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...

You can’t call it “complete” yet, but “topped out” seems appropriate for the vertical expansion of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower fronting Millennium Park.  If you get our Twitter feed, you were alerted a while back when the eastern crane was taken off the...

It’s something of a burden to bear.  For the thousands of people who live in the New East Side not a day passes without hundreds, sometimes thousands, of tourists wandering their streets asking how to get to the lakefront and Navy Pier. Long lines of cars snake into, and then back...

Is anyone delighted yet with the progress on the Mandarin Oriental Chicago?  Anyone?  Beuller?  We didn’t think so. After years of waiting, and staring at signs of promise, this is all we have to show for what was supposed to be a new showcase hotel in the heart of...