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GEMS School in Lakeshore East Will Be Less Colorful

Remember when the GEMS Chicago Lower School went up on the edge of Lakeshore East Park, and everyone gave it a big round of applause in part because of its colorful facade that was a tip of the hat to the foliage, buildings, and other elements of the surrounding environment?  That was pretty awesome.

What a pretty awesome school facade looks like.

Then remember when the GEMS Chicago Upper School was announced and it, too, was going to be an interesting compilation of hues meant to be a nod to the Chicago River, Lake Michigan, and other elements of the surrounding environment?  Yeah… notsomuch.

GEMS has asked for, and the city has granted, permission to change from a vibrant, multi-hued facade to something a little more corporate.  A little more bland.

Why?  Well, according to city documents,

They are seeking to reduce the amount of primary colors on the façade of the Upper School building since it is a secondary education facility that needs to project a high level of academics.

That means jettisoning the building’s planned red panels in favor of a more monochrome palette.  The colors of the building will now be blue, a different blue, and a slightly more different blue.

It’s not entirely a surprise.  The last time we saw renderings of the GEMS Upper School with the red racing stripes was in 2012.  It’s been an all blue affair since at least 2015.  But with the city making the change official in officially filed official documents, we’re officially a little bummed.

It’s a shame, because bKL Architecture, which designed both buildings, made an effort to ensure that the colors of both these facades would not only work with the immediate urban fabric, but also to ensure that the colors wouldn’t fade and look dull over time.

But it’s GEMS’ school, so it can fly any colors it wants.  It’s probably a good idea, because we all know that you’ll never be able to build a large and successful organization if you use too many colors.

Better safe than successful!

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/26/gems-school-in-lakeshore-east-will-be-less-colorful/

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Two-Tower 845 West Madison Project Breaks Ground

If you want to put a little “Opa!” in your life, a new mixed-use development is underway that may be just the flaming cheese your Greek alter ego craves.  845 West Madison broke ground recently on the Greektown-adjacent block where the H2O+ personal care products factory once stood, behind the Mariano’s.

Rendering of 845 West Madison (Courtesy of Lendlease)

It’s a two-tower GREC Architects design for Lendlease and The John Buck Company that will being 586 new residences to Chicago’s Near West Side.  Those homes will be in a pair of 17-story towers atop a podium with 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 278-space parking garage.

If you have a taste for something a little more personal, there will also be a baker’s dozen rental townhouses lining the two-story podium along South Peoria and West Monroe Streets — a significant improvement over the former industrial building’s blank facade, and a nice save from inflicting another parking garage directly on the neighborhood.

The units in this project are a little larger than most of the recent construction in the city.  There are no micro-apartments, studios, or convertibles.  It’s all one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes.  Move-ins are expected to start in 2020, which sounds far away, but is really just a year and two weeks off.

Left to right: Peter Palandjian, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation; 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett; Chicago Building Commissioner Judy Frydland; Tom Weeks, executive general manager of development at Lendlease; and John Buck, chairman and CEO of The John Buck Company (Courtesy of Lendlease)

  from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/18/two-tower-845-west-madison-project-breaks-ground/

[carol38banks]

This is What a 95-Story Skyscraper Does to Chicago’s Skyline

Chicago has one of the world’s great skylines.  And some of the things that make it great are the supertall buildings that punctuate it like the paper tape from a politician’s lie detector test.

You’ve known for years that the construction of Magellan Development’s Vista Tower would be a skyline-changing event.  Now just in time to impress your downstate relatives coming to visit for Christmas, we can really see tbe impact it’s having.

Vista Tower under construction (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!)

The photos on this page were taken recently by Joe Zekas at YoChicago!, and like the Willis Tower, the Aon Center, and 875 North Michigan, it doesn’t disappear neatly into the skyline.  You can see from a number of different angles and locations that it is going to be a part of Chicago postcards for a very long time.

Enjoy!

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/18/this-is-what-a-95-story-skyscraper-does-to-chicagos-skyline/

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Aon Center Elevator Attraction Looks Like A Go

Late this week the Chicago Plan Commission is expected to vote on whether to allow the new owners of the Aon Center to clamp a glass elevator to the northwest corner of the city’s third-tallest building and put a thrill ride on the roof. If you’re not into that whole “waiting for stuff to happen” thing, here are some tea leaves for you to read:

It’s gonna happen.

