Chicago's Germania Club Building Inches Closer to Landmark Status

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.  Fortunately, others have learned to appreciate the building's architectural merits, so now it's headed for landmark status.

You can read the Alderman's full e-mail below, and download the full landmark report from here: Germania Club PDF.

Columbia College Gets a New Dorm

The colleges in Chicago's Loop just keep expanding.  The latest is Columbia College.

It's leasing a 16-story building at 626 South Clark Street, formerly known as the Dwight Lofts.  Sorry I can't post a photo of the building right now.  I have one, but can't access it right now since I'm writing this on a train.

Columbia is giving up its dorm at Two East 8th Street.

Here's Columbia's press release:

Goodbye Arby's. Hello, Arby's.

A couple of weeks ago I headed down to Clark Street with a fist full of newspaper coupons, ready to do something gluttonous at Arby's.  Instead, I found this:

The sign says the Arby's in the parking garage next to the Chicago Title Tower (161 North Clark Street) is closed.  In fact, the entire mini-food court with the Sbarro and everything is gone.  A note on the door says the proprietors lost their lease.  It must have been a surprise since the Christmas decorations were left behind when this picture was taken on December 23rd.

The sign also notes that there's another Arby's across the street at the Thompson Center (100 West Randolph Street).  But somehow I was so disappointed, I ended up at Wendy's instead.

Could This Be Chicago's Nerdiest Starbucks?

In Los Angeles there are certain restaurants where one goes in order to meet the right people to do a movie deal.

In Chicago there are certain functions one must attend in order to do a high-level political deal.

In Seattle there are certain Starbucks one must visit in order to do a big dot-com deal.

Combining the last two items in that list -- it is quite likely that the Starbucks at 430 North Clark Street could be the nerdiest Starbucks in Chicago.

It's not because of the number of laptops in evidence on an average weekday.  There are far more at the one on Rush Street.  No, it's because it's the closest Starbucks to Google's Chicago office.

Google has the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors of 20 West Kinzie Street -- the same building that houses the Amalfi Hotel, and is across the street from Harry Caray's.  And while Google undoubtedly has top-notch coffee available in its Playskool-colored offices, there's something about Starbucks that makes it irresistible to hard core nerds.  And working for Google is the very definition of hard core nerd.


This is more than a theory.  On an average afternoon, various people can be heard discussing various computer-related topics far more often and loudly than is normal for a midwestern coffee shop.  If these be Googlers, they give it away by their discussion of such things as Feedburner, which was a Chicago-grown tech company that Google ate and is now part of the mini Googleplex at 20 West Kinzie.

Does this mean that your local blog will get "discovered" and you'll be able to do a big high-tech deal by schmoozing the regulars at the Clark and Hubbard Starbucks store?  I'm not promising anything; but save me one of the squishy chairs by the big bay window.

The Google sign outside 20 West Kinzie

The Amish Are Coming! The Amish Are Coming!

Summer's farmers markets are over in Chicago, but it turns out there is still a place where you can get a taste of the rural life in the Loop.

The shuttered Wolf Camera shop at 42 South Clark Street has reopened as the "Rise 'n Roll Amish Market" -- a store selling Amish goods from Shipshewana, Indiana.

The store was closed when I went past on a recent morning, so I don't know if this is a pop-up shop just for the Christmas shopping season, or if it's going to stick around.  I did, however, find that on November 20, 2009 a business license was issued for another location at Two Illinois Center (233 North Michigan Avenue).

History Under Your Feet and Over Your Head

Walk down Clark Street in the Loop and if you're not careful, you might just walk right over this.

It's a medallion in the sidewalk  on the west side of the Walgreens (79 West Monroe Street) on the corner of Clark and Monroe.  But oddly, though it takes up most of the width of the sidewalk, it is oriented so that it faces into pretty much the blank side of the building.

That's because in years past, that wall of display windows was the entrance to the Bell Federal Savings Bank.

