Massive New Michigan Ave Tower Uncovered and What It Might Look Like
We’ve known for a long time that CIM Group has big plans for the surface parking lot behind the Tribune Tower. But we didn’t know they were this big. The Los Angeles developer which bought the Trib building in 2016 with plans to convert the gothic skyscraper into residences so exclusive the internet hasn’t come up with a word for it yet, wants to put up Chicago’s third-tallest building, right at the foot of the...
Alderman Sends Three-Tower Lakeshore East Plan Back to the Drawing Board
Remember that sultry, silvery sliver of a skyscraper that you lusted after during the summer? Well, the gales of December have blown in, and you can just forget about her. 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly has informed Magellan Development and LendLease that their proposed three-tower plan for completing the northeast corner of Lakeshore East is a non-starter. Mr. Reilly says he received hundreds of comments from his constituents...
Why Fix It? City to Pave Over its Gold Coast Problem
If you’ve been hoping for the last decade that the City of Chicago might finally get around to repairing and re-opening the tunnels beneath the intersection of Michigan and Oak Street, forget it. It’s not gonna happen. It’s been about ten years since the pedestrian conveniences were shuttered. Each day hundreds of commuters used them to cross the intersection without having to stand on the corner waiting for a walk...
River North’s Newest Public Park Opens at Exhibit on Superior
As downtown Chicago ads more and more residents, the ratio of people to greenspace grows increasingly lopsided. That’s part of the reason so many people were happy to see River thth’s newest public park open late last week. The park is on the west side of Exhibit on Superior (165 West Superior Street), the 35-story residential tower designed by the Loop’s bKL Architecture for Magellan Development and Mac Management....
Developers Detail Big Big Big Plans for Lakeshore East
After weeks of anticipation, skyscraper nerds, architecture enthusiasts, and the just plain curious got the information they’ve been craving about how the development of Lakeshore East will end. The answer: With an 875-foot-tall bang. At a crowded public meeting at the Hyatt Regency, hosted by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, architects and developers took the wraps off of two major projects: The final three skyscrapers...
Lakeshore East Moving Forward, Losing a Skyscraper
One of the first long-form articles we published in Chicago Architecture way back in October of 2003 was a preview of Lakeshore East. Back then, the only building that had been erected was The Lancaster at 201 North Westshore Drive. The rest of Lakeshore East was dirt and weeds and a former caddyshack that still sported a small luncheonette that refused to die. My how things have changed. From the curvalicious skyscraper that put...
Condo Block Plotted for Erie and Sedgwick in River North
It’s hard to believe we can finally report this, but surface parking lots are becoming an endangered species in River North. The latest slab of tar to go bye-bye will be on the northeast corner of West Erie Street and North Sedgwick Street. The project is called Three Sixty | West. Yes, that’s a vertical pipe character in the middle of the name. It’s only slightly more pretentious than design firms that use plus...
Marlowe Ready to Move In To River North
Just one month after 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly spilled the beans about The Marlowe (675 North Wells Street), the city of Chicago has issued permits so that construction can begin. NEW CONSTRUCTION FOR FOUNDATION AND SUPERSTRUCTURE. 15–STORIES, 100-DWELLING UNITS AND 76-EFFICIENCY UNITS FOR A TOTAL OF 176-DWELLING UNITS AND 84-PARKING SPACES. LMC is planting The Marlowe in a surface parking lot on the east side of Wells...
Alderman Says There’s No Vacancy For a 60-Story Tower at Superior and Wabash
Chicago vice-mayor, and serial hotel killer, Brendan Reilly has struck again. The 42nd Ward Alderman has axed a plan by New York’s Symmetry Property Development to put up a 60-story SOM-designed hotel and residential tower named The Carillon on West Superior Street and North Wabash Avenue, just behind Holy Name Cathedral. In a letter to his constituents, he says there’s simply too much congestion in that location, and the...
Dana Hotel’s Erie Backside Expansion Plan
We’ve long been a fan of the Dana Hotel (660 North State Street). Even before its rooftop lounge was the staging area for drinks before my clandestine, not-exactly-authorized wedding at Holy Name Cathedral, it was one of our favorite turn-of-the-century projects. Mostly because it cleaned up a really terrible flophouse that had the even worse address of 666 North State Street, but kept the S.R.O.’s name in a nod to...
