33-Story Banquet Coming to the Fulton River District
What’s better than a State Street Thanksgiving parade stuffed with Jesse White Tumblers? How about a 33-story skyscraper stuffed into the Fulton River District? 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly went all Father Christmas on us Thanksgiving eve, letting the development cat out of his red velvet bag. November 2019 rendering of 344 North Canal (via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly) The pope’s nose at...
113-Story Michigan Avenue Tower Refined, Not Chopped
If you were worried that the new super tall skyscraper planned for Chicago’s Magnificent Mile was going to be shortened — or worse, cancelled — you can unclench your buttcheeks; everything is fine. At a public meeting tonight, Los Angeles developer CIM Group and Streeterville’s Golub showed an anxious crowd a revised vision for Tribune Tower East, which they want to put up in what used to be a parking lot behind the...
1,400-Foot-Tall Michigan Avenue Skyscraper Plan “Significantly Revised”
The immense new residential skyscraper planned for the former parking lot behind the building that used to house the Chicago Tribune has been updated. The plan for Tribune Tower East has been “significantly revised” according to 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly’s recent e-mail to his constituents. Now he’s scheduled a public meeting to go over what changes have been made. April 2018 rendering of the proposed...
By a Thousand Cuts: Another Tiny Slice of Gold Coast History to be Chopped
If you walk down the Oak Street Retail Corridor your eye may be caught by fancy brand names, people with impossibly polished skin, and the place where Governor Blagojevich used to get his famous hair famously cut before now getting clipped at a federal pokey in Colorado. But if you look beyond what is commonly seen to what is not commonly seen, you will see two things: architecture and history. 113 East Oak Street (July 2007) The...
No More Condos, New North Building Has a New Plan: Airbnb-Style Hotel
If you were worried that you wouldn’t be able to afford to lay your head in the swishy new luxury condominium building planned for 61 West Erie Street, there’s good news. You may be able to pay by the day. September 2019 rendering of 61 West Erie. (via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly.) According to 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, LG Development has ditched its plan to put up a 12-story residential block, and is...
Loop Plot Zoned For a 600-Foot Tower Getting a 140-foot Hotel
There was a time when we’d sit in the Starbucks in the Hotel Allegro, write stories about architecture, and gaze through the rain wondering what might become of the surface parking lot next to the wonderful Randolph Tower (188 West Randolph Street). 180 West Randolph Street The wondering is now over, as 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly has told his constituents that the West Loop’s Convexity Properties wants to put up a...
Planned Loop Tower Two Stories Shorter, and 40% Closer to Reality
It’s been a year and a half since Crain’s Chicago Business let the cat out of the bag about 50 East Randolph Street. Back then, the Thomas Roszak proposal was expected to replace a grungy parking garage with what was speculated to be a 27-story residential tower. Our guess was 35 to 40 stories, and we were totally wrong. May 2019 rendering of 50 East Randolph (Courtesy of the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly) Forty-second...
River North Proposal Could Ace Two More Parking Lots
A three-part proposal in River North will see a seven-story building preserved, a new six-story building built next door, and a new 15-story office building around the corner. All while erasing two surface parking lots from Chicago’s land use map. The trio was tipped by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly in a note to his constituents. The location of 308 West Erie (Base map via Apple Maps) The building that will get a new life is...
Another Downtown Parking Lot About to Bite The Dust
When we started this publication 16 years ago, one of the questions we were often asked is why there were so many surface parking lots in downtown Chicago. The reasons are complex, ranging from people banking land to sell when it inevitably becomes worth more, to Chicago being less space constrained than cities like New York and London, so car adoption was higher. There are others, but research we did about a decade ago showed that...
Another Hotel+Residential Tower Wants to Squeeze in On Michigan Avenue
It’s been almost two years since we first showed you the renderings someone dropped in our tip line of a potential new skyscraper for 300 North Michigan Avenue. Now it looks like those pictures were the genuine article. March 2019 rendering of 300 North Michigan Avenue 300 NMA will kill an unremarkable brick building kitty-corner from Michigan Plaza. It used to house Chicago’s most depressing Walgreens, and a few offices...
Recent From Proposals
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33-Story Banquet Coming to the Fulton River District December 2, 2019 -
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