Aon Center Observatory elevator rendering

Just because the city hasn’t given you permission doesn’t mean you can’t spend money on a logo.  Or a web site.

How can we prognosticate in such an affirmative fashion?  Because of an e-mail that 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly sent out to his constituents. In the transmission, the downtown pol spells out the concessions that he got from 601W Companies, presumably to win his support.  Because, why else would they do it?  Not because they’ve got too much money and don’t know where to spend it.

With Mr. Reilly backing the project, that virtually guarantees that the Plan Commission will go along with it.  And then the full city council will go along with it because of the tradition that the other 49 aldermen always go along with whatever the alderman for the location in question wants.  It’s a custom that exists somewhere in the spectrum between “local alderman knows what’s best for his ward” and “never start a land war in Asia.”

So what are the spiffs that the Don of Downtown got from the Neighbors from New York?  A lot of it is the usual things that Reilly asks for: Better sidewalks, new planters, high-visibility crosswalks.  All things the city should have built years ago to serve its taxpayers, but this way they get done for free.

There are a few standouts, though:

Taxi, rideshare, school bus, tour bus loading zones.

The elevator shaft will no longer be illuminated, and the elevator cab can’t emit more light than the average Aon Center window.

If the city decides to landmark the Aon enter, the owners have to go along with it.

The Plan Commission meets on Thursday, December 20th.  After that, it goes to the Zoning committee in mid-January, then on to a vote before the full city council on January 23.  Until then, enjoy the following plethora of renderings and diagrams.  We put the renderings at the top because life’s too short to look at diagrams first.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/17/aon-center-elevator-attraction-looks-like-a-go/

[carol38banks]

What Friends of the Parks Sees for Chicago in 2019

It’s the time of year when everything useful has pretty much wrapped up, and all that’s left to do is balance the books and figure out who to blame for sticking you with rotisserie chicken-flavored candy canes as a Secret Santa present.

So looking ahead to next year, we asked a selection of Chicagoans what they expect 2019 to bring.  Here are five predictions from Juanita Irizzary, Executive Director of Friends of the Parks:

Obama Presidential Center model (Courtesy of the Obama Foundation)

The Obama Foundation decides that being a “good neighbor” includes committing to paying for a new baseball facility in Woodlawn, since they’re displacing a baseball field in Jackson Park; and a new field house in Jackson Park, since it will be unseemly to have a crumbling park building across from the new Obama Presidential Center recreational facility.

Related Midwest and Alderman Reilly come to some agreement, and Chicago will finally set in motion a development on the old Spire Site that will lead to DuSable Park becoming a reality.

Our next mayor makes sure that a deal gets done for former-USX site redevelopment such that Chicago finally gets on the path to full environmental clean-up, appropriate community and economic development for the long-neglected southeast side, and beautiful lake front and river front parks along that parcel, in alignment with Friends of the Parks’ Last 4 Miles Initiative vision.

New mayoral and Chicago Park District leadership apply an equity framework to their park planning, like park leader Minneapolis already does, and we make good progress toward more equitable distribution of resources across the Chicago Park District.

The Chicago Park District decides that it makes no sense for them not to accept into their public park portfolio the green spaces proposed at Lincoln Yards by Sterling Bay and The 78 by Related Midwest, now that both of those developers have publicly stated that rather than keep them as privately-owned public spaces, they are willing to give them to the park district AND pay for the maintenance.

Rendering of The 78’s Education Hub and Riverwalk (Architecture firms: SOM and 3XN, rendering by ICON)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/17/what-friends-of-the-parks-sees-for-chicago-in-2019/

[carol38banks]

Heavy Lifting Puts CTA’s 95th Street Project On Track

The Chicago Transit Authority’s transformation of the 95th Street Red Line station is becoming visible to people who don’t even ride mass transit.

CTA 95th Street Terminal under construction (Photograph via CTA)

Officially, this is a “terminal,” not a “station” because it is the end of the line for passengers.  But hope springs eternal for the Red Line extension down to 130th street, now in its fourth decade of promises from the city’s politicians.

When trains do start rolling to the transit-parched half of the city, the passengers will delight in the refreshed 95th Street station, and the new pedestrian bridge installed last week.

CTA 95th Street Terminal under construction (Photograph via CTA)

In the photos from the CTA above and below, you can see that the structure was hoisted into place in three pieces, and now stretches 150 feet across 95th street.  If you want to do this at home, you’ll need a crane that can lift at least 73,000 pounds.  You might also want to let the neighbors know about it first.

