Goettsch Partners’ Renovation Sets the Stage for Union Station’s Next Act
If you haven’t been by Chicago Union Station in a while, here’s your excuse to make the trip: The renovations are done. This is what the kids call “awesome sauce.” (© Amtrak. Courtesy of Goettsch Partners) Just in time for the landmark transportation hub to be reimagined with a new hotel, restaurants, and a sister skyscraper, Goettsch Partners has announced that work is complete on its renovation of the...
Details of Union Station Renovation Show Potential, Complexity
We’re learning more of the nitty-gritty details involved in the Union Station redevelopment recently approved by the City of Chicago. A lot of it is just numbers and trivia, but a few things stand out. The former Harvey House at Union Station will be renovated into a new entrance to the Great Hall from South Clinton Street. But it will also have plenty of leasable retail space. Hopefully this space will end up being another...
West Loop’s Newest Tower Is Old Saint Pat’s
The West Loop skyscraper formerly known as the Old Saint Pat’s Tower is officially done, according to Gold Coast architecture firm SCB. Today it is known by its address: 625 West Adams, and is a 20-story office building on Heritage Green Park built for White Oak Realty, CA Ventures, and Old Saint Patrick’s Church. Previously, this was a surface parking lot for the popular West Loop Catholic Church. Today, those parking spaces...
Downtown Chicago Could Get 11 New Skyscrapers This Week
If there’s a skyscraper nerd in your office, don’t be surprised if he calls in sick on Thursday. That’s the day the Chicago Plan Commission considers the largest number of new skyscrapers for downtown Chicago since August of 2014, when four new towers were on the docket. This time, there are 11 major buildings in play: 700 at the River in River West 1,500 total residences 497 car parking spaces Total FAR: 8.1...
Devs Try To Get Union Station Project Back On Track
Remember back in June when plans to redevelop Union Station came out and you were all, “Haven’t we been to this dance before?” Well, you were right to be skeptical. Riverside Investment and Development, and Convexity Properties are back with a new redevelopment plan for Union Station. A move necessitated by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, who roundfiled the previous proposal. In that plan, a seven-story glass...
Union Station Redevelopment Making Tracks Tonight
The redevelopment of Chicago Union Station (210 South Canal Street) continues to chug along (see what we did there?) and the next step in the process is a public meeting to go over the most recent plans for the 93-year-old transportation hub. It was just about a year ago that Amtrak tapped neighbor Riverside Development to turn the aging, but vital, piece of the city’s infrastructure into something more than it is, and something...
Half a Billion in Pocket, Devs Ready to Rock Old Post Office
The Building That Wouldn’t Die is poised to start its second life. A couple of days before Christmas, the developers trying to resuscitate Chicago’s massive, menacing, moldy Old Main Post Office were given a half a billion dollars to start construction on their proposal to turn the lumbering landmark into a thriving mixed-use complex. This is the second loan the 601W Companies has been given by JPMorgan Chase. The...
Chicago Union Station Finally Gets Its Towers, Plus a Hotel and More
Riverside Investment and Development has been selected by Amtrak to redevelop its property in Chicago’s West Loop, including the historic Chicago Union Station. In the decade-and-a-half that this blog has been chronicling Chicago’s built environment, Amtrak has put forward a series of increasingly ambitious plans for maximizing its real estate assets in downtown Chicago, which include the station’s...
150 North Riverside Opens For Business
It’s hard to believe that just four short years ago there were people scoffing at the idea of balancing a 54-story skyscraper in the middle of a set of very active rail lines on the edge of the Chicago River. But here we are today, with the official opening of 150 North Riverside. It’s not the first time that Goettsch Partners has cantilevered an office building on either side of a central core. But it’s the first...
Old Saint Pat’s Tower Powers Upward
Crews from Power Construction have been busting their humps for the last few months, trying to get as much of the parking garage at 625 West Adams built as they can before the dead of winter sets in. With The Dead officially here, photographer Michael Lyons sent over some photographs showing their progress; and it’s not too shabby. Concrete has already been poured up to the fifth floor of the office building occasionally known...
