I know we talked about the proposed downtown area comuter plans but heres a link to a PDF of the scope. I think its long overdo. In the comments on the Trib article I said I like it but the city while it should be comended for such plans, still has to fix the neighborhoods - especially the westside where 50% of the lots are empty and those that are occupied are section 8 and produce little to no taxes. Ever wonder why taxes are so high in the city limits? A good chunk of the land is producing no taxes. Imagine the even BIGGER plans we could do if we could clear the westside and attract DuPage county type developmet by GROWING the tax base rather than the taxes paid by whos left.
Yeah I saw this report this morning. It definetly is something impressive. Looks like they have an aggressive schedule in mind if they think they can do so much of that work by 2016.
My only disappointment is that the proposed due date for the clinton subway is 2020 - C'mon Chitown speed it up! 3 miles of tunnel through silty clays? Thats easy!! We built the downtown subways through city in less than that 60 years ago.
Im a bit confused about where priority lies for the proposed clinton subway from china town to north/clybourn and the proposed circle line which would basically serve the same area. I wonder if its one or the other? I dont really see the benefit in building both, though i agree in concept with what evil said, the west side is desperate for some help. It would seem to me that over the past decade the near south all the way to pershing and in some cases further, has really made positive improvements, largely due to huge city investment in the area. That kind of focus is desperately needed on the west side... though i dont see the subway and the circle line as being terribly efficient... anyone know if they will build one or the other? or is the plan really for both? Or perhaps the subway is a portion of the circle line?
i was really not a big fan of the super station thing under clinton when i first saw this central action plan. Felt like it was a bit of an overkill... but now i see (probably due to the huge high speed rail boost given by obama) it will be integrating that purpose along with metra, busses and cta. This concept i really like... sort of a grand central station for the 21st century... that could be an incredible project... lets hope they take it seriously and build it beautifully... that thing could keep at least a dozen local offices in business im sure...
lletdown you make all valid points. Now as for the clinton subway - its in order to densify the west edge of the downtown area and provide a "spine" if you will. Its very hard to go travel this corridor north south. All the old rail roads, meandering bends in the river, streets at diffeerant grades make it tough. Imagine now being able to get to the East Pilsen Arts district finally! Plus if you look at the SOM masterplan of the downtown they want to build about 15 more Kinzie station type developments along it. Mostly though I think it benefits the near southside which is stuck with only one option. Its essentially a downtown subway.
The circle line is a west side line. I think its more intended to encourage further infill / gentrification of the area. Just go to Roosevelt and ashland - besides the new shopping center its blocks and blocks of empty land.
One things for certain however - the insiders already have all the land sewn up.
yeah, tahts a good point about north south travel on the near west side... its pretty much impossible to take a straight north south trip until you get to halsted which obviously is already well outside the loop...
The one thing about this plan that I think has been overlooked is a transfer point and new station on the Blue Line just before it goes under the river. This Omission should be carefully looked at since it could be a means to establish an express train from Midway to O’Hare. This might be a better solution than ramming that traffic through the loop. This is basically a loop bypass.
Another Idea to consider is using the abandoned rail viaduct along Bloomingdale Ave to connect the Blue and Brown lines.
I also wonder about the wisdom of a subterranean West Loop Transit Center, why not teardown and build a better Ogilvie Station above ground at half the cost.
One course my creative / crazy mind sees as an option the wide open space over 90 /94. I think it is the better option for a new Grand central for Chicago Just move the Clinton St Subway over to Halstead St and we can have trains pas through the station for a much more efficient movement of inter urban passenger trains. And hopefully several blocks of surface parking lots will evaporate. Maybe some new shiny street trams shuttling passengers between the loop and the new station.
"I also wonder about the wisdom of a subterranean West Loop Transit Center, why not teardown and build a better Ogilvie Station above ground at half the cost."