That bridge will eventually connect the renovated north terminal building with the new south terminal building.  The idea is to give both CTA and Greyhound buses a lot more room to load and stage.  With 20,000 people using the facility each day, it’s badly needed.  Here’s a rendering to give you an idea of where CTA’s going with this:

Rendering of the CTA 95th Street Terminal (Image via CTA)

If you don’t get to the south side much, you might think the red racing stripes are just the typical kind of creative blandishment we are used to seeing in architectural renderings.  But the good news is — the red is real.

That’s a CTA photo of the new south terminal, taken in April 2018.

CTA 95th Street Terminal (Photograph via CTA)

When that photograph was taken, the CTA was still promising completion by the end of this year.  We haven’t heard anything different since then, and it’s not known if “completion” includes the pedestrian bridge, or just the new station buildings.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/10/heavy-lifting-puts-ctas-95th-street-project-on-track/

[carol38banks]

What Grows During a Chicago Winter? Skyscrapers!

We’re still months away from the triumphant, intrepid return of the tulips and daffodils in Chicago’s parks, parkways, and park-like medians.  But amid the gloom of day and threat of snow, the city is still able to raise a bumper crop of our favorite wintertime produce: skyscrapers.

For example, the concrete beanstalk sprouting at 110 North Wacker Drive, seen below in a photograph from Loop Spy Chris.

110 North Wacker under construction (Courtesy of Loop Spy Chris)

According to Goettsch Partners, the architecture firm that designed it, the core is now up to 67 feet tall. And if you wandered around the western edge of The Loop over the weekend, you got to see the crane being installed.

The crane will help this sprout realize its full potential as a 55-story-tall, 1.53 million square foot tower that Howard Hughes and Riverside Investment and Development describe as Chicago’s “last remaining Wacker Drive and riverfront address.”

Savor the goodness.  Savor it!  (via Riverside Investments and Development)

If that’s not enough to hook you, enjoy the nifty animation below, ruthlessly pulled from the 110northwacker.com web site.

Not ours. We’re not awesome in this way.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/10/what-grows-best-during-a-chicago-winter-skyscrapers/

[carol38banks]

Details of Union Station Renovation Show Potential, Complexity

We’re learning more of the nitty-gritty details involved in the Union Station redevelopment recently approved by the City of Chicago.

Rendering of the September 2018 Union Station redevelopment

A lot of it is just numbers and trivia, but a few things stand out.

The former Harvey House at Union Station will be renovated into a new entrance to the Great Hall from South Clinton Street.  But it will also have plenty of leasable retail space.  Hopefully this space will end up being another restaurant.  There is a huge Harvey House fan base out there. Several new books about the Fred Harvey Company were published recently.  And Harvey Houses at Los Angeles Union Station; Winslow, Arizona; and Las Vegas, New Mexico recently reopened.  We were at the one in Winslow a few weeks ago, and it’s really something special.  If you don’t know what a Harvey House is, you can start here to learn about this slice of America.

The city is transferring 425,202 square feet of F.A.R. from the Union Station head house to the block to the south so that the skyscraper can be built.  This should pretty much kill any notion that the office tower planned in the 1920’s will ever be built.

The city is selling the air rights above the Union Station Transit Center to Amtrak so that the hotel addition can be built above the Union Station head house.

If the pubic park starts to look shabby, blame Amtrak.  It’s responsible for maintenance and repair.  That includes keeping the plants healthy, keeping the park clean, and shoveling the snow.

The park must be open to the public from 6:00am to 11:00pm ever day, which is a little unusual.  Ordinarily the hours at these kinds of public/private parks are merely designated as mirroring the hours of the parks maintained by the Chicago Park District.  But this time the hours are quite specific.

No one can move in to the office tower until the park is finished.

If Amtrak doesn’t want to maintain the park, it can transfer it to another organization like a land conservancy.

The developers want to make changes to the Union Station Transit Center to integrate it better into the block it will soon share with a giant skyscraper.

New Union Station entrance on South Clinton Street.

New street-level retail along the Clinton Street facade.

The Amtrak Police station will be renovated.

The Metro Deli space will be renovated.

