kalwall is the poorman's obscured glass. I priced a parking garage in a midrise with it last year and it was about $20/ ft but looks like ass up close. For a couple bucks more you could get a coated polcarbonate channel system which would be much better for me to look at. Plus kalwall fades something bad.
...I was being sarcastic. ;) I have to look at that thing every day. It's not exactly hideous -- most of SCB's buildings, for example, actually provoke my bile -- in fact it's not even that bad, it's just kind of sadly cheap and boring. It looked much better in brute concrete color.
There are far, far worse atrocities going up in River North however. Like the one on Franklin and Ohio...
Silver Tower? Thats a lot better in my opinion than the Chicago /Orleans one. I think we can all agree that Flair will be the slow last agonising death rattle of this recent boom. Going up as we speak - death takes no holiday.
i work with some people who worked closely with mccafrey (the developer of flair), and while I am not a fan of the architecture itself, he has made some very smart developments and investments over the years. he actually started out as a teacher, and somehow stumbled into developing and has been extremely successful. that being said, i wouldn't be surprised if it was an EIFS beast...
EP - i am with you on kalwall. i thought about using it for a studio project 4 years ago while i was in school, then opted for polycarbonate instead. kalwall is made with urea formaldehyde, which breaks down pretty easily and starts off-gassing carcinogens.
jack - i haven't gotten to the michael wolf show yet, but i picked up his book a few weeks ago and it is pretty spectacular, plus the essays are well-written. geoff manaugh's is good, but i am a fan of his blog so i might be a little biased towards his work. speaking of shows at columbia, did anyone else check out the touring display of jack kerouac's original scroll for "on the road?" i was pretty excited for that since I am huge kerouac fan, but the overall installation was pretty great. someone did some interesting graphics based on various written features of his work.
i don't really mind the wit...better than most crap going up in chicago. i actually don't mind grand kingsbury either, especially since i pass by it every day. i think it is relatively graceful and elegant...the only thing i can stand is that beige color they used. if they had stuck with the gun metal gray and found something else to accent it with, i think it would have been pretty great. i find it more impressive that they were able to convince a developer to do a floor plate shape that wasn't rectilinear, since they loose efficiency and square footage with an elliptical shape.
does anyone know anything about the blue monster going up off superior near clark? i passed by it today, and it is really...blue. the only thing i can think of is the new bernard tschumi building in new york. and i can't stand bernard tschumi.
I walk past Superior and Clark everyday. At first I thought that was a film. But I fear its the color. Truly, unforgivably horrendous if it is. I think its Booth hansen project to boot. I to was fooled by the Dearborn and Oak building being a work of art until I went to an open house and realized how bad the floor plans are. The whole design is the window wall on the south - the north is an awful concrete monstrosity overwhelming a once quaint goldcoast street, and the plans seem like an afterthought. Good to be a critic today. Dish out a little cause Knows it comes down like rain most of the time.
Tis the season for booz'n w/o reason. Time for the Chi town nectors to get together - who's down? 2006 we had a good turn out, last year was we had the green build meet up and had a nice time. What about 08? Hell lets extend an invite to our friends in Nap Town and the Louis - and while we're at it if anyone on mila-wa-kay isnt too drunk or bowling already pop in. Plus we have a few newbies in Chi-town this year lets extend a warm KKapone town welcome, 26 - style.
Strange story; one of the few pre-leased tower projects, with long term completion date is possibly going down the toilet. This points to even worse than talked about economic forcasts through 2010 and beyond. I know some people close to the tenant's leasing it and it has tremendous enthousiasm and solid blue chip tenants. That a project could have this much security in such bad times and STILL be in danger hints at the true scope of the disaster in the money supply. Simply put - there is NO MONEY. When you have supply and demand but no way to do a deal - thats catastrophe.
The unregulated "shadow" banking system has collapsed and is bringing portions the regular one down with it. Also, Greece and Ireland are bankrupt. The latter is one reason why the Spire isn't moving forward.
This MIT prof and former chief economist at the IMF has a great blog with his lectures from this semester's class on the financial crisis. He asks the question who has done more damage: the management at Citibank or GM? The answer may surprise you.
