Chicago Under Construction

River Point

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Optima Chicago Center

Millennium Park (Doral) Plaza

AMLI River North

Hub Group Corporate Headquarters Oakbrook

Aloft Chicago City Center

111 West Wacker

 Hubbard Place

 Williams Jones College Preparatory High School

 

 Summit on the Lake

 15 East Huron

Chicago Streetscene II: The Bunker

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AMLI River North, 49th stories.  Lipstick will be applied . . . 

 . . . but this elongated lump still looks to be one of SCB's less felicitous additions to the Chicago skyline.

Chicago Under Construction: Going Aloft by Holding Back the Earth

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The battle to save the 19th century building at Clark and Illinois most recently home to North Bank was over before it began, as was the abortive attempt by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to create a River North landmark district, which, like Bertrand Goldberg's endangered Prentice Hospital, appeared as an agenda item, and then was dropped before the meeting and never seen again.

So, the North Bank building bit the dust last October to make way for a 600+ room three hotel complex - a Hyatt Place, Fairfield Inn and Starwood Aloft - taking up the L-shaped half-block bounded by Clark, Grand and Illinois.  It's all a little early, so a lot of the current effort is just in holding up the retaining walls while excavation and foundation work take place.

 

Eventually, the North Bank corner will look like this . . .

and the whole thing like this . . .

And if you're less than thrilled about the quality, you obviously haven't seen what's going up just a block to the south . . .