Hotel pick-up/drop-off on West Adams Street

Hotel A can be accessed from West Adams Street

Hotel B can be accessed from West Jackson Boulevard

Offices on levels three and four

Hotels will be on levels four through nine, with nine being a new floor

Walled up Clinton Street windows to be replaced with actual glass

Rendering of the June 2018 plan for Union Station

And the promised gritty nitties:

Land owner: City of Chicago

Land owner: National Railroad Passenger Corporation (“Amtrak”)

Developer: RC Union Station Development Company, LLC

For realsies: Riverside Investment and Development and Convexity Properties

Architecture firm: SCB

Size: 251,499 square feet

Head house maximum retail space: 175,000 square feet

Skyscraper maximum office space: 1,500,000 square feet

New passenger pick-up and drop-off zones

West Adams Street bus lane becomes a traffic lane

Head house maximum height: 165 feet (Measured from Canal Street, not Clinton Street)

Head house roof height: 155 feet

Transit center maximum height: 40 feet

Skyscraper maximum height: 715 feet

Skyscraper roof height: 700 feet, four inches

Skyscraper floors: 50

Maximum number of hotel rooms: 400

Head house maximum automobile parking: 265 spaces

Skyscraper maximum automobile parking: 400 spaces

Head house minimum bicycle parking: 50 spaces

Skyscraper minimum bicycle parking: 50 spaces

Head house loading docks: 4

Skyscraper loading docks: 4

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/05/details-of-union-station-renovation-show-potential-complexity/

[carol38banks]

University of Chicago OK to Build New Hotel By Obama Center

The City of Chicago has given permission for the University of Chicago to build a new hotel on 60th Street at Kimbark, between the Keller Center and the new David M. Rubenstein Forum, currently under construction.

A rendering of The Study at the University of Chicago

The 15-story hotel designed by The Loop’s Holabird and Root and developed by New York’s Hospitality 3 will have 167 rooms, a fitness center, meeting space, and a restaurant. The building will be 138,000 square feet and 155 feet tall.  It’s is going by the name “The Study at the University of Chicago” and the address 1227 East 60th Street.

According to the University’s Facilities Services department:

The design consists of three main massing elements.  The first floor podium creates an inviting public lounge and restaurant space with a residential feel and includes an open storefront for views to the Midway.  The second floor conference level is a transparent glass volume at the base of the guestroom tower.  The conference pre-function space spills out to an exterior terrace facing the midway.  The tower volume reads as a plinth of stone, with vertical seams allowing light into the public corridors.  The stone façade design creates a repetitive guest room module of precast concrete, dark brake metal, vision glass and an operable window.”

Also expect 4,600 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center, and a winter garden, of which Chicago really could use more.

The University told the city that the hotel is intended to work in tandem with events at the Rubenstein Forum conference center writing, “The Study will provide short and long-term accommodations for visiting faculty, speakers, dignitaries, and conference coordinators.”

The Study will undoubtedly also attract people visiting the upcoming  Barack Obama Presidential Center, to be erected just a few blocks away.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/04/university-of-chicago-ok-to-build-new-hotel-by-obama-center/

[carol38banks]

West Loop’s Newest Tower Is Old Saint Pat’s

The West Loop skyscraper formerly known as the Old Saint Pat’s Tower is officially done, according to Gold Coast architecture firm SCB.

625 West Adams (Photograph by David Burk Photography. Courtesy of SCB)

Today it is known by its address: 625 West Adams, and is a 20-story office building on Heritage Green Park built for White Oak Realty, CA Ventures, and Old Saint Patrick’s Church.

Previously, this was a surface parking lot for the popular West Loop Catholic Church. Today, those parking spaces are part of this building’s 400-space garage.  The church also got office, meeting, and worship space inside the new tower.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/04/west-loops-newest-tower-is-old-saint-pats/

[carol38banks]

Chicago Exports: Goettsch Completes the Grand Hyatt Bogotá

Today we continue a series of reports we call “Chicago Exports.”

So much of the world’s great architecture is designed right here in Chicago by Chicagoans, but it’s not built in Chicagoland so it goes unseen by the hometown crowd. That’s why we are featuring the great works produced by Chicago architects continuing the city’s proud legacy as the birthplace of the skyscraper, and a global center of architecture.

Loop architecture firm Goettsch Partners has put its mark, and Chicago’s, on the city of Bogotá, Colombia.

Grand Hyatt Bogotá (Photograph by James Steinkamp. Courtesy of Goettsch Partners)

The Grand Hyatt Bogotá is now done, bringing a 230-foot-tall hotel tower to the center of the 18 building Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo business district being developed between the city center and the airport. Goettsch Partners designed the elliptical building for the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo Organization.

