A Reed Sprouts Along the Chicago River’s Southbank
It’s been a good year for apartment balcony gardens like mine. Though I didn’t try pumpkins, watermelon, or corn this year (all successful in previous years), the flowers are flowering, the hummingbirds are humming, and the ornamental grass successfully conceals the brick wall of the neighboring building. Also playing James Crockett in his victory garden is .oz concern Lendlease, which recently planted a building called...
Lakeshore East and Lakefront Chicago Now Properly Linked
With the warmer weather, and the shedding of masks, come thoughts of being outdoors. Preferably, someplace green. Soon, downtown Chicagoans will have a new slice of veldt upon which to throw blankets and catch rays: Cascade Park. June, 2021 rendering of Cascade Park. (Courtesy of Lendlease.) Named for the skyscraper that sprouts next to it, the privately owned public space is part of a project cultivating three residential skyscrapers...
Pinstripes Prevail on Lakeshore East Skyscrapers
We’re happy to admit when we’re wrong. Or as our seventh-grade teacher used to say, “You pulled a boner.” She must have really been something in the 1940’s. Earlier this week we stated that pinstripes are out of fashion, both in clothing and in Loop skyscrapers. Today, we get around to reading the Sunday New York Times, and in its smudgy pages are full-page ads for both Armani and Ralph Lauren pinstripe...
New Chicago Skyscrapers Look Good in Pinstripes
There was a time when people got dressed up to go into The Loop. But ever since it somehow became OK to wear sweatpants in The Walnut Room, the only place you’ll see a fedora is on a Metra train headed to the north suburbs. Cirrus and Cascade under construction in March, 2021. (Courtesy of Loop Spy C.) That’s why it’s so delightful to see Cirrus and Cascade, the newest skyscrapers going up at Lakeshore East,...
You Can Now Live in a Reed on the Banks of the Chicago River
The first riverside skyscraper at Lendlease’s Southbank development is now selling units. The Reed, at 234 West Polk Street, has begun sales of its condominiums, which run from 390,000 for 630 square feet of living space to 1,400,000 for 1,670 square feet of living large space. Rendering of The Reed The Reed is expected to have 216 residences on floors 23 through 41. It will also have 244 apartments down below on 9...
What’s Underneath Chicago’s Urban Parks? Disappointment, If You’re a Worm
It’s always fun to listen in to tourists at Millennium Park ooh-ing and aah-ing at the amazing job the City of Chicago has done preserving such a large slice of nature in the heart of the city. The vast majority of them don’t know that underneath the wild-looking flowerbeds, the stately lawns, and the carefully channeled rivulet is a vast parking garage, and a commuter train station. But that’s OK. They came to...
Two New Loop Skyscrapers Top Off
While the bulk of the architectural press in Chicago has been focused on the St. Regis Chicago tower, just a block away two other skyscrapers have been quietly growing in its shadow. Well, “quietly,” unless you live in Lakeshore East, which has been under constant development since we started publishing way back in 2003. But such are the perils of urban living. January, 2021 rendering of Cirrus (Courtesy of Lendlease)...
Downtown Chicago Fertile Ground for Mechanical Beanstalks
If you’re going to get jumped in downtown Chicago, try to be a crane. Cirrus and Cascade under construction (Courtesy of YoChicago!) Crane jumps are scheduled for this week at Lakeshore East. Lendlease is increasing the height of the tower cranes building the Cirrus and Cascade residential towers on the southwest corner of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The window for the big yellow beasts to become super-sized opened on...
All About E: The New 34-Story Skyscraper Coming to the South Loop
Remember that tip from South Loop Spy J. that found its way into our tip line last week about the next phase of Southbank starting to peek over the horizon? It turns out, it was spot on. And we can now tell you which new building is going up next. Southbank Building E highlighted in this rendering from Lendlease According to the mouthpiece for Lendlease, “The next phase is going to be along the river on the southern end of the...
South Loop’s Southbank Getting Southbankier
It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that Australian builder Lendlease is thinking about phase two of Southbank. It’s already opened The Cooper, a residential building at 720 South Wells Street, and has plenty more land to fill. Rendering of The Cooper (Courtesy of Lendlease) But The Coop’ was flown two years ago, and we haven’t heard a peep out of this riverfront nest since. Until now. South Loop Spy...
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Three Building Plan Brings 600-Foot-Tall Skyscraper to Fulton Market January 13, 2022 -
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