The Roof… The Roof… The Roof is a Park
The British School of Chicago’s new South Loop campus is rapidly approaching completion. For the most part, the exterior work is done and construction is currently focused on the interior spaces. Inspectors are already going over the work done to make sure everything’s ship shape. Inside there’s a library; a dance and drama studio; a fitness studio; a cafeteria and kitchen; a music classroom; and lots more specific...
British Dig In Behind Roosevelt in the South Loop
After years of planning and months of controversy, the South Loop is finally getting a new school. The British School of Chicago had its ceremonial groundbreaking at its new South Loop campus today. It’s actually been under construction since April. The school is physically part of the Roosevelt Collection, the mid-use retail, restaurant and residential complex that after several years of near-dormancy has, itself, sprung to...
Details of the British School’s South Loop Expansion
Plans for a new campus of the British School of Chicago were shown to the public this weekend, and may have gone a long way towards assuaging neighborhood fears. The thoroughly greenwashed building was well received by a group of South Loop residents who saw the drawings and a presentation by architect Joseph Antunovich of Antunovich Associates at the District One police station. It will be built in the “Phase Three”...
Apple Reportedly “Excited” About the Possibility of a South Loop Apple Store
Have you ever been really excited about something, and accidentally said more than you should have? That’s what happened Saturday morning in the South Loop. At a public event in a public building, the president of McCaffery Interests, Ed Woodbury, told the public a very private fact: His company is actively courting the world’s largest computer company to open an Apple Store at the Roosevelt Collection (150 West Roosevelt...
The South Loop’s British (School) Invasion
For a long time, the people of the South Loop have waited for the Roosevelt Collection (150 West Roosevelt Road) to come into its own. Years went by and its retail space remained largely empty, with only the movie theater to draw people to its windswept cul-de-sac. Then after an ownership change, and a renovation to make it more festive and pedestrian-friendly, it was announced that a raft of new stores and restaurants inked deals to...
Week Links: June 15, 2012
Bloomberg News is quoting Alderman Fioretti as saying that an Apple Store could be the first retail tenant in the South Loop’s Roosevelt Collection (1127 South Delano Court East). Apple Stores are trophies to developers and politicians because they tend to bring a flood of other retail to the area. A while ago I wrote about how I love going to the Roosevelt Collection to see movies because I almost always have the entire...
Week Links: May 25, 2012
The Glessner House Museum (1800 South Prairie Avenue) is having a book signing for Olivia Newport’s The Prusuit of Lucy Banning. “Set on the corner of Prairie Avenue and 18th Street, The Pursuit of Lucy Banning gives readers an inside look at the rich and powerful on the eve of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chcago. Olivia Newport transports readers to a time of opulence in the first installment in the...
The Mall That’s Tearing Down Retail Space
If you’re the kind of person who hates crowds, you may have already discovered the large, yet virtually empty, mall and residential complex called the Roosevelt Collection (West Roosevelt Road). There’s little reason to go there other than to see blockbuster movies and have the auditorium to yourself. In spite of the superior movie-going experience, other retail shops have failed to materialize. Lots of people have lots...
Status Update: The Roosevelt Collection
Construction continues at The Roosevelt Collection (150 West Roosevelt Road), one of the city center’s biggest projects. People are already living in the residential component, and the movie theater is expected to open next month. Between this and the Target next door, the South Loop is really developing some nice amenities for the urban pioneers who live there.