GP has designed more than 30 hotels around the world, and this is its second in South America.

Interior design was done by Studio Echeverría Edwards of Chile, with 30,000 square feet of meeting space, two restaurants, a bar, and a coffee shop.

  from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/04/chicago-exports-goettsch-completes-the-grand-hyatt-bogota/

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Another River North Condo Block Tops Out/Off

There will soon be 38 more options for people who want to live in River North.  That’s the number of condominiums that will be available soon at Three Sixty West, the Belgravia Group building going up at 360 West Erie Street.

Rendering of Three Sixty West (Courtesy of Belgravia Group)

Three Sixty West topped out recently, and is expected to start welcoming new homeowners in the spring of 2019.  It’s already 60% sold.

When we last reported on Three Sixty, the GREC design was slated to have nothing but three-bedroom units, aligning with the increase in demand lately for larger homes in downtown Chicago.  Homes range from 1,735 to 2,396 square feet.  For that size in this location, you’re looking at a minimum of $1.3 million.

In the process of attracting more families to this corner of the city, it also aced a surface parking lot, automatically making it a hero in our books.

Press release follows.

Belgravia Group Tops Off Award-Winning Three Sixty West Luxury Condominium Building in Chicago’s River North

CHICAGO – Chicago-based Belgravia Group has announced the topping-off of Three Sixty West, the company’s 11-story, 38-unit condominium development located at 360 W. Erie St. in the heart of the city’s River North neighborhood. Named 2018 Agent’s Choice Best New Development by Chicago Agent Magazine, the building is 60 percent sold and expected to deliver in spring 2019.

“As Three Sixty West has risen, so has excitement for and interest in the new residences it brings to the River North neighborhood,” said Jonathan McCulloch, senior vice president of Belgravia Group. “We’ve had interest from buyers ranging from empty nesters wanting access to the neighborhood’s restaurants and art galleries to young families already living in the area and attracted to the nearby Montgomery A. Ward Park and highly rated schools, like Ogden Elementary, but who want the larger move-up floor plans this building offers.”

Designed by Chicago-based GREC Architects, Three Sixty West features six different three-bedroom plans ranging from 1,735 to 2,396 square feet, with large rooms designed for entertaining or casual everyday living, expansive kitchens, dens and office niches, generous storage with multiple walk-in closets, laundry rooms, and well-appointed master suites — some with private terraces. Homes are priced from $1,300,000 to $1,650,000.

One plan that has received rave reviews from buyers and agents alike is Floor Plan B, a 1,735-square-foot residence with three bedrooms and 2½ baths. This flexible floor plan is ideal for entertaining with its open-concept living space highlighted by an 11-foot island at the center of the kitchen, living and dining areas. Buyers have the option of integrating the adjacent third bedroom into the open space as a family room to create an even larger entertaining and casual living area.

“With only four residences per floor, and two on the penthouse level, owning a home at Three Sixty West offers a level of privacy not often associated with urban living,” said Liz Brooks, vice president of sales and marketing for Belgravia Group. “Three Sixty West is truly a peaceful oasis set within this vibrant neighborhood.”

Every residence at Three Sixty West will have a sense of openness and abundant natural light, afforded by 10-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. Copat Italian cabinetry lends a European flair to the kitchens, which include Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances. Master baths will feature walk-in showers, free-standing Victoria + Albert soaking tubs and private water closets. Belgravia’s in-house design team works with buyers to personalize their space as part of the homebuying process.

“While most condominium developments offer a limited selection of interior finishes and design palettes, Belgravia’s design gallery shows dozens of options available to buyers, from countertops and flooring to cabinet pulls and window treatments,” said Brooks. “When you’re purchasing a home of this magnitude, you want the design to reflect your personal preferences and style.”

Potential buyers at Three Sixty West have the opportunity to experience a walk-through of a home at the development with Belgravia’s first-of-its-kind VR 360 Model Home technology. This immersive virtual reality tour, along with detailed floor plans, is available at the Belgravia model home in the West Loop at 39 N. Aberdeen St.

“Our VR 306 Model Home technology transports buyers into their new home, allowing them to walk through the floor plans, view different finishes and even peer over terrace ledges,” said McCulloch. “This gives buyers a greater sense of confidence and excitement about their purchase decision.”

The residences at Three Sixty West are accompanied by a fitness room, dog run, rooftop lounge and sundeck.