The building was erected in 1903 and still sports a giant bell hanging from the second-floor corner of Clark and Monroe.  The Weather Bell was a gimmick used to promote awareness of the bank, as it changed color to let people know about the weather.  TV and radio stations in rural parts of the country do the same things with their towers.  But in the heart of the city, you need something a little more down to earth.  Thus was invented The Weather Bell.

Of course, Bell Savings is long gone.  It was eaten by Standard Federal Bancorp, which was eaten by ABN Amro, which regurgitated it as part of LaSalle Bank, which has since been eaten by Bank of America.

Remarkably, Bank of America still operates the Weather Bell and it still lets people know if it's going to rain or get appreciably warmer or colder decades after it was first put into service.

Feeling the Blues on Clark

How's this for a picture of the blues?  It's the branch of Blue Chicago at 736 North Clark Street all shut down and gated.  The 536 North Clark Street joint is still open, but the gift shop that was once next door is also shuttered.

There's virtually nothing left of Chicago's blues heritage (not even a radio station), so it's sad to see one more piece of it fade away.

Orange You Glad Something New Is Opening?

Saw this sign in the 700 block of North Clark.  It looks like the Orange restaurants that have sprouted all over the north side are branching out to downtown. Orange's web site (be careful-- it's ugly, not standards-compliant, and running a 2005 version of phpNuke) says the location at Clark and Huron will open next month.  Welcome to the neighborhood!

Clark and Grand Hotels Plan Revised

A couple of days ago we told you that the plan to build three hotels on half a block in River North had been revised.

Well, we finally got our hands on the latest revision made by HOK, and it looks like it does indeed address a number of concerns local residents and businesses had.

In this first diagram we see how the western alley would be transformed from a regular alley into a place where hotel guests could be picked up and dropped off and a valet, area.  This would keep most of the hotel traffic off of Grand, Clark, and Illinois Streets.  Illuminated glass awnings, signage, and bollards would make the alley more inviting and help direct clueless tourists.

Deliveries get moved to a loading zone off of the eastern alley, adjacent to the proposed Fairfield Inn.

Trees and planters installed along the sidewalk designate pedestrian entrances to the buildings, but discourage cars from stopping along the street.

I don't know if we got to see this last time, but here is the green roof plan.  It shows that around 10,555 square feet of roof would be "green" (9,500 square feet of plants and 1,055 square feet of hardscape)  That's about 50% of the total roof space.

The Aloft hotel is now more glass and less brick.  Compare the old and new designs:

The glass facade is really more in line with the direction the neighborhood is going than the old brick.  Recent examples include 353 North Clark Street and 300 North LaSalle Drive, as well as venerable buildings like 321 North Clark Street.

For your further edification, here are the edifices' façades (changes noted in red):

This project is going by the address of 501 North Clark, but at this point retains the "Clark and Grand Hotels" name.

You can see our older posts on the project here:

• August 4, 2009: Three New Hotels Planned for River North
• October 27, 2009: Plan for Three New River North Hotels Revised

Plan for Three New River North Hotels Revised

Back in August we told you about a plan to put three new hotels on half of the block bounded by Clark Street, Grand Avenue, Dearborn Street, and Illinois Street.  Well, those plans have been revised.

There was concern about the kind of parking needed for a project of this size.  621 hotel rooms mean hundreds of extra cars.  Under the revised plan, the new hotels would use the new parking garage opening December 1st a couple of blocks away at 601 West Kinzie Street.

As usual, traffic is a concern, so the alleyway has been redesigned to not only handle deliveries, but to also serve as a valet area and a guest loading and unloading zone.

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly's office issued a press release Tuesday night stating that the architects, "[redesigned] key portions of the facades that better contemplates the architectural language of the broader River North community."  What exactly that means, we don't know because the link to the detailed documents that the alderman's office sent out doesn't work.

But what we do know is that the project also now has a proper address.  It's now going by "501 North Clark Street."  It's not known yet if the former name "Clark and Grand Hotels" still sticks.

When Alderman Reilly's office gets the link thing straightened out, we'll post an update.

