Blushing with Bling: Is This the Future of Bertrand Goldberg's Walton Gardens?

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I have no idea where it came from (if anyone has more information, please pass it on) but this afternoon the ever-diligent spyguy on skyscraperPage.com posted the above rendering for the site occupied by Bertrand Goldberg's Walton Gardens, whose current primary tenant, Urban Outfitter, will move out next year.  It's unclear whether it's a retrofit of Goldberg's building or completely new construction, but it's a prime expression of what passes for luxe nowadays, proving how easy it is to be ostentatious and numbingly generic at the same time.   Crain's Chicago Business reported yesterday that owner JMB Realty has hired Cushman and Wakefield to find a new tenant in what a spokesman predicted would be “a marquee transaction.”

We recently wrote about the jewel box Walton Gardens and the long, varied history of Rush Street, now in the midst of still another transformation as high-end retailing overflows Oak Street and marches up Rush on its way to overreach and retrenchment. 

Read:

Bertrand Goldberg's Walton Gardens: the History of Rush Street Through the Eyes of a Single Building.