While in the Shops at North Bridge (520 North Michigan Avenue) today I noticed two stores being built out. First, is the Art of Shaving store, which we mentioned was coming on this blog back in the fall.  It looks like it’s finally coming to fruition, and if it’s anything like...

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...

It looks like Halsted Street Deli is opening another location in The Loop.  One of our readers sent this photo in, but didn’t quite remember where he took it.  Franklin Street near Sears Tower was his best guess. There are no clues on the company’s web site about new locations.

For the last few years I’ve heard occasional complaints about the “mallification” of Michigan Avenue. Glamorized in their own minds as the “Boul Mich” by people not old enough to have experienced its more genteel incarnation, Michigan Avenue was once lined with...

Over the weekend, two of the city’s newest tourist attractions opened: The Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing , which we talked about Thursday, and the attached Nichols Bridgeway.  ”Bridgeway,” by the way, is not a word. The “bridgeway,” for lack of a...

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...

If you’ve been around Chicago for a while, you might remember that Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan once had a restaurant.  You might have even wondered, “What ever happened to that?”  Well, it’s gone.  Long gone.  Replaced by Lalo’s, a Mexican...

Ontario Place is getting a little Puerto Rican flavor.  Not, it’s not another hot-today-gone-tomorrow gastrospot.  It’s a branch of Banco Popular.  The bank branch has opened on the corner of State Street and Erie Street that used to house part of Ontario Place’s leasing...

Much to the delight of some, and the horror of others, a new Best Buy store is going to open inside the John Hancock Center just hours from now. The intrusion of yet another mall-class store into the formerly posh Magnificent Mile isn’t being taken lightly by nearby residents, but they...

A couple of days ago I published an article here about Columbia College’s new Media Production Center (1600 South State Street).  Although the location is starting to get a little off the beaten path, the building is very well done.  More importantly, it preserves a piece of...