum Realty joint designed by Hirsch Associates. The 23-story residential tower...
Wolf Point East Rises From the Chicago Riverside Muck
In spite of yesterday’s snows qualls, we’re finally getting to the part of the year when we can think about spring without jinxing ourselves. Soon Lincoln Park will be full of daffodils pushing through the flowerbeds, the Michigan Avenue sidewalks will be full of tulips pushing through the dirt in the planters, and dandelions will start pushing through the cracks in your driveway. One sprout that’s not waiting for...
Moxy Hotel Gets Ready to Take a Bow in River North
We’re just a month away from the opening of the Moxy Hotel (530 North LaSalle) on the northwest corner of LaSalle and Grand, and workers are busy… working. River North Spy Joel dunked the photo above into our tip line showing the hotel’s logo being installed on the corner. This is the third Moxy to open in the United States. There’s already a bunch in Europe. It has 156 guest rooms in 62,000 square feet of...
Walsh Construction Builds Ultimate Parkour Course at Wolf Point East
When I was a kid, we would have called what’s going on over at Wolf Point East a “jungle gym.” And my sister would promptly fall off of it, break her arm, and drive her lower teeth through her bottom lip because it was the 1970’s and soft hadn’t been invented yet. But this is the new millennium, and those millennium Millennials would probably call the weave of metal struts, risers, and other things I...
3-Eleven Now 10-4 For New Residents
The latest Catholic Church parking lot to become a skyscraper is now open for business. 3Eleven, at 311 West Illinois Street, has begun accepting move-ins The skyscraper, designed by West Town’s FitzGerald Associates for The Loop’s The John Buck Company, features 245 homes across 25 stories. It’s also immediately next door to Assumption Catholic Church, so at least the neighbors are quiet. Except for weddings....