Slice of Life: The Miesian McDonald's

Chicago is a great restaurant town.  And a great architecture town.  So it only makes sense that the McDonald's in the heart of the Loop is in a building that looks like it was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  It's actually a 1973 addition by C.F. Murphy Associates, and was once known as Two First National Plaza (20 South Clark Street), and on the other side of McDonald's is an upscale seafood restaurant.

Three New Hotels Planned for River North

The City of Chicago is considering a plan to open three new hotels in River North.

The project, known collectively as the "Clark and Grand Hotels" has been designed by HOK Architects, and would be located on the western third of the block bounded by Clark Street, Grand Avenue, Dearborn Street, and Illinois Street.

Image from a presentation by HOK Architects

One would be a 181-room Fairfield Inn and Suites at 56 West Illinois Street.  Currently, this location is a surface parking lot. The new building would be 16 stories, and 159 feet tall.  The architect's drawings label it 17 stories, but they're skipping 13.

Second is an 18-story, 168-room Hyatt Place on the corner of Clark and Illinois.  It currently has the puzzling address of 520 North Dearborn Street, but the front door of the new building would be moved to Illinois Street.  The height to the roof is about at 155 feet, 173.5 feet to the top of the mechanical penthouse, and 182.5 feet to the maximum height of the structure.  Right now it's an old bank building from 1947.

Third is also 18 stories.  It is expected to be a 272-room Aloft hotel, at approximately 511 North Clark Street.  Right now this is surface parking.  In addition to the hotel, space has been left in the building for some ground-floor retail facing Grand Avenue.  Its main distinction from the other buildings is the inclusion of a decorative cornice which shades the roof and extends down the Grand Avenue side of the building.  Roof height of this building is pegged at 171 feet, while the cornice gives it an overall height of 187 feet.

Image from a presentation by HOK Architects

The project isn't too much taller than Boyce Building, with which it will share the block.  But it's somewhat larger and taller than its neighboring buildings.  However, a number of those buildings are older and municipal in nature (fire station, post office, etc...) so they are out of scale with the rest of this mid-rise zone.

Image from a presentation by HOK Architects

In addition to the Boyce Building, the other buildings that remain on the block are the shuttered Blue Water Grill, and a mixed use building at 57 West Grand that is home to a restaurant and a jazz bar.

Image from a presentation by HOK Architects

• The alley running north-to-south from Illinois Street to Grand Avenue would be used for loading dock access, but would be capped by the Hyatt Place hotel structure.
• Total project floor space: 379,000 square feet
• Total hotel rooms: 621

Slice of Life: Godless Communists Secret Headquarters

OK, so it's not exactly secret.  But this building and its occupants certainly aren't drawing any attention to themselves.  The bunker-like structure is the consulate of the People's Republic of China.  Of course it makes sense that a city the size of Chicago would have a Chinese consulate.  But you wouldn't expect it to be across the street from the Walgreen's next to the Flagship McDonald's .

The strange location probably made sense back when this building opened.  River north was a far more tourist- and resident-hostile area back then.  And if you were going to build a bunker, plopping it amid the working warehouses and light industry of the area was a pretty good way to not draw attention to one's self.

The only way you can tell what this building is these days is by the Chinese flag flying from the roof, the crowd control barriers that sometimes pop up around it, and the paper notes in Chinese that are often taped to the front door glass listing times and days that visa applications are taken.

(Oh, and before anyone gets their undies in a bundle about the "Godless Communist" quip in the title, by law everyone in China is a member of the Communist party, and China is officially an atheist state.  So "Godless Communist" is factual.  And yes, I've been there.  I've got four stamps in my passport from China.  Don't bother hassling me unless you have more.)

Status Update: 353 North LaSalle

The last few panes of glass are being put in the top of 353 North Clark, the new office tower filling in what once was a surface parking lot across from Harry Caray's.  The design looks good, the glass is very transparent, and the base of the thing actually resembles the pre-construction sketches.  Miracle of miracles!

Can't wait to see what retail and restaurant opportunities develop in the podium of this building.

The bad news is what's happening across the street:

This surface parking lot is being replaced with... a parking garage.  Not much of an improvement there, unless there is extensive ground-floor retail.  I haven't heard much about this project, so we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed and wait to see what develops.