Madison at Racine Breaks Ground Today on the Near West Side
New buildings continue to sprout up in Chicago’s Near West Side. Today there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for a new residential mid-rise called The Madison...
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Slice of Life: A Landmark Neutered
It’s been more than a year since the iconic neon red YMCA sign was taken off of the Lawson House (30 West Chicago Avenue), but it’s still hard to get used...
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New Near North Skyscraper Will Preserve Piano History, Bury Your Childhood
“Here we grow again!” said nobody at Smithfield Properties last week when it submitted its plans to the City of Chicago for a 34-story residential building...
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K2 Open and Ready for Chicago’s New Generation of Renters
Just in time for apartment-hunting weather, another shiny new Chicago apartment tower is now open for business. K2 (365 North Halsted Street) is the final piece of the...
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Status Update: Maggie Daley Park
The sounds of bulldozers are becoming less frequent, and the sounds of jackhammers more frequent at the future site of Maggie Daley Park (337 East Randolph Street)....
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Mark Your Calendar – Wolf Point About to Become a Reality
After decades of on-again, off-again plans both big and small, the latest grand plan for Chicago’s Wolf Point is about to go from pixels to...
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Status Update: 73 East Lake
One of our Loop Spies sent in new photos of the construction progress at 73 East Lake Street. The building’s slender tower is really climbing quickly these days...
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Status Update: Hubbard Place Tops Out
Hubbard Place (360 West Hubbard Street) has finished punching its way into Chicago’s skyline, and now has a commanding presence on the edge of the Chicago River,...
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500 Lake Shore Drive Ups the Ante for Chicago Apartment Buildings, But Please Don’t Call it “Luxury”
Over the last ten years that this blog has been in publication, we’ve taken a lot of tours of a lot of apartment buildings in Chicago. From new skyscrapers to...
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200 West Randolph is Content to be a Darned Good Office Building
The pulses of skyscraper nerds across the Midwest quickened a couple of weeks ago when we published news that the Chicago Loop would get its first new office building in...
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Status Update: The Thompson Chicago in the Gold Coast
Work continues at The Thompson Chicago, the city’s soon-to-be newest hotel. It’s actually the former Sutton Place Hotel (21 East Bellevue Place), perched on...
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Chicago’s New Virgin Slips Into a Little Something Skimpy and Red and Sheer
From cell phones to space ships, Richard Branson’s Virgin industrial empire has never been shy about standing out in a crowded marketplace. And even before the...
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Proposed Near West Condo Project Has Residents Feeling Like They Got Hit By the Ol’ Switcheroo
Alderman Danny Solis (25th Ward) hosted his first Near West Side community meeting last night at the Merit School of Music and he heard firsthand how protective the...
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A Historic Look at the Changing Leaves on the Wells Street Bridge
The year-long project of replacing the Wells Street Bridge over the main branch of the Chicago River reaches another critical phase this weekend. The north leaf of the...
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Status Update: AMLI Clark & Polk
With AMLI River North (71 West Hubbard Street) at its maximum height and rapidly approaching completion, it’s time to turn out attention to another AMLI project...
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