New West Loop Apartment Block to Break Ground This Month
Half a year ago we brought you the story of 601 West Jackson, the 15-story residential block intended for the southwest corner of West Jackson Boulevard and South Jefferson Street in the West Loop. Now it looks like those drawings are going to become reality. Globe Street reports that developers Dan Moceri, Oak Residential Partners, and Thomas Roszak plan to break ground on the building this month, and hope to have it finished by...
Your OHC Photos: Chicago Board of Trade
Recently we put the call out on the Chicago Architecture Blog’s Facebook and Twitter feeds for people who went to the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago event to share their photos. Here are ones that came in from the Chicago Board of Trade (141 West Jackson Boulevard). From West Loop Spy Bill:...
Status Update: Loop Coffee Barn
It’s hard to see behind the tarps and barricades and scaffolding, but progress is being made on one of the more unusual conversions to come down the pike in recent years — the conversion of an old 1800’s barn in the center of The Loop into a coffee house. The work on the Pickwick Stable (22 East Jackson Boulevard) is being done for Chicago’s Asado Coffee Company plans to open a cafe/coffee shop in the building...
Chicago’s Ugliest Building Gets a Facelift, Thanks to You
The squat, nasty box that in was voted the ugliest building in Chicago has a brand new look. It was the readers of the Chicago Tribune whose votes gave 16 West Jackson Street its dubious title back in 2005. Now the building has a new look, thanks to a renovation paid for with your tax dollars. 16 West Jackson and two neighboring buildings known as 230 South State Street and 1 West Quincy Court have been undergoing major...
Union Station Master Plan Finished
The Union Station Master Plan has been completed, and it doesn’t look all that much different from the proposals put forth by Amtrak, Metra, and the Chicago Department of Transportation at the beginning of the process last year. First, a little background — Union Station is a mess. Short-sightedness on the part of people in the 1960’s who thought that passenger rail service in America was dying led to infrastructure...
Status Update: West Loop Target
We swung by the new West Loop Target (1111 West Jackson Boulevard) recently to see how construction is coming along, and construction is coming along nicely. Rising at the corner of West Jackson and South Aberdeen, it should draw plenty of people in from I-290, while also serving the neighborhood. Remember, this is a huge, full-size Target. Not the miniature CityTarget that is scheduled to open July 29th at the Sullivan...
Two New Skyscrapers, Otherwise a Modest Future for Union Station
Last night Amtrak and the Chicago Department of Transportation detailed plans for the future of Chicago’s Union Station. Union Station is the last of the historic train stations still active in Chicago. On an average weekday, it handles almost 120,000 local, regional, and long-distance Metra and Amtrak passengers. The station is at capacity, yet Metra wants to run 40% more trains into Union Station in the next 30 years, so...
A Peek Inside Private Chicago
There are a lot of nooks and crannies of Chicago that are reserved for certain types of people. The adventurers. The disadvantaged. The well-connected. The well-moneyed. Each group of people seems to have a few places known only to them. One of those private places is going to open to the public next month. I received an e-mail today from the people down at the Glessner House Museum (1800 South Prairie Avenue) letting me know that...
