Status Update: Deconstructing The Deconstructed

Work continues on the Thompson Center (100 West Washington Street) where the granite panels were found to be deteriorating and in danger of falling off of their posts.

The panels are arranged around the perimeter of the block, outlining where the building might have gone if it were square and not a series of balconies surrounding a curved glass atrium.  The granite panels get smaller and more deconstructed as they get father from the main body of the building.  Now demolition crews are deconstructing the deconstruction so people don't get bonked on the head by Helmut Jahn's creative expressions.

Although it hasn't been called the "State of Illinois Building" in a decade, certain media organizations (*cough*WGN-TV*cough*) continue to use the outdated name which has since been assigned to another building across the street.

Status Update: The Ogden School

If you enjoyed the simple lines and literary details of the William B. Ogden School, then cherish those memories.  It's gone now.  Just a pile of bricks.  As we told you back in June, the new Ogden Elementary School (24 West Walton Street) should be ready for students by January, 2012.

The Loop Getting a New Pocket Park

An area of Chicago's Loop that has been rapidly changing from 19th century storefronts to 21st century skyscrapers is going to have a touch of green.

An agreement has been reached with the developers of 155 North Wacker Drive to also develop a park adjacent to the nearly completed skyscraper.

In the way of the park are a grouping of serviceable, if unremarkable, buildings:

• 300 West Randolph - Built in 1875, and formerly known as the Sherman House of the Showmen's League of America, which was founded in Chicago and had Buffalo Bill Cody as its first president.
• 304 West Randolph - Built in 1938.  It replaced a speakeasy which federal agents busted in 1933 for buying illegal whiskey from footmen for Hymie Levine, who was in charge of selling bootleg beer in The Loop for Al Capone.
• 308 West Randolph - Built in 1929.
• 310 West Randolph - Built in 1927 for N.K. Aranoff and Associates at a cost of $250,000.  It was built as a factory disguised as an office building and replaced a house on the site.  The building was one of many in Chicago designed to be vertically extended if necessary.  Its design can support several extra stories.  The building was designed by Albert Anis of the architecture firm Sanders & Anis.

These days, office workers, and the few residents of the immediate area, know this block for a couple of quick-serve restaurants and lots of itinerant office space.

The park will have a little under 10,000 square feet of grass, 23 trees, and places to sit and park your bicycle.

The new park will follow the same public-private model as The Park at Lakeshore East.  It will be built  by the Buck Company, but turned over to the City of Chicago's Park Department when it's done.  Yet Buck will still be responsible for maintenance.

Follow Up: Who Is Fitzgibbons?

Some eagle-eyed readers of our article about the demolition of the old CBS Studios Building in Streeterville noticed some writing in the rubble and asked what it says.

The writing is stenciled letters about two-feet tall on a giant tank in the basement of the CBS Building.  It reads "The Fitzgibbons Boiler."

We don't know who Fitzgibbons is, or why he has his own boiler.  But we've sent an e-mail to WBBM and if we get a response, we'll let you know.

Keep Your Eye On The Rubble

If you blinked, you missed it.  It didn't take long for demolition crews to converge on the old CBS Building in Streeterville after the eye network moved to its gleaming new home at Block 37 in The Loop.

All that's left now is a pit of debris and the cranes emptying it.

For those of you who don't know, this building had quite a history.

• It was originally the headquarters and stables of the Chicago Riding Club.
  
• It then became an ice skating rink.
• It was then used as a roller skating rink.
• Then it became the home of WBBM, WBBM-TV and WBBM-FM, along with the Midwest headquarters of CBS News and CBS Newspath.
• This was where the Donahue talk show was produced for a time after it moved out of WGN-TV's north side studios.
• This is where the Siskel & Ebert movie review show was first produced.
• But most importantly -- in 1960, this was the location of the world's first televised presidential debate.  It was between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.  It is a debate that is still studied by journalism and media students to this day for many reasons that are beyond the scope of this humble blog.

Saving the Cabrini Chapel

With the demolition of Columbus Hospital now complete, all that is left standing is the Cabrini Chapel.

For those of you who don't know, the chapel was originally planned to be demolished along with the 97-year-old hospital and some other nearby buildings to make way for the much-advertised Lincoln Park 2520 condo block.  But now the chapel has received a reprieve.

The hospital was founded by Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini, America's first home-grown saint.  The chapel was the home of the National Shrine of Saint Francis X. Cabrini.  But it no longer serves that function.  When the chapel was threatened with destruction, the chapel's relic, a bone from Mother Cabrini's right arm, was moved to Our Lady of Pompeii in Little Village for safe keeping.