Additional information about Three Sixty West is available at 360westerie.com or by calling (312) 265-0214. Visit the developer model home at 39 N. Aberdeen St. to tour a model.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/03/another-river-north-condo-block-tops-out-off/

[carol38banks]

Completing Wolf Point: Salesforce Tower Chicago and Its Semi-Public Observation Floor

The Salesforce Tower is the most skyline-defining building to land in San Francisco since SCB’s One Rincon Hill.  Now Chicago is getting a Salesforce Tower of its own.

Rendering of Salesforce Tower Chicago (Courtesy of Hines)

Hines made the announcement Friday that San Francisco’s largest non-gub’mint employer will expand its cloud in the Windy City, and sent over the nifty rendering above, showing what  Salesforce Tower Chicago will look like.  You probably remember it as Pelli Clarke Pelli’s  “Wolf Point South.”

Wolf Point South — “WPS” to its friends — is the third tower planned for Wolf Point, the former surface parking lot that once jutted into the confluence of the Chicago River.

The confluential project has already brought us bKL’s Wolf Point West, with 509 residences across 48 stories of skyscraper; as well as PCP’s Wolf Point East: 698 apartments spanning 60 stories rising from the city’s ancestral mud next to the Franklin Street Bridge.

The most recent previous plan for Salesforce Tower Chicago (nee WPS) was going to be 70 stories tall, but that’s been trimmed back now.  It’s going to be just 57 stories. That’s fewer than the East tower, and four floors shorter than the Salesforce Tower in Frisco.  They hate when you call it “Frisco.”

There are lots of numbers flying around about how many floors Salesforce Tower Chicago will be.  Sixty and 59 are popular numbers.  But Salesforce, itself, is calling it 57 stories.  So we’ll go with that until we see some architect’s documents filed with the city.

The 61-story SFO version clocks in at 1,070 feet.  Back when the Chicago edition was going to be 70-stories, it was penciled in for 813 feet.  Now it’s expected to be 950 feet, meaning it will still be the tallest of the Wolf Point trio.  The rendering above doesn’t really show that the new skyscraper will be taller than previously anticipated, but the one below gives you a better idea of how it will stack up.

Rendering of Salesforce Tower Chicago (Steelblue via Salesforce)

Inside,  Salesforce’s new sales force will experience what the company calls its Ohana Workplace Design.  It’s an office experience philosophy so thorough, the company actually has a web page about it.

On the surface, Ohana Workplace Design is a steaming bowl of marketing soup, thick with nonsense millennial doublespeak cliches like “sustainability,” “social lounges,” “collaboration,” and “mindfulness zones.”  But this is Chicago, not Baghdad by the Bay.  So the company mindfully distilled it into one paragraph even people in flyover country can appreciate:

In a typical office setting, the top floor is often dedicated for executive offices. Instead, we take the most sought after floors and design them as open flexible hospitality spaces. During the day, our Ohana Floors are open for employee events and then on weeknights and weekends, these one-of-a-kind spaces with jaw-dropping views are made available for non-profits and foundations at no cost — aligning with our values of giving back. Guess what Chicago, we’re bringing an Ohana Floor to the top floor of Salesforce Tower Chicago with unobstructed 360 degree views of the city before you know it!

If this isn’t part of Open House Chicago 2023, some Salesforcer should lose his job.  Or worse — be forced to integrate a distribution center’s inventory management system with Salesforce’s CRM using its Dumpster fire of a programming language, Apex.  Been there.  Done that.  Still have the flashbacks.

If you’re wondering why Salesforce would establish such a large presence in Chicago, don’t believe the politicians patting themselves on the back about the quality of the local workforce (companies like Salesforce bring their own), or how Chicago is “the most American of American cities” (companies like Salesforce don’t care what flag you fly).  It’s because of all the data centers that have been built in Chicago over the last decade.

Salesforce is a “cloud” service.  Which is marketing speak for renting someone else’s computers.  Salesforce has a gigabuttload of those computers in Chicago’s data hotels.  This move puts a big chunk of the company near the computers that it rents to other companies that buy into the “cloud” philosophy.  It did the same thing in Atlanta, Indianapolis, etc… Lather, rinse, repeat, wipe hands on pants.

According to a filing with federal regulators, Salesforce expects to pay a minimum of $475 million for its Chicago space.  That’s $28 million a year for the 17 years it expects to be in the building from 2022 to 2039.

