The Residences at Addison & Clark Getting Ready To Play Ball
Baseball is back, and once again millions of people turn their attention to Chicago’s favorite ballpark: Wrigley Field. (Sorry Sox fans, it is.) Scores of Chicagoans move to Wrigleyville just so they can be within shouting distance of the friendly confines, even if they don’t have season tickets. Some people aren’t even that loyal to their families. For hard-core baseball lovers, or those who just dig the...
After 7 Years, Loop Residential Building Finally Hits Paper, Bridge to MDA
Things are finally coming together for the new residential building coming to 171 North Wabash in The Loop. We first reported on 171 way way way back in 2011, when it was the companion building to what is now called Experience 73, around the corner but still adjacent, at 73 East Lake Street. Experience ate a parking garage to build a 42-story residential tower, and 171 was going to eat a surface parking lot/parking garage combo to...
Aon Center Views Will Start Before You Even Reach the New Observation Deck
It was back in 2015 that we told you the Aon Center (200 East Randolph Street) is going to convert its 83rd floor into a public observation deck. At the time we wondered how the building would handle a sudden influx of thousands of daily tourists. The skyscraper has very tight security in its lobby area, and the notion of letting tourists share the elevator banks with office workers seemed like a non-starter. Now the Chicago Tribune...
Old Buildings On The Way Out in Old Town
Last week we told you that sales are now underway at Fifteen Fifty on the Park (1550 North Clark Street), the vintage-inspired building that will cap Clark Street in Old Town. Just days later, the city issued demolition permits for the buildings that are in the way. What’s going away is an unremarkable one-story diner, and an even less interesting two-story retail building. But it’s the first sign that dirt is getting...
Sales Start at Vintage-Looking New Building in Old Town
The building that will save the Village Theater while killing a neighborhood diner is looking for residents. Fifteen Fifty on the Park will occupy the southwest corner of North Avenue and Clark Street in Old Town. The building, designed by the Gold Coast’s SCB, features a classic look to blend in with the other buildings fronting this portion of Lincoln Park. In some ways, it is reminiscent of 15 East Oak, the Barneys New York...
Work Begins on Combo Live/Learn Building at UIC
Construction is underway on a new building at the University of Illinois at Chicago that combines both learning space, and living space. the $100 million building designed by SCB features a circular two-story classroom wing, and a 10-story residential tower. According to the renderings, the building features an auditorium that embraces the building’s form with a lecture hall that curves around the proctor. But instead of rows...
Change Brewing on North Michigan Avenue
Permits have been issued for the nearly $10 million transformation of the former Crate and Barrel flagship store on the Magnificent Mile into a new mega Starbucks. INTERIOR & EXTERIOR ALTERATIONS (GROUND THROUGH 5TH FLOOR) FOR SHELL & CORE ONLY TO INCLUDE NEW ROOF DECK OF AN EXISTING FIVE (5) STORY MERCANTILE BUILDING AS PER PLANS. The four-story building at 646 North Michigan Avenue opened in 1990, and it shaped like a (wait...
Firmly in Pivot Mode, Trib Wows Again With Another Massive Development Proposal
For the second time in two months, Tribune Media is making headlines in the real estate industry. The company, which is in the process of being bought by suburban Baltimore’s Sinclair Broadcast Group, is best known for WGN-TV, KTLA in Los Angeles, and WPIX in New York. It’s half of what’s left after the Tribune Company imploded like a supernova, leaving behind a pair of dwarf stars. Consult the Adler Planetarium if...
The Sinclair is Now Officially Open for Business
One of the most dramatic transformations in recent Gold Coast history has been pulled off by Fifield Companies, Jewel-Osco, and SCB. The Sinclair (1201 North LaSalle Street) had its grand opening this week, welcoming an estimated 1,201 guests to the new residential tower that now stands where a vaguely scary, certainly run-down Jewel-Osco glowered just a few years ago. Even the Gold Coast has gritty corners, and this was one of the...
Residential Tower May Be On Tap For Former Mandarin Oriental Space
Eleven years after the Chicago architecture world was dazzled by SBC’s design for a Mandarin Oriental hotel tower just behind Michigan Plaza, there are signs once again that something might be happening there. It was 2006 that plans were revealed for a 74-story, 900-foot-tall building that would house 250 hotel rooms, 150 luxury condominiums, and 100 über-luxe palaces in the sky branded as The Mandarin Oriental Residences. When...