Northwestern station (ogilvie is the worst name ever. Id rather call it Minute maid Station) will still be there and so will Union, this is a below grade consection of the 2 with additional transit comming in below. Currently the Metra North, northwest and west lines are above grade going to Northwestern wheras the north, south west and south lines at Union are at grade, which is below the grade of the city streets. So this concouse will tie it all together since the stations are essentially accross the street from each other.
(sorry to interrupt, but you all must check on the chandeliers they are hanging at the theWit, i will try and remember to snap a cell phone photo on my way home)
If the Concourse will be three blocks long then I guess it will connect the two stations. The rendering in the link shows an underground buss depot, below a shopping concourse. Below the bus depot is an EL station, and below that there appears to be interurban trains.
Clinton makes a lot of sense as it the new office HQ.
It will fill up fine.
The missing part is transforming the 19th century spoke system we have into something more appropriate for the 21st century. We need to tackle getting from the northwest side to the west or southwest side without using a car.
Three blocks is entirely possible. I like large transit stations with multiple exists, especially in colder climates. It could be like the tunnels in the loop, you can travel around quite a distance and come up closer to your destination, which is really nice on cold rainy or snowy days. Integrating retail within the station is also a great idea, especially with so many people moving through the station for various trip lengths.
I would rather see a (somewhat) unique linear park there rather than a blue/brown line connection. That connecting line could be done in quite a few other places rather than on the bloomingdale line. Although the bloomingdale line doesn't have the potential of the high line in new york, i still think it is a nice idea.
Hey I read that they named that cat that ran across Wrigley's outfield Ozzie, after Ozzie G. on the southside who claimed to have seen giant rats at Wrigley.
Yup, they also had a perspective view looking at the building. It looks alright, but not all that large. I would think it should run as a belt around the entire upper level so that you can not only get this amazing view, but get it in every single direction.
I guess my post steered the thinking in that direction, but really, if you are going to go with only 1 side, it should be the west side, because that is the side that overhangs the street, while the other sides all would overhang lower sections of the tower itself. Still it would be nice to go out on a ledge on the east, south and north sides.
Lynn Becker had some great photos of the Old Coloney Building as well as the Manhatten - prob one of the coolest blocks in the city - right out of the Gilded age grime of the 1880's. Speaking of grime - Who knew the Old Colony was actually tan?!?
I saw that post. It is great to see the old buildings in their original glory, it helps me get over the black and white photographs I see in books and realize how they might have been viewed when built.
Just think, people in the 1920s, 1800s etc. actually lived in color too! :)
There was a layer of grime at the 9th floor (up there) that didn't come off right away. It was supposed that it came from the steam engines on the L. It took some experimentation to find the right chemical mix to take it off.
The building is now LIGHT. I never thought of it that way before! it was so heavy looking with the dirt.
I drove into the city last weekend from the Eisenhower and stopped at a light on Congress. The change is amazing. I love those old vestigial streets of post fire Chicago between Jackson and Congress. There's not many of them left that have that dark, narrow old time feel as much of the Loop has been rebuilt since the 1950's to be light, airy of open modernist planning style.
personally, I'm on lynn's side with this one, it would take the right kinid of delicate treatment, but I believe that our society could benefit form from discussing about how the remains of the dead are treated and stored. Done properly, I think having an accessible facility for paying respects to passed on relatives and friends would be very nice.
"such a strange advent of a virginal absence of color in Chicago cannot be understood apart from the White City, the centerpiece of the World's Columbian Exposition, a popular triumph in which Burnham and Atwood shared. Burnham was ready to embrace any antidote to what he had decided were the errant 1880's, when the pioneer high office buildings from his own partnership with Root were characterized by warm hues in sandstone, granite, pressed brick, and terra cotta. Charles Jenkins, in writing of the Reliance Building (Burnham Hotel) before it was finished, asserted there was no reason to surrender to "the monotony of dull greays, browns and reds of the present material used in building." But the Reliance Building did not wash in every rainstrom, and no one bothered to scrub it like a dinner plate. Root had reasoned that in a city under the pall of coal smoke, cold colors were hardly eligible. He had specified white enameld brick for a limited and definited function- to reflect light onto the basement sales floor."
