Deconstructionist Thompson Center A Step Closer to Being Deconstructed
Inside the Thompson Center rotunda. (File) Chicago City Council has approved an ordinance that will help whomever buys the James R. Thompson Center to turn it into rubble. The ordinance is short. Just three sentences. But it will have a massive impact on downtown Chicago. If you’d like to read it, here it is: BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO: SECTION 1. Title 17 of the Municipal Code....
Hotel Tower Planned For 150 East Ontario. Again.
If at first, or second, or third, or fourth you don’t succeed, try try again. That seems to be the motto of the lonely loam at 150 East Ontario Street, which has been trying to sprout a skyscraper since the height of Gold Coast fashion was leg warmers, scrunchies, and chunky Kenneth Jay Lane jewelry underneath your Freezy Freakies. March, 2021 rendering of 150 East Ontario. (Via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly.) The...
South Loop Apartment Plan Back in the Cupboard with the Mothballs
If you were excited about the transformation of a South Loop surface parking lot into a pair of modest skyscrapers with a hotel and supermarket, you picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. December, 2020 rendering of 525 South Wabash (Courtesy of BKV Group) In a memo to his constituents, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly conveyed the news that the developer of 525 South Wabash Avenue, e-Terra+, has decided to pull its project...
Proposed Rush Street Building Includes Batman-Style Parking
The on-again, off-again redevelopment of the east side of Rush Street at Viagra Triangle is on again, with a revised plan for 1045 North Rush Street. That’s the two retail spaces next to Carmine’s restaurant, where the Alfredo sauce is so good it turns back into a brick of cheese if you put the leftovers in your refrigerator overnight. February, 2021 rendering of 1045 North Rush We last told you about plans for this space...
61 West Erie Construction Now Underway
Things are starting to get messy over on West Erie Street. That’s where construction is about to start on 61 West Erie, the LG Development project that has changed forms more often than Humbaba battling Gilgamesh. (Shout out to Mrs. Frolio’s seventh-grade literature class!) September 2019 rendering of 61 West Erie. (via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly.) The original plan was for this to be a 12-story condo block. Then it...
The 411 on 601 West Randolph in the West Loop
Four months ago, an alert reader noticed some people poking around at 609 West Randolph Street. He told us. We told you. Then last month, the project became official, as 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly started talking about a new development for the corner of Randolph and Jefferson in the West Loop. Now, paperwork has been filed with the city to get this office building built. Rendering of 601 west Randolph (Va the Office of...
Radical Surgery Will Transform A Building You Never Noticed Into A Building You Might Notice
Some architecture stands out. Some architecture blends in. And then there’s architecture that is a cognitive blind spot. Fifty East Huron is an example of what happens when a building goes for inoffensive and ends up with invisible. 50 East Huron (Via Apple Maps) The building used to be the home of the American Library Association. It sold the building in December of 2019, packing up and bookmobiling it across the Chicago River...
You Called It: New Office Building Coming to the West Loop
Back in May of this year, we relayed to you a photograph that West Loop Spy Kurt jammed into our tip line showing soil sampling rigs tasting the dirt beneath 609 West Randolph Street. Usually if someone is paying for that kind of work, there’s a reason; and now we know the reason: a 15-story office building Rendering of 609 west Randolph (Va the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly) 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly was the...
COVID Forces a Change of Plans in a Proposed Near North Building
Sixty-one West Erie hasn’t been built yet, and it’s already on its third life. First, it was going to be a 12-story condominium block. Then a 29-room vacation rental hotel hybrid. Now, it’s all about apartments. September 2019 rendering of 61 West Erie. (via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly.) That’s the word from 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, who writes, “The hotel project is no longer viable...
Two Tower Project To Replace the Chicago Spire Goes to Plan Commission With An Unusual Condition
The 35-year saga of 400 North Lake Shore Drive may finally come to a conclusion soon, as this week the Chicago Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the latest proposal for the property on the northwest corner of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. March 2020 rendering of 400 North Lake Shore Drive (Courtesy of Related Midwest) The location is perfect for a prominent, eye-catching trophy tower, and even in the mid-1980’s...