So remember when all those data hotels went up in the South Loop and people whined that they weren’t contributing jobs to the local economy, just turning classic architecture into faceless, windowless blight?  Well, this is the second shoe dropping a thousand jobs into River North because of those neighborhood-killing server farms a couple dozen blocks south.

You can read more about the building in the press release below.

Third Phase of Wolf Point Development in Chicago Announced

Salesforce to be Anchor Tenant of New Tower

(CHICAGO) – Hines, the international real estate firm, today announced the launch of Salesforce Tower Chicago, the third phase of the Wolf Point master plan—a three-phase development designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli—located on one of the last remaining riverfront sites in Downtown Chicago. Hines is developing Salesforce Tower Chicago in partnership with longtime land owner, the Joseph P. Kennedy Family.

Earlier today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that Salesforce, the global CRM leader, will be expanding its Midwest presence in Chicago and has signed a 500,000-square-foot lease to be the anchor tenant at the 1.2 million-square-foot tower. Additional dignitaries presiding at the ceremony included Illinois Governor Rauner and Governor-elect Pritzker, as well as representatives from the Kennedy family, Hines and Salesforce.

Wolf Point is located at the confluence of the three branches of the Chicago River. The tower, to be located at 333 West Wolf Point Plaza Drive will rise 60 stories above downtown Chicago, on the premier remaining riverfront site at the epicenter of in-demand downtown neighborhoods and transit options. Salesforce Tower Chicago will be the most prominent piece of the Wolf Point master plan which includes two luxury apartment towers, 2.5 acres of landscaped park and 1,000 linear feet of river frontage. As the centerpiece of the master plan, the tower will enjoy dramatic views in all directions.

Salesforce Tower Chicago will reflect all of Hines’ global best practices resulting in the most advanced and amenitized office building in Chicago. With an average floor plate size of 24,500 rentable square feet, the building will offer efficient planning for a variety of office users. Amenities will include a club-quality fitness center with locker rooms and showers, a conference center with multiple configurations and capacity sizes, a tenant lounge and approximately 25,000 square feet of commercial retail space, including a variety of food and beverage concepts.

Hines Midwest Region CEO Kevin Shannahan added, “This will be our third partnership with Salesforce and Pelli Clarke Pelli. We are thrilled to bring this relationship to Chicago after the success of Salesforce Tower and the recently announced Parcel F project in San Francisco.”

“For 60 years, the Kennedys have been looking for not just a tenant, but instead a company that sees itself broadly as a civic leader. We have been looking for a development partner who sees themselves not as a construction manager, but instead as a community builder. In our anchor tenant, Salesforce, and in our partner, Hines, we have a civic leader and a community builder, and we are ready to commit to our city with the best tenant in the best building in the best location in the best city in America.,” commented Chris Kennedy.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/12/03/completing-wolf-point-salesforce-tower-chicago-and-its-semi-public-observation-floor/

[carol38banks]

One of The Loop’s Most Beautiful Buildings is Getting a Hotel

People often ask what our favorite Chicago building is.  The answer is easy: 35 East Wacker, affectionately known as The Jewelers Building.

It’s the sort of building that makes an architect bite through a Rotring 800.

It’s got everything: History, stature, location, ornament, and even a few hidden mysteries.  And now it’s getting one more thing: a hotel.

West coast lodging chain Sonder plans to add a hotel to the highly visible Chicago skyscraper where at one time people could literally drive to their offices, thanks to an automobile elevator system.

Sadly, Sonder calls this beloved Chicago landmark a “forgotten treasure.”  Because of Midwest politeness, we’ll forgive the left coast lodger’s myopia.  After all, Sonder is headquartered in San Francisco.  In 1968 Norman Mailer compared the two cities in Miami and the Siege of Chicago by giving the City by the Bay a backhanded compliment and following it up with, “But Chicago is a great American city. Perhaps it is the last of the great American cities.”

Sonder is starting to become a presence in Chicago a smidgeon at a time.  Its first project was 30 rooms it put into The Plymouth at 417 South Dearborn Street in Printers Row.  You can read all about The Plymouth Building and its interesting history in our report from when it was landmarked in 2016.

The Plymouth Building

Sonder calls its project at The Plymouth a hotel.  But all of the records we’ve seen call it student housing.  We’re not sure if it’s a case of wires crossed or hairs split.  The units feature kitchens and washer/dryers, so it smells like student housing to us. But you can book units online for as few as two nights, so push the needle back into “hotel” territory.  At $110+ per night, if there are any students living there, they’re not majoring in economics.

