Checking In On 168 North Michigan
Today we’re checking in on 168 North Michigan, because it looks like it will be a long time before anyone else checks in at the hotel that’s supposed to be going in this space. 168 has been the subject of many big plans, and a metric ton of pigeon droppings, ever since Greece’s Atlantic Bank left the building close to a decade ago. It’s currently being converted into a 200+ room “independent lifestyle...
Centrum Hubbard Gets Ready To Put On Its Big Boy Pants
For months, construction crews have been doing the delicate work of erecting a skyscraper at 221 West Hubbard Street while Purple, Brown, and the occasional Red Line CTA trains squeal by on the transit authority’s “Hubbard Curve.” To date, workers have been largely shielded from the tracks, and vice versa, by a wall of yellow panels. Now the city has given its permission for construction crews at Centrum Hubbard to...
Hubbard Street Skyscraper Asking For More Headroom, More Residents
Construction has only been underway for a few months at the corner of Hubbard and Wells, just behind the Merchandise Mart in River North, and Centrum Partners is asking the city to let it build higher. You’ll remember that Centrum is working on a glassy duo of buildings right up against the CTA Brown/Purple Line curve that jogs the north/south elevated train line from Wells Street to Franklin Street. The smaller of the two...
Michigan Avenue High Rise About to Lose Its Head
The on-again, off-again renovation of 168 North Michigan Avenue into a boutique hotel is about to kick into high gear. A permit has been issued to lop off the top of the 1916 building so that construction crews can add more floors. Right now the former Federal Life Insurance Company building is a dozen stories tall, but it was originally designed by Marshall and Fox to be 16. Crews working for Oxford Capital Group and Quadrum have...
Lincoln Park Loses Its Edge
It only took a matter of hours for demolition crews to clear the corner of Clark Street and Schubert Avenue in Lincoln Park, then only a few more hours for the City of Chicago to issue a permit for the new AltSchool project to be constructed at 2720 North Clark Street. Hirsch Associates has designed a two-story, 20,000-square-foot building for the site, with retail space slated for the ground floor, while AltSchool occupies the second...
