CTA to Wicker Park Building: No Fat Bricks
Losing weight is hard. If it was easy, there wouldn’t be an entire industry built around it. But you can’t just call up Weight Watchers and ask Marie Osmond to help you knock a few pounds off an overweight building. Rendering of Alcove Wicker Park That was the dilemma faced by Vermillion Wicker Park LLC recently when it got a letter in the mail from the Chicago Transit Authority. Some smart people did the math...
Another Downtown Construction Project Stopped by COVID-19
For the second time in two weeks, we get news that a big downtown Chicago construction project has been halted. The Chicago Tribune reports that plans for a $185 million observatory at the top of the Aon Center are on hold because of the pandemic. Aon Center Observatory rendering The paper says the owners are waiting to see if a “potential treatment or cure” is developed in the near-term, and if any design changes have to...
New Skyscraper Will Steam Into Fulton River District
River North developer The Habitat Company has a happy feeling in its tummy today, after the Chicago City Council approved its newest project, a 33-story residential tower in the Fulton River District. December 2019 rendering of 344 North Canal 344 North Canal will bring 343 new market-rate apartments (really, you could’s squeeze in one more?) to the neighborhood in an SCB-designed skyscraper, plus 34 affordable housing units...
It’s the End of the Beginning at Ogden Commons
The $200,000,000 mixed-use project that is replacing two public housing projects reached a milestone recently. Construction has topped out at the building which represents phase one. Construction of Ogden Commons in Spring 2020 Ogden Commons replaces the Chicago Housing Authority’s Ogden Courts and Lawndale Complex in North Lawndale. SCB designed the project for The Habitat Company. It’s being built by McHugh...
Skyscraper Poised to Erase Familiar Chicago Warehouse
If you spent Memorial Day Weekend in quarantine fretting about people in the park executing their God-given right to spread a deadly virus to strangers (“I’m fine...*hack*hack*hack*“), or wondering about the phlegm warriors hocking loogies onto the CTA Brown Line platform (Is there no Zyrtec in Ravenswood?), then you might have missed the news that the Chicago Plan Commission turned its thumb up to the plan to build...
Work Begins on Replacement for North Lawndale Public Housing
Construction has begun on a mixed-use project in North Lawndale that replaces the Chicago Housing Authority’s Ogden Courts and Lawndale Complex public housing projects. Rendering of Ogden Courts (Courtesy of The Habitat Company) Ogden Courts was two buildings with about 140 homes. It closed in 2005. The Lawndale Complex was 187 homes in six buildings. It came down at the turn of the century. They are being...
33-Story Banquet Coming to the Fulton River District
What’s better than a State Street Thanksgiving parade stuffed with Jesse White Tumblers? How about a 33-story skyscraper stuffed into the Fulton River District? 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly went all Father Christmas on us Thanksgiving eve, letting the development cat out of his red velvet bag. November 2019 rendering of 344 North Canal (via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly) The pope’s nose at...
Restoration of the Village Theater Facade in Old Town Looks Pretty Spiffy
It’s been a very long time since Old Town’s Village Theater stopped entertaining people and became a hulking presence lurking a Starbucks’ throw from the lovely and historic Germania Club next door. Now we’re getting a look at the results of a project to restore that facade to its former splendor. September 2019 construction of Fifteen Fifty on the Park (provided) In the photograph above you can see that...
Checking in on The Sinclair’s Little Brother
When the residential tower at 1200 North Clark known as The Sinclair went up four years ago, people were dazzled by its size, scope, and the fact that combined with other regenerative projects in the area, it was going to transform a semi-gritty corner of Chicago. But what most people didn’t notice in all the hullabaloo is that The Sinclair plan came with a little buddy across the street at 1201 North Clark. That project is...
New Pix of New Building Next to Lincoln Park’s Village Theater
Ordinarily, we love old buildings. It took a while for us to develop an appreciation for the Mid-century Modern aesthetic, and even certain brutalist forms are starting to seem less tacky these days. But when demolition permits were issued for the dump-o-riffic diner building on the corner of North and Clark across from the Chicago History Museum, not a tear dropped on our battle-scarred MacBook Air’s keyboard. And that’s...
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The 411 on 601 West Randolph in the West Loop September 13, 2020 -
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