Archinect - News

Gensler will overhaul JPMorgan Chase's aging Chicago headquarters in the South Loop

2024-02-27T18:36:00-05:00

Gensler has unveiled plans for a major renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s 55-year-old Chicago headquarters in the South Loop that will transform the building into a new state-of-the-art workplace aimed at fostering collaboration and ushering the bank’s over 14,500 local employees into what the company calls the “future of work.”

The 60-story tower was originally designed by C.F. Murphy Associates and Perkins&Will and currently is home to 7,200 workers.

Image: © Gensler/courtesy of JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase says they want an environment for the bank's employees that is centered around health and wellness considerations. According to their press announcement, the project's scope includes:

Refreshed and interconnected, plaza, lobby and mezzanine with updated food hall, enhanced dining seating and collaboration spaces, modernized lobby entry experience, and mezzanine level common space with robust café experience.
Refurbished work floors with state-of-the-art technology and furniture, up...

Renderings show proposed new White Sox stadium in Chicago's South Loop

2024-02-08T18:57:00-05:00

The Chicago White Sox professional baseball franchise may be moving out of the neighborhood that's been synonymous with its existence for more than a century if a proposal for a new stadium at The 78 advances to approval in the coming months.

According to the Sun-Times, Related Midwest is pushing for a “massive financing package” from the Illinois General Assembly to fund the project by the end of spring. If approved, the $9 billion South Loop ballpark project would be joined by 1,000 units of affordable housing in the “village” portion of the larger 62-acre site. The team’s current digs on the Southside would be transformed into a soccer stadium with another 1,300-unit housing component. An architect for the project is expected to be named later.

Image courtesy Related Midwest

Related says the project will create about 10,000 new construction jobs and add over $4 billion worth of economic benefits. The White Sox's current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field expires at the end of the 2029...

Final design for Discovery Partners Institute headquarters presented to Chicago Plan Commission

2023-06-05T19:25:00-04:00

The Chicago Plan Commission was presented the final design for the Discovery Partners Institute’s new headquarters at the 78 as the development looks to get final site plan approval.

The OMA and Jacobs-designed project is proposed for a one-acre parcel anchoring the south end of the upcoming The 78 mega-development, a mixed-use innovation district set to rise along a 62-acre stretch of disused rail yards. The headquarters is expected to be the first building to begin construction at the development. Standing eight stories and spanning approximately 213,000 square feet, the scheme will feature office, classroom, lab, and event spaces for the University of Illinois System’s Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and its partners.

Previously on Archinect: OMA/Jacobs selected to design the University of Illinois' new DPI innovation hub in Chicago

The building will be composed of a series of stacked volumes enclosed with a dome-like glass and steel form. The atrium, described by OMA as an “active collision zone,” will serve as a central gathering space. The ground floor is designed to be open to the public, with a café, auditorium, and multipurpose rooms. The new headquar...

OMA/Jacobs selected to design the University of Illinois' new DPI innovation hub in Chicago

2022-09-23T17:14:00-04:00

A joint team of OMA and Jacobs has been selected to design a new 200,000-square-foot headquarters for the University of Illinois System's Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago, the state and Governor J.B. Pritzker announced on Thursday.

The multi-year project will transform a disused 62-acre former yard site as the first construction in the larger The 78 Innovation District that is meant to provide a high-tech connection between Chinatown to the South Loop.

Image courtesy OMA and Lucian R

Pritzker says its “futuristic design” matches the state’s ambition to create a hub for innovation downtown on land donated to the state by Related Companies’ Midwest operation. Beyond the typical economic stimulus components provided by the project, the development will support a host of K-12 education and entrepreneurship programs, continued wastewater monitoring, and a hodgepodge of other collaborative business ventures geared toward the tech industry.

Image courtesy OMA and bloomimages.de

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62-acre site along Chicago River to be developed with potential for Amazon's HQ2

2018-05-14T15:13:00-04:00

A hardscrabble half-mile stretch along the Chicago River's South Branch would become a vibrant neighborhood of cutting-edge architecture, parks and a riverwalk in the plans a developer unveiled Thursday for the last big piece of empty land near downtown. Developer Related Midwest plans a transformation of the vacant, relatively isolated 62-acre site into a vibrant neighborhood of homes, restaurants, cultural institutions and businesses...

The currently undeveloped site along Chicago's river has been named "The 78", declaring its scale large enough to add to the city's official number of 77 neighborhoods. The site is also rumored to be a contender for Amazon's HQ2 if the city is chosen, which would require reworking current plans.

Current 62-acre riverfront site in Chicago. Image: Mark Segal/Related Midwest.

Plans for the massive development include 13 million square feet of building space for residential, office, educational and other uses. 12 acres would be dedicated to parkland or public riverwalk with a performance venue. Related Midwest stated that affordable housing was an important part of its housing development.

Rendering of the education hub and riverwalk. Image: Related Midwest.

The new site would also extend three existing city streets through the property to create through routes for bikes. A metro stop would be added to the Red Line, as well as potentially adding a Water Taxi stop.

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New Rafael Viñoly skyscraper will be tallest in Chicago's South Loop

2015-09-24T13:33:00-04:00

Designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects, which also designed the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business in Hyde Park, the 792-unit building would be the first of three that Crescent Heights plans just south of the park. [...] Crescent Heights has become one of the busiest apartment buyers in downtown Chicago, recently paying $126 million for a 298-unit apartment building in the South Loop. It also owns 160 rental condominiums in Walton on the Park, a Gold Coast high-rise.