Moral of story. Don't die your partner will change your designs...
Maybe the old post office can become the beleaguered children’s museum. An above ground space twice the size for half the cost means more fun.
If the post office is serious about selling it they should set up a website with photos and any floor plans they have so people can have a better understanding as to how big and what assets and or liabilities exist in there.
yeah... i think synergy has hit it... my office has lost pretty close to half its staff... and the staff we have now is all scrambling... taking major pay cuts, while increasing hours in the hopes we can win a competition or two and save the place... we could possibly cut farther, but were running pretty close to the edge this summer.
and no, ive not heard of any hirings... still not looking good...
there aren't any hirings. i've sent out 300 resumes. about half of those had personalized, signed cover letters and were mailed. what really pisses me off is that i have friends who have jobs that are working longer hours than they ever have, so some firms definitely have work. when there's enough projects that people work until 10pm every sunday night but still have to take a pay cut and there's still a hiring freeze that really irks me. i feel a good chunk of this is just employers taking advantage of the situation, dumping their less productive employees and stretching their more productive ones to the limit to make more money. a lot of people are really burned out right now - it isn't sustainable forever. i did have an "informational" interview about a month and a half ago, but went into it with the stipulation that they weren't hiring. i feel as though things are starting to pick up a little elsewhere, but not in chicago.
bossman... id really like to believe that what you describe isnt what my office is doing... sometimes its difficult to hold back the cynisism in regards to my offices situation.
However, one thing i can say for my situation is that we have virtually NO concrete work. And i mean none... all our major projects have been put on hold, and we are down to minimal work on 2 or 3 buildings which are under construction. Our concrete work is enough to keep perhaps 5-10 people busy full time. The rest of our office is doing nothing but competitions, which as we all know, pay very very poorly, if at all.
It would seem that our strategy is to keep enough staff to complete as many competitions as we can, even if we lose money, in the hopes of landing one. One new project would keep us going, and 2 new projects might allow us to get our sallaries back. but in the end, who really knows the motives of the higher ups, we cant see the books...
best of luck to you bossman, i feel your pain as many of my friends who were laid off from my office cant get interviews either...
bossman, how did you find 300 places to send resumes to? I have to assume you are not confining your search to Chicago.
I don't think Chicago is doing much worse than any other city right now in our industry. It sounds to me like this is the situation pretty much everywhere. The only people I know that were laid off and got new jobs had to go abroad or the accepted some shit position they never would have considered before the meltdown.
At least the job losses have slowed down. That's the first step.
I think what's going to happen is that the laid-off principals will form their own firms and start competing with the SOMs and the Genslers. I am meeting one today to discuss this very thing. There will be work. The whole deck will be reshuffled and a lot of new firms are getting started.
I wouldn't count your chickens blah blah blah. Our pace of interviewing / proposal-writing has slowed down tremendously since just 2 months ago, which was already at a low point. That never bodes well.
Aggregate Chicago
I know we talked about the proposed downtown area comuter plans but heres a link to a PDF of the scope. I think its long overdo. In the comments on the Trib article I said I like it but the city while it should be comended for such plans, still has to fix the neighborhoods - especially the westside where 50% of the lots are empty and those that are occupied are section 8 and produce little to no taxes. Ever wonder why taxes are so high in the city limits? A good chunk of the land is producing no taxes. Imagine the even BIGGER plans we could do if we could clear the westside and attract DuPage county type developmet by GROWING the tax base rather than the taxes paid by whos left.
The link to the plan:
link
Yeah I saw this report this morning. It definetly is something impressive. Looks like they have an aggressive schedule in mind if they think they can do so much of that work by 2016.
My only disappointment is that the proposed due date for the clinton subway is 2020 - C'mon Chitown speed it up! 3 miles of tunnel through silty clays? Thats easy!! We built the downtown subways through city in less than that 60 years ago.
