First Phase of Lathrop Homes Redevelopment Now Open
Ribbon was cut recently at what we used to call Lathrop Homes, now Lathrop Residences, as part of the continuing evolution of public housing in Chicago. Perched on the banks of the Chicago River just north of Bucktown and just south of Lake View, Lathrop was one of the first public housing projects in Chicago when it was completed in the 1930’s. Lathrop Residences (Courtesy of Related Midwest) Its ongoing redevelopment will...
A tree grows in Streeterville. And a bush. And a slide. And a sandbox.
The greening of Chicago’s core continues, but not at the hands of the city’s Park District. Instead many of Chicago’s newest parks come through the work of private firms building skyscrapers, and the parks are tacked on as revenue drivers, or out of political necessity. Bennett Park (August 2019. Photo by Cory Dewald, Courtesy of Related Midwest) The latest park to land in downtown is Bennett Park, in the core of...
New Streeterville Park a Good Alternative to Crowded Maggie Daley
There’s still more hammers and hard hats than tykes on bikes at Bennett Park in Streeterville, but not for long. Bennett Park under construction (July, 2019. Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!) Joe Zekas from YoChicago! floated a new raft of photographs our way showing that the quasi-public space next to the new One Bennett Park skyscraper looks just about done. New York’s Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates is transforming...
Refreshed Park May Sort of Honor One of Chicago’s Oddest People
There are lots of neighborhoods in Chicago that are short on parks. Streeterville is short two of them. First, there’s the long-promised, never-delivered, and no longer radioactive DuSable Park. City Hall has been promising that patch of greenery to its citizens since the Washington administration (Harold, not George). Bennett Park under construction (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!) Then there’s the park that’s...
One Bennett Park Opens as Newest, Tallest Skyscraper in Streeterville
Five years ago, if you looked at a map of Streeterville and thought that there wasn’t any place left in the neighborhood for a really dramatic skyline-busting residential tower, a lot of people would have nodded in agreement. But that was before Related Midwest took the vacant lot behind its ward, 500 Lake Shore Drive, and paired it with the under-realized park next door to redefine the core of this quarter of Chicago. One...
Steel Work Complete at Streeterville’s One Bennett Park
After a little over two years of work, One Bennett Park has reached another milestone: The completion of structural steel work. The last piece of steel was recently put in place at the top of the soon-to-be 836-foot-tall tower after a ceremony at the base of the building, involving the people who developed, designed, and are building the skyscraper. In traditional fashion, everyone got a chance to sign a 28-foot-long girder before it...
Obama Foundation Picks Its Chicago Ground Team
We now know who going to do the grounds for the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side. The Obama Foundation has chosen Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Site Design Group, and Living Habitats to be the landscape architecture team for the south side’s most anticipated museum in decades. You may remember New York’s MVVA from such Chicago hits as Maggie Daley Park and the 606. Chicago’s Site Design Group is...
One Bennett Park Removes Park and Gets to Digging
Within two weeks of hearing work crews would be fencing off access to the park bounded by Grand Avenue, Peshtigo Court, Illinois Street, and McClurg Court in Streeterville, trees have been removed and ground is being torn up in preparation for One Bennett Park. At the east of the lot, what used to be the fenced-in dog run has become Ground Zero for earth movers tearing at the earth for Robert A.M. Stern’s forthcoming...
Tying up the Loose Ends at Maggie Daley Park
The lakeside park that started with a bang of controversy is wrapping up with the whimper of compromise as the Chicago Park District ties up the loose ends at Maggie Daley Park (337 East Randolph Street). Named for the former Mayor’s late wife, the park’s pre-construction phase was dogged by controversy as various local interest groups sought to have the existing park changed, or sometimes not changed, to suit their...