The first people I would automatically discount are economics professors or folks at the IMF. The true cause and it is being proven right now is the rating agencies, like Moodys, and the Heads of the Wall St. 5 and their proximity to DC. The "more regulation" crowd fails to realize that everyone of the regulations was put in place to look the other way on the mortgage backed securities - as if by design, but at the same time they overly regulate every other security - something he kind of talks about in his blog. How could so many smart people be duped unless with the help of the regulating industry? The free market bankers who refused to get into this sleaze, are the very ones being punished for having "no exposure" - the regional banks. On the other hand its easy to be an economics professor - all you have to do is look back and say "heres what happened". None of them have run a business or had to hustle hard. But its a good blog Im enjoying reading it - I suspect He's anti-Chicago School / Classical theory, which seems to be cool right now.
The world is being reset to 1997. Ive said it before. At least 1997 was an awesome year.
Seafood places always smell like seafood - never heard of publican whats it like? Still though it seems appropriate to find a shit-hole and slam some oldstyles that have been sitting in the lines for a week. Yummy. But I'm open for anywhere.
Speaking of Ireland - i heard anyone with naturaly born Irish grandparents can get a passport and citizenship to the EU - is this true? I ding think Ireland was even in the EU
"The first people I would automatically discount are economics professors or folks at the IMF."
No, this guy is from Cambridge and isn't an ideologue. It's a lot more complicated than what you put forward. This "overregulation" bogeyman stuff is just that.
The crux of the matter is that there are two banking systems: the regular one and the newer "shadow" one that is international in scope. There are 54 bank regulators in the USA. Each state has one and the Feds have 4. Therein lies the problem.
The moral hazard from the "overregulation" argument is huge. Why regulate anything? The guys at Citibank created financial instruments that exploded after they bailed. The rating agencies aided and abetted them.
You should read what Alan Greenspan has said about what has happened. He thought the markets would regulate themselves.
That's true about Irish citizenship.
Publican is on Fulton and has amazing food. It's a beer hall.
one of the best new factories in the city - its a shame what theyve done to it letting it die like a dog. BoA should be boycotted. Heres an American industry, striving to survive despite the wave of globalization and Asian knock offs and this is how hard work is rewarded. Sorry, we're cutting off your line of credit you built over 30 years. I hope the new admin breaks up these mega banks back into regional banks that know their local businesses.
[url=http://www.aiachicago.org/special_features/1999_design_awards/DBA/index.html
]1999 AIA Awards Republic windows and Doors[/url]
Didn't the company sell the building to someone else recently? Remember that they got TIF money from the City of Corruption, er Chicago, to build it there.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it turns out that Republic Windows and Doors--the north-side company whose abrupt shut-down has spurred a labor takeover--received about $9.6 million in public funds from our always-generous mayor and City Council.
The money came in the form of--what else?--a tax increment financing subsidy approved back in 1996. It was intended to help the company develop its Goose Island facility. That would be the same facility where dozens of Republic's employees have gathered for the last several days to protest being laid off with only a three-day notice--and without the vacation or severance pay required by law.
The company said it had to suddenly halt operations because the Bank of American had cut off its line of credit. Bank of America received some $15 billion in federal assistance--with $10 billion more on the way--as part of the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, aka the banking bailout bill.
So the company gets a TIF handout from the city. And the bank gets a handout from the feds. And the workers get kicked in the teeth.
Apparently Blagojevich tried to extort the Obama team for some favors in exchange for appointing Obama's choice to fill his Senate seat. Team Obama wouldn't play ball, and Rahm Emmanuel tipped off the federal prosecutor. Gotta love Blago's chutzpah, and Team Obama comes out of this looking like Elliot Ness and the Untouchables.
And the funny thing is, Blago has been under investigation by the feds for years now... He had to have known that his phones were probably tapped and that his office was probably bugged... And yet he tried to sell an open U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, anyway. The stupid... It hurts!
God, I miss Illinois politics, if only for the entertainment value. The federal indictment reads like the screenplay of a Coen Brothers movie.
blagojevich is a gigantic asshat and it was only a matter of time before he screwed up so massively that he was actually caught. not only has he done a terrible job of being a public servant (as he was supposedly elected to be) he has been as thoroughly corrupt as George Ryan. i think it is safe to say the only reason he got as far as he did was because of how much clout his father-in-law has, and not because of any sort of intelligence on his part.
i know this day will never come, but if they ever arrest daley (or hell, if he doesn't win a re-election bid), i think i might die out of a combination of sheer joy and shock. but at least i would die a happy man...