Im a bit confused about where priority lies for the proposed clinton subway from china town to north/clybourn and the proposed circle line which would basically serve the same area. I wonder if its one or the other? I dont really see the benefit in building both, though i agree in concept with what evil said, the west side is desperate for some help. It would seem to me that over the past decade the near south all the way to pershing and in some cases further, has really made positive improvements, largely due to huge city investment in the area. That kind of focus is desperately needed on the west side... though i dont see the subway and the circle line as being terribly efficient... anyone know if they will build one or the other? or is the plan really for both? Or perhaps the subway is a portion of the circle line?
one more quick reaction...
i was really not a big fan of the super station thing under clinton when i first saw this central action plan. Felt like it was a bit of an overkill... but now i see (probably due to the huge high speed rail boost given by obama) it will be integrating that purpose along with metra, busses and cta. This concept i really like... sort of a grand central station for the 21st century... that could be an incredible project... lets hope they take it seriously and build it beautifully... that thing could keep at least a dozen local offices in business im sure...
oh and one more...
about damn time they put some infill stations in the south loop...
that proposed 18th street green line station should have been built 10 years ago...
lletdown you make all valid points. Now as for the clinton subway - its in order to densify the west edge of the downtown area and provide a "spine" if you will. Its very hard to go travel this corridor north south. All the old rail roads, meandering bends in the river, streets at diffeerant grades make it tough. Imagine now being able to get to the East Pilsen Arts district finally! Plus if you look at the SOM masterplan of the downtown they want to build about 15 more Kinzie station type developments along it. Mostly though I think it benefits the near southside which is stuck with only one option. Its essentially a downtown subway.
The circle line is a west side line. I think its more intended to encourage further infill / gentrification of the area. Just go to Roosevelt and ashland - besides the new shopping center its blocks and blocks of empty land.
One things for certain however - the insiders already have all the land sewn up.
yeah, tahts a good point about north south travel on the near west side... its pretty much impossible to take a straight north south trip until you get to halsted which obviously is already well outside the loop...
The one thing about this plan that I think has been overlooked is a transfer point and new station on the Blue Line just before it goes under the river. This Omission should be carefully looked at since it could be a means to establish an express train from Midway to O’Hare. This might be a better solution than ramming that traffic through the loop. This is basically a loop bypass.
Another Idea to consider is using the abandoned rail viaduct along Bloomingdale Ave to connect the Blue and Brown lines.
I also wonder about the wisdom of a subterranean West Loop Transit Center, why not teardown and build a better Ogilvie Station above ground at half the cost.
One course my creative / crazy mind sees as an option the wide open space over 90 /94. I think it is the better option for a new Grand central for Chicago Just move the Clinton St Subway over to Halstead St and we can have trains pas through the station for a much more efficient movement of inter urban passenger trains. And hopefully several blocks of surface parking lots will evaporate. Maybe some new shiny street trams shuttling passengers between the loop and the new station.
"I also wonder about the wisdom of a subterranean West Loop Transit Center, why not teardown and build a better Ogilvie Station above ground at half the cost."
Northwestern station (ogilvie is the worst name ever. Id rather call it Minute maid Station) will still be there and so will Union, this is a below grade consection of the 2 with additional transit comming in below. Currently the Metra North, northwest and west lines are above grade going to Northwestern wheras the north, south west and south lines at Union are at grade, which is below the grade of the city streets. So this concouse will tie it all together since the stations are essentially accross the street from each other.
I just wonder what it would take to have most if not all interurban service in one place?
thats what they are doing
(sorry to interrupt, but you all must check on the chandeliers they are hanging at the theWit, i will try and remember to snap a cell phone photo on my way home)
If the Concourse will be three blocks long then I guess it will connect the two stations. The rendering in the link shows an underground buss depot, below a shopping concourse. Below the bus depot is an EL station, and below that there appears to be interurban trains.
Clinton makes a lot of sense as it the new office HQ.
It will fill up fine.
