I got an e-mail from Alderman Reilly’s office  last week about the Germania Club.  I have to admit, I’ve walked past this building a number of times, but never really noticed it, other than to note that it has one of the nicest, friendliest Starbucks outlets in the area....

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything good about Oak Street (or, indeed anything at all), so it is with much delight that I recap some of the recent events that have been happening in the neighborhood. The big news is, of course, the opening of the new Hermès store....

It’s been a painful couple of years documenting the long series of closures that have turned Chicago’s Oak Street into a shadow of its former self.  The economic crisis has hurt boutiques along the street, and the hit keep on coming. The latest bit of bad news —...

Construction is well underway on the new Ogden Elementary School (24 West Walton Street) on State Street. We’ve talked about the demolition and construction of the new school before (hereand here).  The old school is long gone, and foundation work is underway on the new one.  This...

Yet another update on the new Children’s Memorial Hospital (225 East Chicago Avenue)going up in the Gold Coast.  Though there’s much glazing work to be done, the main parts of the facade are mostly in place.  For the last few weekends, there have been early-morning shipments of...

Several streets in the Gold Coast were shut down this morning so that new HVAC units could be lifted to the roof of Water Tower Place (845 North Michigan Avenue). The sky crane picked up the HVAC units one at a time from the ball field at nearby Lake Shore Park, ferried them down Chicago...

Another Oak Street boutique is taking advantage of the crummy economy to re-tool. The Yves Saint Laurent store at 51 East Oak Street closed last Friday (January 23, 2010).  Word is that the interior is being completely renovated.  The new design is based on plans from Paris and is intended...

One of the few magnificent old mansions remaining on Lake Shore Drive is being renovated. The Carl Constantine Heisen House (1250 North Lake Shore Drive) looks like it’s been gutted and workers are busy putting things back together. It’s really amazing that such a beautiful...

One of the Gold Coast’s most anticipated buildings is officially open. The hotel portion of the Elysian Chicago (11 East Walton Street) opened Wednesday (December 9, 2009).  We’ve been invited to a lot of building openings lately, but somehow were left off the guest list of this...

The banners promise that Loyola University’s new $400,000 streetfront television studio in The Clare at Water Tower (55 East Pearson Street) will open in autumn 2009, but I think we can safely say that isn’t going to happen.  Especially considering that Loyola only got its...

It’s hard to tell from this CrappyCameraPhone™ picture, but there’s a welder working on the steel beams that form the third floor of the new 930 North Rush Street.  The former Gino’s East location, shut down by the city’s health department years ago, is finally being...

It’s with great anticipation that we’ve watched the Elysian Chicago rising over the last couple of years.  And now that it’s topped off, it really does have a remarkable impact on the city’s skyline. Even though it’s only 60 stories (and 700 feet) tall, it has...

Another move is being made in the ongoing retail chess match that is the Oak Street corridor. With Barneys New York now across Rush Street in its new building, the old Barneys New York building is going to…. Hermes. The French luxury retail is going to move from its nice but narrow...

Buy has set a date to open its bi-level boutique in the John Hancock Center .  According to a news release on its web site, the electronics store will open Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 10:00am. The Hancock Center Best Buy isn’t supposed to be like every other store.  It’s...

Here are a few more notes about Barneys New York’s move across Rush Street to its new store. The workers don’t have to work weekends for a change as they help ferry the inventory across the street. Barney’s cosmetics department is going to start carrying Bobby Brown and La...

Parishioners at Holy Name Cathedral got more bad news over the weekend.  Their beloved church will be closed, “until August at the earliest” according to pastor Dan Mayall. The archdiocese’s flagship place of worship was damaged by fire in February, almost exactly a year...

If you follow our Twitter tweet feed , then you got the alert on February 5th when the crane went up at the new Children’s Memorial Hospital on Chicago Avenue.  Now that it’s in place, construction is really starting to move along. Up to this point, virtually all of the...