Yeah these are fantastic, I sent them over to Lynn Becker and he posted them on his blog today too. It is nice that someone who has this opportunity really appreciates it and snaps of photographs like these to share with the world.
the development to the east of the one shown in the rendering is already well under construction. when i pass by the site, i think it is also already started...it is a little hard to tell at this point with the construction fence up along roosevelt.
i remember awhile back hearing smith+gill was supposed to be developing a site near there (at least north, if not that actual site). it was supposed to be directly along the river there just south of the bertrand goldberg building. not sure what the status of that project is...
i took a detour and rode past the site on my way to my apartment after work last night, and it is all still sexy surface parking. only the development to the east is currently under construction...so i kind of doubt that will be built any time soon.
pretty sad, really, since that is such a great site to utilize. right off the river, and because it is a depressed site (from roosevelt) it feels a little secluded. i wasn't too thrilled about the design (i liked some aspects), but it was better than surface parking.
GOOD LORD THATS AWEFUL. Vertical elements are unessessary elemants unless of course they are inteded to hold up that pomel horse of a, uh, whatever that is up there. My god - I bet they cheap out the glass, it will be all warpped, the coating will be uneven and disolored.
Almost as bad as Flair. Flair is still worse but this had potential at least and was blown oppurtunity. At least it has a park.
Aggregate Chicago
what, evil, you got something against 4 stories of Kalwall?
kalwall is the poorman's obscured glass. I priced a parking garage in a midrise with it last year and it was about $20/ ft but looks like ass up close. For a couple bucks more you could get a coated polcarbonate channel system which would be much better for me to look at. Plus kalwall fades something bad.
...I was being sarcastic. ;) I have to look at that thing every day. It's not exactly hideous -- most of SCB's buildings, for example, actually provoke my bile -- in fact it's not even that bad, it's just kind of sadly cheap and boring. It looked much better in brute concrete color.
There are far, far worse atrocities going up in River North however. Like the one on Franklin and Ohio...
Silver Tower? Thats a lot better in my opinion than the Chicago /Orleans one. I think we can all agree that Flair will be the slow last agonising death rattle of this recent boom. Going up as we speak - death takes no holiday.
flair
uhhh, new city stickers are in....
chicago destroyed by giant lab
FLAIR TOWER?
WOOOOOOOOOOO!
i work with some people who worked closely with mccafrey (the developer of flair), and while I am not a fan of the architecture itself, he has made some very smart developments and investments over the years. he actually started out as a teacher, and somehow stumbled into developing and has been extremely successful. that being said, i wouldn't be surprised if it was an EIFS beast...
EP - i am with you on kalwall. i thought about using it for a studio project 4 years ago while i was in school, then opted for polycarbonate instead. kalwall is made with urea formaldehyde, which breaks down pretty easily and starts off-gassing carcinogens.
jack - i haven't gotten to the michael wolf show yet, but i picked up his book a few weeks ago and it is pretty spectacular, plus the essays are well-written. geoff manaugh's is good, but i am a fan of his blog so i might be a little biased towards his work. speaking of shows at columbia, did anyone else check out the touring display of jack kerouac's original scroll for "on the road?" i was pretty excited for that since I am huge kerouac fan, but the overall installation was pretty great. someone did some interesting graphics based on various written features of his work.
i don't really mind the wit...better than most crap going up in chicago. i actually don't mind grand kingsbury either, especially since i pass by it every day. i think it is relatively graceful and elegant...the only thing i can stand is that beige color they used. if they had stuck with the gun metal gray and found something else to accent it with, i think it would have been pretty great. i find it more impressive that they were able to convince a developer to do a floor plate shape that wasn't rectilinear, since they loose efficiency and square footage with an elliptical shape.
does anyone know anything about the blue monster going up off superior near clark? i passed by it today, and it is really...blue. the only thing i can think of is the new bernard tschumi building in new york. and i can't stand bernard tschumi.
I walk past Superior and Clark everyday. At first I thought that was a film. But I fear its the color. Truly, unforgivably horrendous if it is. I think its Booth hansen project to boot. I to was fooled by the Dearborn and Oak building being a work of art until I went to an open house and realized how bad the floor plans are. The whole design is the window wall on the south - the north is an awful concrete monstrosity overwhelming a once quaint goldcoast street, and the plans seem like an afterthought. Good to be a critic today. Dish out a little cause Knows it comes down like rain most of the time.
Oh evil, I meant Flair. Silver tower is actually pretty interesting, I like it so far.
Tis the season for booz'n w/o reason. Time for the Chi town nectors to get together - who's down? 2006 we had a good turn out, last year was we had the green build meet up and had a nice time. What about 08? Hell lets extend an invite to our friends in Nap Town and the Louis - and while we're at it if anyone on mila-wa-kay isnt too drunk or bowling already pop in. Plus we have a few newbies in Chi-town this year lets extend a warm KKapone town welcome, 26 - style.
