Another South Side Stadium Will Fly a Financial Flag
Fifteen days after the White Sox ballpark officially became Guaranteed Rate Field, another nearby sporting palace has gotten a new name. The DePaul University basketball arena, formerly known as the McCormick Place Events Center, will now be known as the Wintrust Arena. It’s hardly the first time that a home-grown financial powerhouse has used sports to leave national audiences scratching their heads. In addition to the...
Blue Demons’ New Home Being Built With Blue Steel
The expansion of the McCormick Place convention center to include a new flagship hotel and arena continues to transform the South Loop south of the Prairie Avenue District. While the Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed Event Center remains officially a multi-purpose facility that will be able to host smaller conventions that would normally skip Chicago, it will also be home to the DePaul University Blue Demons basketball team. And...
Crane Pops Up at DePaul University
DePaul University’s new School of Music building has been under construction since last November. But just recently, the work went into boss mode: A tower crane popped up on the Lincoln Park campus. Lincoln Park Spy James is the eagle eye who dropped a few photographic eggs into our tip line nest. The $99 million building, designed by Antunovich Associates, was announced back in 2009, as part of the university’s ten year...
Committed To Higher Learning, DePaul Gets a Tower Crane Permit
There’s music in the air around the Lincoln Park neighborhood. And soon, construction materials will be up there as well: FOUNDATION DESIGN FOR THE INSTALLATION AND OPERATION OF A MANTIOWOC MD485 TEMPORARY TOWER CRANE, AS PER PLANS. Those “plans” are for the new DePaul School of Music, on the campus of DePaul University. The tower crane permit, issued by the City of Chicago March 25th, means the school can start...
Status Update: The Please-Don’t-Call-It-DePaul-Arena
Demolition work is just about complete at 2130 South Prairie Avenue, where the new DePaul Arena McCormick Place Events Center will soon be built. The Chicago Architecture Blog’s Daniel Schell darted by the future Demon Dome recently as crews were taking the last few bites out of an existing unloved one-story building. You’ll remember it was just six months ago that clearing space for this multi-purpose facility got...
New Pictures of the McCormick Place Event Center/DePaul Arena
As the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority continues acquiring land, getting permits, and doing the things necessary to pull off its latest ambitious expansion plan, one of its partners is touting a new set of drawings of part of the project. DePaul University has released several new pictures of the proposed Events Center portion of the project, often called the “DePaul Arena.” DePaul is chipping in $70 million...
DePaul’s New Theater Wins Gold
The International Olympic Committee isn’t the only panel handing out gold these days. The U.S. Green Building Council just certified DePaul University’s new theater building LEED Gold. We took you on an extensive tour of the Pelli Clark Pelli-designed building when it opened in September of 2013. You can read DePaul’s press release below the photo gallery. Image © Jeff Goldberg, Esto. Courtesy of DePaul...
McPier Contracts McCormick Expansion, Motor Row Boutique Hotel to Wait
The organization that runs, and wants to expand, Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center has released its Plan B, after the original expansion plan unveiled last year ran into legal challenges. At a presentation earlier this week, executives and architects outlined how they’re going to get out of the current courtroom impasse, and get the expansion rolling. The new proposal shuffles some buildings around, and postpones the...
DePaul University’s New Theater School Takes A Bow
The new DePaul University Theatre School Building (2350 North Racine Avenue), designed by Pelli Clark Pelli, celebrated its grand opening on Friday and I was privileged to be there for a private tour. The tour was led by the dean of the Theatre School, John Culbert, as well as members of the theater design firm that worked with Pelli, Schuler Shook. Toward the end of our tour, three members of the architectural team joined us. I...
Status Update: Pritzker Park
The large patch of fenced off grass on State Street that used to be an open-air toilet for vagrants is rapidly being turned into Pritzker Park. Construction started back in the snowy (OK, “snowier”) months and for a long time seemed to involve nothing more than moving all the dirt into a big pile. These days, cement trucks are on the scene pouring the foundations for what will become seating areas and pathways. The plan...