The missing part is transforming the 19th century spoke system we have into something more appropriate for the 21st century. We need to tackle getting from the northwest side to the west or southwest side without using a car.
That's key to cutting down on cross town traffic.
Three blocks is entirely possible. I like large transit stations with multiple exists, especially in colder climates. It could be like the tunnels in the loop, you can travel around quite a distance and come up closer to your destination, which is really nice on cold rainy or snowy days. Integrating retail within the station is also a great idea, especially with so many people moving through the station for various trip lengths.
PJN26,
The old bloomingdale line has been spoken for, I believe...
http://www.bloomingdaletrail.org/
I would rather see a (somewhat) unique linear park there rather than a blue/brown line connection. That connecting line could be done in quite a few other places rather than on the bloomingdale line. Although the bloomingdale line doesn't have the potential of the high line in new york, i still think it is a nice idea.
That trail was like every 2nd year project at UIC in the 90s lol
Hey I read that they named that cat that ran across Wrigley's outfield Ozzie, after Ozzie G. on the southside who claimed to have seen giant rats at Wrigley.
from gapersblock
sorry for the delay:
theWit
anyone see this in the trib or times this morning? The Ledge!
link
Yup, they also had a perspective view looking at the building. It looks alright, but not all that large. I would think it should run as a belt around the entire upper level so that you can not only get this amazing view, but get it in every single direction.
why the hell are they putting the boxes on the west side?
I guess my post steered the thinking in that direction, but really, if you are going to go with only 1 side, it should be the west side, because that is the side that overhangs the street, while the other sides all would overhang lower sections of the tower itself. Still it would be nice to go out on a ledge on the east, south and north sides.
So you think your business card rocks? Check these out:
link
I like this daily guide to cheap beer and food. You should to
broke hipster
Lynn Becker had some great photos of the Old Coloney Building as well as the Manhatten - prob one of the coolest blocks in the city - right out of the Gilded age grime of the 1880's. Speaking of grime - Who knew the Old Colony was actually tan?!?
I saw that post. It is great to see the old buildings in their original glory, it helps me get over the black and white photographs I see in books and realize how they might have been viewed when built.
Just think, people in the 1920s, 1800s etc. actually lived in color too! :)
another good article from lynn becker if anyone hasnt seen it yet...
I have been watching the progress for weeks now.
There was a layer of grime at the 9th floor (up there) that didn't come off right away. It was supposed that it came from the steam engines on the L. It took some experimentation to find the right chemical mix to take it off.
The building is now LIGHT. I never thought of it that way before! it was so heavy looking with the dirt.
I drove into the city last weekend from the Eisenhower and stopped at a light on Congress. The change is amazing. I love those old vestigial streets of post fire Chicago between Jackson and Congress. There's not many of them left that have that dark, narrow old time feel as much of the Loop has been rebuilt since the 1950's to be light, airy of open modernist planning style.
Bucket Boys, Fun Entertainment or Loud Nuisance?
What do you all think? There are quite a few comments posted on this one.
Bucket Boys
Flame war between Blair Kamin and Lynn Becker concerning possible uses of the existing Old Chicago Post Office building... see it all at Lynn's blog.
link
personally, I'm on lynn's side with this one, it would take the right kinid of delicate treatment, but I believe that our society could benefit form from discussing about how the remains of the dead are treated and stored. Done properly, I think having an accessible facility for paying respects to passed on relatives and friends would be very nice.
"such a strange advent of a virginal absence of color in Chicago cannot be understood apart from the White City, the centerpiece of the World's Columbian Exposition, a popular triumph in which Burnham and Atwood shared. Burnham was ready to embrace any antidote to what he had decided were the errant 1880's, when the pioneer high office buildings from his own partnership with Root were characterized by warm hues in sandstone, granite, pressed brick, and terra cotta. Charles Jenkins, in writing of the Reliance Building (Burnham Hotel) before it was finished, asserted there was no reason to surrender to "the monotony of dull greays, browns and reds of the present material used in building." But the Reliance Building did not wash in every rainstrom, and no one bothered to scrub it like a dinner plate. Root had reasoned that in a city under the pall of coal smoke, cold colors were hardly eligible. He had specified white enameld brick for a limited and definited function- to reflect light onto the basement sales floor."