I'm up for it. Anytime after next Friday would work for me.
Strange story; one of the few pre-leased tower projects, with long term completion date is possibly going down the toilet. This points to even worse than talked about economic forcasts through 2010 and beyond. I know some people close to the tenant's leasing it and it has tremendous enthousiasm and solid blue chip tenants. That a project could have this much security in such bad times and STILL be in danger hints at the true scope of the disaster in the money supply. Simply put - there is NO MONEY. When you have supply and demand but no way to do a deal - thats catastrophe.
link
Any suggestions for Holiday beer bash? Anyone know a good dollar beer spot? Maybe Goldstar in UK village? Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?
Evil,
The unregulated "shadow" banking system has collapsed and is bringing portions the regular one down with it. Also, Greece and Ireland are bankrupt. The latter is one reason why the Spire isn't moving forward.
This MIT prof and former chief economist at the IMF has a great blog with his lectures from this semester's class on the financial crisis. He asks the question who has done more damage: the management at Citibank or GM? The answer may surprise you.
http://baselinescenario.com/
What about a good happy hour somewhere. McCormick and SChmick's on Rush St. has great deals at happy hour.
Or what about Publican?
I haven't been there yet.
The first people I would automatically discount are economics professors or folks at the IMF. The true cause and it is being proven right now is the rating agencies, like Moodys, and the Heads of the Wall St. 5 and their proximity to DC. The "more regulation" crowd fails to realize that everyone of the regulations was put in place to look the other way on the mortgage backed securities - as if by design, but at the same time they overly regulate every other security - something he kind of talks about in his blog. How could so many smart people be duped unless with the help of the regulating industry? The free market bankers who refused to get into this sleaze, are the very ones being punished for having "no exposure" - the regional banks. On the other hand its easy to be an economics professor - all you have to do is look back and say "heres what happened". None of them have run a business or had to hustle hard. But its a good blog Im enjoying reading it - I suspect He's anti-Chicago School / Classical theory, which seems to be cool right now.
The world is being reset to 1997. Ive said it before. At least 1997 was an awesome year.
Seafood places always smell like seafood - never heard of publican whats it like? Still though it seems appropriate to find a shit-hole and slam some oldstyles that have been sitting in the lines for a week. Yummy. But I'm open for anywhere.
Speaking of Ireland - i heard anyone with naturaly born Irish grandparents can get a passport and citizenship to the EU - is this true? I ding think Ireland was even in the EU
"The first people I would automatically discount are economics professors or folks at the IMF."
No, this guy is from Cambridge and isn't an ideologue. It's a lot more complicated than what you put forward. This "overregulation" bogeyman stuff is just that.
The crux of the matter is that there are two banking systems: the regular one and the newer "shadow" one that is international in scope. There are 54 bank regulators in the USA. Each state has one and the Feds have 4. Therein lies the problem.
The moral hazard from the "overregulation" argument is huge. Why regulate anything? The guys at Citibank created financial instruments that exploded after they bailed. The rating agencies aided and abetted them.
You should read what Alan Greenspan has said about what has happened. He thought the markets would regulate themselves.
That's true about Irish citizenship.
Publican is on Fulton and has amazing food. It's a beer hall.
beer hall!
Are you defecting to Ireland? ;-)
This is quite good:
http://www.informationarbitrage.com/2008/12/argument-1-for-soc-bailing-out-cerberus.html
make sure you spec republic windows
s
Republic windows AND doors. Available nationally. Its a big factory.
one of the best new factories in the city - its a shame what theyve done to it letting it die like a dog. BoA should be boycotted. Heres an American industry, striving to survive despite the wave of globalization and Asian knock offs and this is how hard work is rewarded. Sorry, we're cutting off your line of credit you built over 30 years. I hope the new admin breaks up these mega banks back into regional banks that know their local businesses.
[url=http://www.aiachicago.org/special_features/1999_design_awards/DBA/index.html
]1999 AIA Awards Republic windows and Doors[/url]
link
yeah i thought the gov's 700 billion dollar bailout of the financial industry including how much to bofa was for loaning fucking money???
Didn't the company sell the building to someone else recently? Remember that they got TIF money from the City of Corruption, er Chicago, to build it there.
http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/politics/2008/12/08/another-worthy-taxpayer-subsidy/
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it turns out that Republic Windows and Doors--the north-side company whose abrupt shut-down has spurred a labor takeover--received about $9.6 million in public funds from our always-generous mayor and City Council.
