Just walked past "The Bureau Bar" on 16th, new signs in the window, randomly the owner was outside and noticed our interest. He said liquor license should be available on Monday and he's planning a Friday, Oct. 4th opening. We are psyched if it works out!
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| New Jones College Prep from the corner of Polk and State |
Fines for violations are $35 for vehicles travelling 6-10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit while in a safety zone, and $100 for vehicles travelling 11 or more miles over the posted speed limit.
The Children's Safety Zones are designated as within 1/8th of a mile from Chicago parks or schools.
The enforcement hours will be limited from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in safety zones around schools on school days Monday through Friday; 7 a.m.-4 p.m.: 20 mph speed limit when children are present; 30 mph speed limit when no children are present; 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.: 30 mph speed limit.
The enforcement hours around parks will be limited to only those hours parks are open (typically 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week) with a 30 mph speed limit.
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| City trying to develop random sites - Here is one in the Sloop at the corner of Archer, Dearborn and Cullerton |
The view from the triangular slice of concrete at Milwaukee Avenue and Leavitt Street in Bucktown is not exactly postcard material: an Aldi grocery store, a set of abandoned train tracks, a grassy empty lot and the CTA Blue Line clattering past close enough to be noisy.
It's one of more than 60 odd parcels scattered from Jefferson Park to Hegewisch that fell to the Chicago Department of Transportation over the years, most the result of streets added to the grid and others closed to traffic.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is betting a company will look at those random plots and see dollar signs. He's looking for someone to transform the bulk of them into plazas with cultural programs and attractive landscaping. The firm could raise money by selling advertising, securing sponsorships and getting businesses to set up shop.
In return, the city would add inviting public spaces to its neighborhoods, offload maintenance onto a private operator and share in the profits.
Three girls are being held in connection with a pair of South Loop pepper spray attacks Wednesday night that left two women injured.
In the first attack, a 16-year-old girl is accused of spraying a 24-year-old woman with pepper spray while two other girls, 14 and 17, blocked her escape. That happened about 10:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of South State Street.
About 10 minutes later, police said the 17-year-old sprayed a 26-year-old woman in the 1300 block of South State Street. Like in the first attack, the other two girls blocked the 26-year-old's escape, police said.
It's not clear what prompted the attacks. The 24-year-old was taken to an area hospital and treated for her wounds and the 26-year-old had her eyes flushed with water near where she was attacked, police said.
A Boca Raton, Fla.-based time-share company is dipping its toes into the Chicago waters, paying nearly $4.9 million for 12 units in the Wyndham Blake hotel in the South Loop.
But Bluegreen Corp. is betting on a hospitality concept that's unproven here despite its popularity in resort destinations such as Hawaii and the Caribbean.12 units will pretty won't change anything around here. Anyway, it's an interesting quick read on a shift in strategy for time shares.
| Rendering of the new (and approved) DePaul Basketball Arena - via Chicago Tribune |
Pelli Clarke Pelli, the architecture firm that proposed a glass-walled DePaul University basketball arena topped with an undulating roof, was awarded the design contract Monday by McCormick Place officials.
The board of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority voted unanimously to approve a $7.2 million contract with the New Haven, Conn.-based firm, whose Petronas Towers in Malaysia is one of the world's tallest. The firm was selected over five other finalists in a design competition.The renderings (more pictures here) are pretty nice. It's not quite as interesting as we would have hoped, but much better than we expected. Blair Kamin, the Tribune architecture writer, isn't as impressed but sees this as a good first step, but hopes the design improves (behind Chicago Tribune paywall):
The big move, the humpback roof, is meant to give the arena a sculptural "fifth facade," visible from surrounding hotel rooms or blimps (assuming DePaul basketball would again warrant such television coverage). Supported by gently curving steel trusses, the roof could look dazzling, both from above and from within, creating a great interior space whose robust curves would be accentuated with skylights by day and artificial lighting by night.
And yet, renderings of views at street-level reveal a disappointing disconnect between the roof's curvilinear drama and the building's pervasive right-angled geometry. It's as though this were two buildings — or, perhaps, a conventional, flat-roofed one with a big mountain stuck on top for effect. Compared to the masterful "Yale Whale," the result is an architectural hybrid, not a persuasive synthesis that gives us architecture with a capital A. Competition-winning designs are often revised for the better; that should happen in this case.This isn't the end of the process. The building will go throw numerous public meetings and most definitely will evolve. Regardless, it seems to be full steam ahead on this project.
In a related development Monday, Chicago's push for a 1,200-room Marriott Marquis convention hotel on a block that is kitty-corner to the arena site moved into court.
The city filed an eminent domain lawsuit aimed at acquiring the property. The lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court seeks land on Cermak Road, between Michigan and Indiana Avenues, now owned by 121 E. Cermak LLC, an entity managed by construction executive James McHugh.
McHugh officials declined to comment.
The action comes a week after McHugh interests sued the city, alleging it did not have the right to block their plans for a six-story electronic data center on the site.
There is now a list of stores supposedly for the Maxwell project on Canal and Taylor. There are signs that says it is opening on Sept, 2014. The stores listed are Nordstrom Rack, Dick's Sporting Goods, Burlington Coat Factory, and Pier 1 Imports
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| Proposed rental (left) and condo (right) buildings on the 1300 block of S. Wabash (via Crain's) |
Developer Colin Kihnke is forging ahead with the first big downtown condominium since the crash, testing a market for new homes that's still groggy from the housing crisis.
The developer who starts work on the first significant condo project in the central business district is expected to have a crucial advantage because of a lack of competition from rival proposals.
In a sign of caution, Mr. Kihnke has pared back his proposal to 140 units, from the 150 units he was considering in August. The building, to be at 1345 S. Wabash Ave., would be 15 stories instead of the 16 stories he had planned, according to a report by the staff of the Chicago Plan Commission, which is scheduled to considering his zoning request for the parcel.
