Magellan Development’s latest water-named tower is progressing nicely.  The Coast (345 East Wacker Drive) is going up in Lakeshore East, obliterating the lake and city views of thousands of people in the Swissôtel, The Tides, The Shoreham, and Aqua. The Coast is a 45-story apartment...

The latest plans for replacing the northern portion of Grant Park are on display.  Large display panels went up on the Pedway level of Block37 last night, allowing people who normally aren’t able to attend the Grant Park meetings to see what’s coming. This is part of the Chicago...

The lights in, around, and above The Park at Lakeshore East turn this little patch of green on the edge of The Loop into a 24-hour amenity.  Even I have, on occasion, taken part in a little late-night round of...

  Plans for the biggest renovation of Chicago’s front lawn since the dawn of Millennium Park are coming together as the date for the start of construction nears. North Grant Park has been the subject of a series of serious meetings, public and private, over the  last few years....

Very recently we had a chance to pop by Lakeshore East.  The New Eastside enclave was formerly a golf course, and before that a rail yard.  But more importantly, I used to live there in the early 2000′s. Back then, residents were constantly promised that new amenities were...

A long-empty space on North Michigan Avenue is finally being filled. OfficeMax vacated its space  in the Old Republic Building (307 North Michigan Avenue) under the clock at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East South Water Street about two years ago, and since then it’s been...

I’ve been super busy this week with a photography assignment on the South Side* and have barely been checking my e-mail.  That’s why I missed the tip from our Lakeshore East spy that Magellan Development’s building formerly known as Building A is now known as The Coast. More...

A number of building updates went online at Chicago Architecture Info today.  We’ve added a several new buildings to Chicago’s largest architecture guide, and updated a couple of dozen other buildings with new photographs. Total number of buildings in the Chicago Architecture Info...

A number of building updates went online at Chicago Architecture Info today.  We’ve added a several new buildings to Chicago’s largest architecture guide, and updated a couple of dozen other buildings with new photographs. Total number of buildings in the Chicago Architecture Info...

A number of building updates went online at Chicago Architecture Info today.  We’ve added a several new buildings to Chicago’s largest architecture guide, and updated a couple of dozen other buildings with new photographs. New Buildings 10 South State Street 21 West Washington...

It’s been a little more than a decade since the process began to transform Chicago’s downtown golf course into a residential community of 50,000 people.  During most of that time, residents have been told  to keep the faith — that retail is coming.  Really. It looks like...

Magellan Development isn’t wasting any time getting its newest Lakeshore East project off the ground. You could see dirt turn for the temporarily-named “Building A” (345 East Wacker Drive) as soon as next week (May 16-20), as soil sampling gets underway. Image courtesy...

The first big bloom of the season at the Cancer Survivors Memorial (399 East Randolph...

An interesting skyscraper rendering popped up on the internet recently.  It was first spotted in the wild on the web site of Crain’s Chicago Business on April 29th in a slideshow of upcoming apartment buildings. The slideshow was a sidebar for an article updating the status of the...

It looks like the long-awaited supermarket at Lakeshore East is inching closer to reality. When I moved to LSE in January, 2004 the leasing agents were all excited about the supermarket that would open “within months.” I continued shopping with Peapod, and by the time I left in...

Last month, we noted two important announcements for the health and vitality of downtown Chicago: The new CityTarget coming to the Sullivan Center (35 South State Street), and Wal-Mart’s new Urban Market to be installed at Presidential Towers (555 West Madison Street). As much as we hate...

The Chicago Department of Transportation is going to once again try to straighten out the traffic mess that is East Upper Randolph Street.  The street, which climbs between Millennium Park and the Aon Center/Blue Cross/ Prudential Plaza streetwall is a nightmare for tourists and locals...

On the first warm day of 2009 I found myself wandering around the New East Side.  It’s the location of the last place I lived, The Shoreham, and a dozen other high rises along the lakefront.  Wandering toward the water I was struck by something new — a new boathouse at...

The Chicago Tribune has a brief piece today about the WDRV transmitter on top of the Aon Center.  When the new antenna was installed on May 31, 2009 we Tweeted about it, and posted a picture of the installation.  I’m re-posting the picture here for those who missed it. For...