bKL Up for Michigan Avenue’s Newest Skyscraper
The latest skyscraper to light up what used to be a forgettable stretch of North Michigan Avenue appears to be making great progress. Construction of 300 North Michigan Avenue in July, 2021. (Courtesy of Loop Spy Mike.) Loop Spy Mike sent in these pictures of construction at 300 North Michigan Avenue. The Sterling Bay and Magellan Development project designed by bKL is rising across the street from the historic and awesome Carbide...
As One Lincoln Yards Building Switches to Offices, Another Gets Bigger
There’s been a change of programming over at Lincoln Yards, the $6,000,000,000 Sterling Bay development sprawling along the north branch of the Chicago River. The City of Chicago has greenlit (greenlighted? greenlamped? greened?) a new purpose in life for one building, while another has to make room for more pillows. April, 2021 rendering of 1201 West Concord. The building pulling the ol’ switcheroo is at 1201 West...
Loop Skyscraper Design Tweaked
You know the old saw about the artist who kept sneaking into the museum at night to keep working on his painting years after it had been on display to the public? Architecture can be like that, too. March 2019 rendering of 300 North Michigan Avenue The people behind the new residential skyscraper at 300 North Michigan Avenue have received approval from the City of Chicago to tweak the design of the 47-story building, already...
27 Story West Town Apartment Tower On Tap Next to Taco Bar
That sorta weird, sorta interesting old bank on North Morgan Street in West Town is going to become a thing of the past. Sterling Bay has selected that building, its surface parking lot, and its drive-through as the location of a new apartment tower. March, 2021 diagram of 160 North Morgan Street. bKL Architecture is the monogram on this one, bringing a 27-story design with a pool on the roof, which is awesome in a way the pools on...
ADM Flour Mill on Ogden Meets the Wrecking Ball
Chicagoans love their industrial history. They also love to tear that history down and put up square, boring buildings that maximize shareholder value. The ADM flour mill at 1300 West Carroll Avenue being demolished on February 11, 2021. (Courtesy of YoChicago!) Our tip line went nuts on Thursday when heavy machinery from Heneghan Wrecking started tearing into the 1897 Archer Daniels Midland flour mill on Ogden Avenue in West...
Chicago River Getting a New Bridge
Whatever number of bridges you think hang over the Chicago River, add one to the tally, because a new span is on the way. In blue. The $35 million Dominick Street Bridge will arch over the North Branch of the river, linking West Webster Avenue with North Throop Street in the Greater Goose Island Metroplex Area. Dominick Street Bridge (Via the Office of Alderman Brian Hopkins) It’s one of the big infrastructure projects being...
Pandemic Not Stopping Chicago’s Loop From Getting a New Skyscraper
A location where a grotty brick pile once hulked in The Loop will soon become a shiny new skyscraper, according to the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Tribb reports that Sterling Bay and Magellan Development plan to break ground next month on a 47-story mixed use tower at 300 North Michigan Avenue. March 2019 rendering of 300 North Michigan Avenue We’ve been telling you about pending skyscraper plans for this location since 2017. The...
Chicago Architecture Firm Happy to Not Be Needed Today
While you were sequestered in your micro apartment exchanging accusing stares with your cat (she totally ate the last Yoplait), the boffins down at bKL Architecture have been fighting the good fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. And now their part is done. The Loop designers of glassy things that scrape the sky have completed their mission of banging out protective face shields with a stable of 3D printers. Face shield production at...
Gensler-Designed Plan for 1200 West Carroll Hits City Hall
San Francisco architecture firm Gensler doesn’t do a lot of work in Chicago, but we’ve been a fan of the blueprint boffins ever since we launched our first architecture web site way back in 1997. Back then, Google hadn’t been invented yet, and we were in a city littered with Gensler designs; so we learned to appreciate its affinity for easily-relatable facades and its apparent distaste for parking podia. December...
Michigan Avenue Eyesore to be Replaced by Homes and Hotel Tower
The northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Place has never been very much. In fact, its glory days were probably before there was a Chicago, when it was the reedy home to minnows, snails, and the occasional soggy moccasin lost in the mud. Now it looks like the old brick warehouse-turned-office/retail building that squats on that corner today will make way for a 523-foot tall skyscraper designed three blocks away by bKL...