Moral of story. Don't die your partner will change your designs...
vado, I really don't understand that quote. It seems like the author is talking about 8 different things at once. Is anyone else lost?
Maybe the old post office can become the beleaguered children’s museum. An above ground space twice the size for half the cost means more fun.
If the post office is serious about selling it they should set up a website with photos and any floor plans they have so people can have a better understanding as to how big and what assets and or liabilities exist in there.
Manta we'll have to talk it over at the Atwood Cafe next time I'm in town.
!!!PRAIRIE AVENUE BOOKS SALE!!!
!!!PRARIE AVENUE BOOKS NOW REASONABLY PRICED!!!
It sounds like the layoffs have slowed down in Chicago. I haven't heard of any for a while now. Anyone else observed this?
I think there are not many people left to fire. Have you heard of any hirings?
yeah... i think synergy has hit it... my office has lost pretty close to half its staff... and the staff we have now is all scrambling... taking major pay cuts, while increasing hours in the hopes we can win a competition or two and save the place... we could possibly cut farther, but were running pretty close to the edge this summer.
and no, ive not heard of any hirings... still not looking good...
there aren't any hirings. i've sent out 300 resumes. about half of those had personalized, signed cover letters and were mailed. what really pisses me off is that i have friends who have jobs that are working longer hours than they ever have, so some firms definitely have work. when there's enough projects that people work until 10pm every sunday night but still have to take a pay cut and there's still a hiring freeze that really irks me. i feel a good chunk of this is just employers taking advantage of the situation, dumping their less productive employees and stretching their more productive ones to the limit to make more money. a lot of people are really burned out right now - it isn't sustainable forever. i did have an "informational" interview about a month and a half ago, but went into it with the stipulation that they weren't hiring. i feel as though things are starting to pick up a little elsewhere, but not in chicago.
bossman... id really like to believe that what you describe isnt what my office is doing... sometimes its difficult to hold back the cynisism in regards to my offices situation.
However, one thing i can say for my situation is that we have virtually NO concrete work. And i mean none... all our major projects have been put on hold, and we are down to minimal work on 2 or 3 buildings which are under construction. Our concrete work is enough to keep perhaps 5-10 people busy full time. The rest of our office is doing nothing but competitions, which as we all know, pay very very poorly, if at all.
It would seem that our strategy is to keep enough staff to complete as many competitions as we can, even if we lose money, in the hopes of landing one. One new project would keep us going, and 2 new projects might allow us to get our sallaries back. but in the end, who really knows the motives of the higher ups, we cant see the books...
best of luck to you bossman, i feel your pain as many of my friends who were laid off from my office cant get interviews either...
at least the price of gas is going up!
bossman, how did you find 300 places to send resumes to? I have to assume you are not confining your search to Chicago.
I don't think Chicago is doing much worse than any other city right now in our industry. It sounds to me like this is the situation pretty much everywhere. The only people I know that were laid off and got new jobs had to go abroad or the accepted some shit position they never would have considered before the meltdown.
At least the job losses have slowed down. That's the first step.
I think what's going to happen is that the laid-off principals will form their own firms and start competing with the SOMs and the Genslers. I am meeting one today to discuss this very thing. There will be work. The whole deck will be reshuffled and a lot of new firms are getting started.
I wouldn't count your chickens blah blah blah. Our pace of interviewing / proposal-writing has slowed down tremendously since just 2 months ago, which was already at a low point. That never bodes well.
sorry make that wasn't directed to you; but to those saying pace of layoffs has slowed, etc.
as for your idea, sounds interesting & a good prediction.
manta, I don't like the sound of that. I hope other firms are doing a bit better, but I wouldn't bet on it.
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