Thirty rooms doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s about the scale Sonder is going for at 35 East Wacker.  There, the hotelier plans just 39 rooms.

The Waterman Building: It’s like a light switch that’s been painted over so many times that it’s become a frozen Sherwin Williams waterfall, and we’re just supposed to pretend it’s OK because grandma did it.

Also on the plate is a 41-room project in the Waterman Building at 127 South State Street.  If such a prime location doesn’t sound familiar, this is the place that has Beef ‘n Brandy on the ground floor —  the noshery and watering hole that’s fed and liquored students, politicians, and office workers since the Packers beat Kansas City in what we now call Super Bowl I.

It is one of just a handful of seriously old school hole-in-the-wall restaurants left in The Loop.  If you didn’t wallow in the funk by now, you may be out of luck.  B’nB’s web site says the joint is closed for 18 months while a NORR-designed renovation takes shape.  But it also says breakfast is still being served in the basement, so get thine self underground and wallow in a bygone era before it’s gone by.

      from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/11/27/one-of-the-loops-most-beautiful-buildings-getting-a-hotel/

[carol38banks]

Up High in the South Loop: NEMA Towers Over All

In 29 days, Santa comes to town, and the fat old elf will have a few more obstacles to navigate his sleigh around. Among them is NEMA Chicago, the 76-story residential tower going up on the south end of Grant Park — one of Mr. Claus’ favorite landing areas.

I need an oxygen tank and a lurpy dog with a barrel of brandy around his neck to climb the Montrose Harbor sledding hill, but Joe Zekas from YoChicago! hitched up his britches and hiked up 70 floors of NEMA.

NEMA Chicago under construction (Courtesy fo Joe Zekas/YoChicago!)

What he discovered up there wasn’t sherpas, but construction workers from McHugh (gesundheit), braving the wind and cold to assemble the upper reaches of the Crescent Heights pile at 1200 South Indiana Avenue.

By the time you read this, the core of the Rafael Viñoly design will be up to the 76th floor, which is the top residential floor.  Throw some mechanical and artistic work on top, and we’re talking about 80 floors filling out the expected 887-foot height.

On the inside, the skyscraper will have 792 warm, cozy homes for new South Loop residents, and 622 less warm, less cozy homes for their automobiles.

NEMA Chicago under construction (Courtesy fo Joe Zekas/YoChicago!)

With any luck, the thousand or so people who move in next year will quickly get new neighbors.  Notice the empty space to the right of NEMA in the photograph above.  If you leave out some rum balls for Santa, maybe next year he’ll deliver a sister skyscraper for that space.

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/11/26/up-high-in-the-south-loop-nema-towers-over-all/

[carol38banks]

What We’re Thankful For: Chicago Skylines

On this day when we remember that for which we are thankful, let us remember the architects, urban planners, developers, construction workers, visionaries, and others who made Chicago possible.  Chicago didn’t just happen.  It took people, working individually and together, to assemble an urban colossus that shaped the nation a century ago, and nurtures future generations today.

To that end, we present this photograph from Joe Zekas at YoChicago!, of the city’s downtown skyline, seen from the 44th floor penthouse at Wolf Point East.

Chicago skyline (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!)

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/11/22/what-were-thankful-for-chicago-skylines/

[carol38banks]

HPA Named AIA Chicago’s 2018 Firm of the Year

There are so many architecture awards bestowed every week from organizations large and small that we don’t normally report on awards.  But, perhaps, it’s time we should.  We’ll start with a big one with local focus: AIA Chicago’s Firm of the Year.

This year’s recipient is Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.

You know HPA from such enormous projects as Essex on the Park, and such little projects as 810 North Clark.  The West Town firm was praised by the AIA jury because, “Their work reaches people globally, but locally they reach people on all sides of the city—north, south, and west included… Their projects are current and relevant—building new spaces and keeping legacy buildings alive.”

Other recent local HPA highlights include:

1 Chicago Square (with Goettsch Partners)

1K Fulton, Google’s Midwest headquarters

SixForty North Wells

1000 South Clark

The Bush Temple of Music renovation

The Chicago Athletic Association’s renovation into a hotel

The Hairpin Lofts and Art Center in Logan Square

N0. 9 Walton

Rendering of One Chicago Square

from Chicago Architecture https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2018/11/20/hpa-named-aia-chicagos-2018-firm-of-the-year/