Now LP2520 is being re-drawn to incorporate the holy place in the site plan.

Whether the complex will be built, or not, remains to be seen.  The last peep we heard was back in January when Crain's ran an article talking about how this is going to be one of the most expensive (per square foot) projects in the city and talking about financing troubles.

Either way, we're glad this piece of Chicago's religious history has been spared.

Status Update: The still unnamed new Loyola building

Only a couple of weeks after we posted our article about Loyola University planning to tear down a grungy strip of retail stores on Chicago Avenue it actually happened.

Though Crain's Chicago Business and others predicted that demolition wouldn't happen until spring or even summer, if you blinked, you missed it.    Dunkin' Donuts, Tony's and the random vacant space are all gone and the newsstand has been closed up tight.  Look for that to disappear soon.  It will be stored in a city warehouse until the project is finished.

Soon to come -- a Loyola University building with offices, classrooms, and street-level retail.  Since the economy has made us new fans of McDonald's dollar menu, we'll keep a close eye on this for you.

Last Chance To Dance: Lakefront VA Hospital Almost Gone

For the last eight months or so, demolition crews have been very methodically and very loudly disassembling the old VA hospital in the heart of Streeterville .  If you've never seen the X-shaped building or have some attachment to it, better pay your respects soon, before it's too late.

What used to be four wings 15 stories tall is now down to just three, and those won't last long.

The VA sold the hospital for $52 million, and what plans Northwestern University has for the property haven't been disclosed to the public yet.

The best use would be a big fat park, but that won't happen.  You don't pay millions of dollars to house squirrels.  Somehow the owners have to recoup the money spent, and that means building up.

The hospital as demolition was beginning.

Miracle on Chicago Avenue: Update 2

Well, just hours after our last update, Crain's Chicago Business published an article filling in the blanks for us .

Looks like the cost of the project is $9,000,000 and will be five stories tall.  And in spite of the hopeful fencing, demolition isn't imminent.

Miracle on Chicago Avenue: Update

Well, that didn't take long.  Word on the street (literally -- I ran into someone on the street with the answer) is that the demolition of the Dunkin' Donuts, Tony's, the vacant storefront, and the sidewalk newsstand on Chicago Avenue is a Loyola project.  Considering that explosive growth of that institution's physical plant, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

The existing building has the address of 24 East Chicago Avenue, and was built in 1989.

I'm told that it's going to be ground-floor retail, topped by offices, and five stories of classrooms.  There will be a walkway connecting to the Loyola University Law Center at 25 East Pearson Street.

As for the stores that are soon-to-be-demolished -- they're welcome to return when the new building is finished in 2010, if they want to pay many thousands of dollars in higher rent to be in the new building.  The Dunkin' Donuts franchisee is expected to decline.

This is just the latest in Loyola Universtiy's rapid expansion of its Water Tower campus.  It also recently purchased the 1890 Chicago-State Building and the surface lot next to it for $40 million.  While that building is scuzzy, too, hopefully it can be rehabilitated instead of demolished.

Miracle on Chicago Avenue

One of the Streeterville/Gold Coast's scuzzier blocks is getting some sort of clean up.

While hustling to the Red Line stop at Chicago and State in -17ºF weather, it was hard not to notice the big construction fence that has been put up next to McDonald's and the big "DEMOLITION" sign hanging on it.

For those not familiar with the location, it's on the north side of Chicago avenue wedged between the 24/7 McDonald's on the State Street corner, and a Loyola University building on Wabash Avenue.  Three businesses are ringed by the demolition barrier -- a Dunkin' Donuts (that I've used more than once at 3:00am); Tony's Place, a random hot dog joint; and an empty storefront.

The block is just nasty.  There are always groups of unpleasant-looking people standing around in front of McDonald's, and scattered throughout are various panhandlers, junkies, and grifters.  The city streetlights are ineffective, so at night it's flat-out scary for a lot of people.

I'm not sure what all those groups of people are doing there.  I've eaten at that McDonald's a brazillion times, and sometimes sit looking out the window observing them.  They just seem to stand there.  They're not waiting for a bus or a train.  I'm not sure what they're waiting for.  Maybe they're drug dealers, but usually there aren't so many on one corner.

Whatever the case, the removal of these three seedy storefronts is a hopeful sign.  I've made a few calls to see what the plans are for the area, and I'll post updates when I find out.

If you know what's going in that space, post it in the comments.