Friday, June 15, 2007

Block 37 Regains a Third Dimension

Block 37, the beleaguered renewal project in the heart of Chicago's Loop, just across from Marshall Field/Macy's flagship store, that stubbornly remained a blighting, vacant dirtpile for a decade and a half, is finally turning the corner. We're still a long way from being able to judge the quality - and viability - of the ultimate outcome, but at last something is rising on the site, and at its current state of construction you can actually start to envision it heading to the finish line.

Yes, it's even gotten to the ceremonial hanging of the curtain wall for the building at the southwest corner of Dearborn and Washington, that will house both the new headquarters of Morningstar Financial, and street-level studios, looking out over Daley Center Plaza with its famous Picasso statue, for CBS2 Chicago.
108 North State is the block-long retail component of the complex. Here you can see the irregular framing that will support twin diagonal concourses leading to an atrium and new, multi-story Chicago Transit Authority station at the middle of the block.

The northwest portion of Block 37 - the unbuilt portion in the photo below - is slated for residential towers.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The angularity of the decking reminds me of what CNN Center and the Omni in Atlanta looked like while being built. All those 45-degree angles--it's like a Hyatt lobby from the late 70s. Thank god the architects involved in Block 37 spec’d cheap-looking, bland, darkly mirrored curtainwall instead of ceramic brick a la Chicago Hyatt Riverwalk.