The money came in the form of--what else?--a tax increment financing subsidy approved back in 1996. It was intended to help the company develop its Goose Island facility. That would be the same facility where dozens of Republic's employees have gathered for the last several days to protest being laid off with only a three-day notice--and without the vacation or severance pay required by law.
The company said it had to suddenly halt operations because the Bank of American had cut off its line of credit. Bank of America received some $15 billion in federal assistance--with $10 billion more on the way--as part of the federal government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, aka the banking bailout bill.
So the company gets a TIF handout from the city. And the bank gets a handout from the feds. And the workers get kicked in the teeth.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
And Blago is going to the Big House this morning...
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/source-feds-take-gov-blagojevich-into-custody.html
I think this gives Patrick Fitzgerald job security.
all cities do that.
"all cities do that."
Chicago does over $500 million a year in TIF handouts. And it's growing. I don't think that anyone other than maybe NY comes close.
im down for a meet up.
we've got a few options on the table thus far
gold star
publican
i second goldstar, or perhaps near by happy village or innertown pub
i'm streaming bez now there's gonna be a press conference. the question is who puts the senator in if the gov is in the slammer?
I would assume it would be whomever takes over as Governor, don't you think? Anyone know for sure?
Dont look at this as glass is half empty. Imagine how much the govoner's replacemnt post could go for as a handy accessory to the senate seat.
apparently it would be pat quinn. probably the madigan machine will now take over.
good thing Im getting that Irish citizenship
so from what i understand the gov thinks the senate seat is worth something? and wants some tribute. sounds logical.
Apparently Blagojevich tried to extort the Obama team for some favors in exchange for appointing Obama's choice to fill his Senate seat. Team Obama wouldn't play ball, and Rahm Emmanuel tipped off the federal prosecutor. Gotta love Blago's chutzpah, and Team Obama comes out of this looking like Elliot Ness and the Untouchables.
And the funny thing is, Blago has been under investigation by the feds for years now... He had to have known that his phones were probably tapped and that his office was probably bugged... And yet he tried to sell an open U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, anyway. The stupid... It hurts!
God, I miss Illinois politics, if only for the entertainment value. The federal indictment reads like the screenplay of a Coen Brothers movie.
blagojevich is a gigantic asshat and it was only a matter of time before he screwed up so massively that he was actually caught. not only has he done a terrible job of being a public servant (as he was supposedly elected to be) he has been as thoroughly corrupt as George Ryan. i think it is safe to say the only reason he got as far as he did was because of how much clout his father-in-law has, and not because of any sort of intelligence on his part.
i know this day will never come, but if they ever arrest daley (or hell, if he doesn't win a re-election bid), i think i might die out of a combination of sheer joy and shock. but at least i would die a happy man...
pics from the trump tower crane operator - awesome
link
Yeah these are fantastic, I sent them over to Lynn Becker and he posted them on his blog today too. It is nice that someone who has this opportunity really appreciates it and snaps of photographs like these to share with the world.
Im speechless - I've wasted an hour just going through them 1 by 1
Great photos.... Chicago always looks incredible from the air.
Does anyone have any info on this project? Is this serious?
link
wow never heard of that one, I doubt it will happen, especially in that location.
the development to the east of the one shown in the rendering is already well under construction. when i pass by the site, i think it is also already started...it is a little hard to tell at this point with the construction fence up along roosevelt.
i remember awhile back hearing smith+gill was supposed to be developing a site near there (at least north, if not that actual site). it was supposed to be directly along the river there just south of the bertrand goldberg building. not sure what the status of that project is...
It certainly would be a nice change for that area, but I just can't imagine it getting financed right now, especially such a massive project.
synergy,
i took a detour and rode past the site on my way to my apartment after work last night, and it is all still sexy surface parking. only the development to the east is currently under construction...so i kind of doubt that will be built any time soon.
pretty sad, really, since that is such a great site to utilize. right off the river, and because it is a depressed site (from roosevelt) it feels a little secluded. i wasn't too thrilled about the design (i liked some aspects), but it was better than surface parking.
THIS MAY BE AS BAD AS FLAIR TOWER - NEED MORE IMAGES
link
seems average, the vertical elements don't bother me too much, atleast they break up the form a little bit.
GOOD LORD THATS AWEFUL. Vertical elements are unessessary elemants unless of course they are inteded to hold up that pomel horse of a, uh, whatever that is up there. My god - I bet they cheap out the glass, it will be all warpped, the coating will be uneven and disolored.
Almost as bad as Flair. Flair is still worse but this had potential at least and was blown oppurtunity. At least it has a park.
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