Ambitious restoration and transformation in the Chicago area

[NorthShore]

Did they go to the Soldier Field Academy of Design?

You win the thread!

 

[tommylicious]

The propsed design was unequivocally slammed by Chicago's preeminent, Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kamin/ct-biz-union-station-assessment-kamin-0626-story.html

 

[tommylicious]

"The seven-story addition and its 404 rental apartments would bring to the forlorn but grand train station all the grandeur of a Holiday Inn." -- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize Winner.

 

[frequentflyer]

Me personally I wish they could just leave a landmark alone. It's a landmark for a reason because it has some historical significance in its current form. I say leave it alone. If you want to develop a train station just throw another office tower over the train shed at Northwestern.

Agreed.

 

[frequentflyer]

"The seven-story addition and its 404 rental apartments would bring to the forlorn but grand train station all the grandeur of a Holiday Inn." -- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize Winner.

Holiday Inn? He is being generous.

 

[cpotisch]

"The seven-story addition and its 404 rental apartments would bring to the forlorn but grand train station all the grandeur of a Holiday Inn." -- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize Winner.

Holiday Inn? He is being generous.

I think that's the point.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

"The seven-story addition and its 404 rental apartments would bring to the forlorn but grand train station all the grandeur of a Holiday Inn." -- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize Winner.

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[tommylicious]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kamin/ct-biz-union-station-assessment-kamin-0626-story.html

"The seven-story addition and its 404 rental apartments would bring to the forlorn but grand train station all the grandeur of a Holiday Inn." -- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize Winner.

404
Style Not Found​

 

[jis]

This proposal appears to be a variation on the original plan for that space, which was never built out.

 

[MisterUptempo]

Just a small update. The Chicago Union Station Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoUnionStation/

posted a few photos of the restoration work in the Great Hall, specifically of the ceiling.

From February-

And from late June-

These photos appear to be of the ceiling over one of the Canal St. staircases.

 

[cpotisch]

Just a small update. The Chicago Union Station Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoUnionStation/

posted a few photos of the restoration work in the Great Hall, specifically of the ceiling.

From February-

And from late June-

These photos appear to be of the ceiling over one of the Canal St. staircases.

From this angle at least, I can't really see any significant difference.

 

[keelhauled]

The scaffolding is gone and the ceiling is once again visible from ground level.

 

[frequentflyer]

And eventually the main hall is where the majority of pax will wait for their trains?

 

[MisterUptempo]

From this angle at least, I can't really see any significant difference.

Here is a shot of the staircase ceiling before restoration, largely a warm monotone, whereas the ceiling has now been restored to the color scheme that was original to the station when it first opened.

img src - Chicago Architecture Foundation

With the restoration, the coffered ceiling really shows off its magnificent detailing.

 

[MisterUptempo]

Well, it appears as if the developers got the hint-

img src - Chicago Sun-Times

Invoking Fair Use, a portion of an article from the Chicago Sun-Times - https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/new-renderings-union-station-office-tower-acquired/

Howls from people across the city unhappy with plans to construct a massive glass tower on top of Union Station — including Emanuel — led to an abrupt change of plans, which was reported Thursday in Crain’s Chicago Business, which stated the revised proposal would not include a residential component, but would include 400 hotel rooms.

-snip-

Word is hizzoner worked quietly behind the scenes with Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Riverside Investment & Development to preserve Union Station and build a new office tower and plaza across the street from the historic train station.

Sneed has also learned an anchor tenant has been already lined up for the building, which will bring several thousand jobs to the city, according to mayoral spokesman Adam Collins.

Alderman Reilly will conduct another community meeting for the project, in which the details of the redesign will be presented. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 6PM-8PM, in the Burlington Room at Union Station.

The big news, of course, is that the headhouse is left intact, save for what appears (in the top rendering) to be a single-level structure that rings around the inner portion of the headhouse roof. There are a couple of small structures up there already. Unclear whether this will be used strictly for mechanical purposes, or the developer will locate any hotel amenities up there. Very likely the new addition won't be visible from street level.

The fact that the room count is being bumped up without a major addition leads me to believe that Riverside ditched the idea of making floors 2 & 3 of the headhouse available as office space, as was originally planned, and will instead use it to grow the hotel from 330 to 400 rooms.

The top rendering looks very basic. The office building appears as if it is taking some design cues from the Immigration Court building across the street, and the plaza looks like a sketch an architect might make on a cocktail napkin over drinks with a client. The second rendering does show a more refined vision of both the building and plaza.

Knowing that Rahm had a hand in getting this deal done makes me wonder whether the tenant that the Sun-Times article mentions was the carrot Emanuel dangled in front of the developers to convince them to eliminate the residential units from the headhouse. Either that, or Rahm found a bunch of TIF money in between his couch cushions.

Salesforce has been in town a lot recently, and have been in discussions about locating a new office, bringing thousands of new jobs into the city, at the yet-to-be-built Wolf Point South building. Among Salesforce's demands were a tax break (no problem there - Rahm gives those out like candy), the right to install a large video display on the building (on the riverfront? could be a problem), and exclusive access to riverfront public space several times every year (close riverfront access to tourists? potentially big problem). At the Union Station site, Salesforce could get all of those demands met without much trouble. Might also explain why the two tower plan is now a taller single tower plan, with a much larger public space. Just a guess on my part.

One question that lingers is what Riverside is going to do with the 3.1 million square feet it is allowed to build on the Union Station properties. The new office building is thought to be about 1.5 million square feet. Phase 3 of the project calls for a residential building over the south train shed of 500,000 square feet. That still leaves 1.1 million square feet unaccounted for.

ETA - The design of the office building may just be preliminary. As has already been mentioned elsewhere, the structure bears a remarkable resemblance to 110 N. Wacker Dr., which is currently under construction, and was designed by the same architectural firm that is partnered with Riverside on this project (they did not design the residential monstrosity that was plopped onto the headhouse in the previous proposal).

img src - Crain's Chicago Business

 

[DSS&A]

The restoration of the Great Hall is nearing completion. Here are a few photos I took this morning.  The Polar Express display locomotive was installed over the weekend for the holiday season. 

 

[Dakota 400]

Looks truly great!  A good reason for another trip to Chicago to see this for myself!

 

[Pere Flyer]

Looks like it can now rival GCT! Hope to connect through CUS on my next train adventure!

 

[tim49424]

Sweet..... I’ll be there next month on my way to New Orleans!

 

[SarahZ]

Oh, wow. I can really see the difference. It looks gorgeous.

 

[George K]

I was there last Thursday (6 days ago) and was impressed with what I saw. The new pictures are even better.

 

[gswager]

Those natural lights do really brightened up the interior of building!  I visited that station nearly two months ago.  Now I need to visit it again to see the glass ceiling!

 

[daybeers]

Wow! Can't wait to see it in July! Thanks for the pictures and report!

 

[cpotisch]

Oh, wow. I can really see the difference. It looks gorgeous.

Welcome back, Sarah!

 

[oregon pioneer]

Oh, that's lovely! It was full of scaffolding and plastic draping when I went through last winter. Can't wait to see it on my next trip, whenever that may be!