ChicagoismynewBlog! has officially reached 20,000 HITS!!!

ChicagoismynewBlog! has just passed 20,000 hits!  Lately, I have had some great comments from industry novices to industry veterans and I want to thank everyone for their support and input.  Lets keep this going in a positive direction and, as always, your help is always needed to keep the hits coming.  Pass the word on about ChicagoismynewBlog! to anyone you know.

Massive empty lots = massive potential for Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Streeterville!

Another picture taken from Onterie Center’s rooftop deck shows two massive lots that have been cleared of their old, historic buildings.  A previous post talked about what will take place on the empty lot to the left so check the post out by clicking HERE! 

The massive lot that is smack dab in the middle of this picture used to house the Lakeside Veterans Administration Hospital which was located at 333 E. Huron Street in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.  The hospital closed in 2003 and just sat there surrounded by Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s state of the art buildings so what is Northwestern to do with this huge piece of potential?  The initial plans call for a parking garage…covering the whole city block…

Looking Northeast.

Looking Northwest.

The “new Playboy building” and its amazing roof.

This picture taken from Onterie Center’s roofdeck shows the pretty cool roof of 680 N. Lakeshore Drive in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.  This building was originally called the American Furniture Mart but is now called the “new Playboy building” because Playboy’s headquarters is located inside.  In addition to offices, this former world’s largest building has over 400 condominiums, a Treasure Island grocery store, retail stores, and restaurants.

As an added bonus, the building with the “M” right behind the “new Playboy building” is the new Prentice Women’s Hospital that just opened up.  If you look closely, you can see a bit of green roof too!  Props to Prentice.

GREEN ROOF ALERT! Streeter Place in, you guessed it, Streeterville.

If you can’t tell, I’m enjoying myself with these green roof posts.  This green roof comes from Streeter Place, a new construction apartment building in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood.  Streeter Place, located at 355 E. Ohio Street, is right next door to its sister apartment building called The Streeter.  I have been inside two apartments in The Streeter and I was impressed with what I saw.  Both buildings are finished with green roofs, a lot of beautiful landscaping, and brick pavers which is great at preventing excessive water runoff.  Thank you to “Chiman” from Skyscrapercity for the first picture.

Streeter Place (Left), The Streeter (Right)

Want a park at your front door? Buy an Aqua townhome in Lakeshore East!

At park level, these nine Aqua townhomes are located under the outdoor deck and ballroom/conference center of the impressive Aqua building.  I am a fan of Aqua’s townhomes because without them, there would be a major blank parking garage wall facing out towards the rest of Lakeshore East.  Props go to architect Jeanne Gang and Studio Gang Architects for integrating these townhomes perfectly.  These townhomes appear to be three or four floors tall and they have an amazing view of Lakeshore East’s six acre park. 

More images from Aqua in Chicago’s Lakeshore East!

I just can’t get enough of the wavy/curvy Aqua building in Chicago’s Lakeshore East neighborhood.  Next time you’re in the neighborhood, I highly recommend you taking a look.  They just opened up their amazing outdoor amenity deck.  I’m jealous…

GREEN ROOF ALERT! Office building at 353 N. Clark Street in River North!

Thanks to Skyscraperpage user, ‘harryc,’ who posted these great pictures of an almost complete 45 story office building, located at 353 N. Clark Street in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.  353 N. Clark is being developed and anchored by Mesirow Financial and from what I understand, the green roof is located on top of the building’s retail and underground parking entrance as well as the 45th floor mechanical penthouse.  Props for the cool design too!

GREEN ROOF ALERT! Belgravia Group’s 600 N. Lakeshore Drive!

I’m a huge fan of green roofs from the planning process, the installation of materials, and I love most when the plantings mature.  This green roof is on top of the parking garage of 600 N. Lakeshore Drive, a very successful condominium building developed by Belgravia Group.  In case you couldn’t guess, the building is located at 600 N. Lakeshore Drive.  Go check out their sales center, open 7 days a week from 10am – 6pm, or give them a call at 312-730-4849.

A big thanks goes out to ‘Chiman,’ a Skyscrapercity user, for the first two pictures.

Construction views from a Northerly Island bike ride.

This picture was taken from Northerly Island one sunny, hot, summer day.  Because of Mayor Daley’s…ahem…tenacity…Northerly Island has been turned into a prairie with native wildflowers and plants and it even  has some good trails to run and ride your bike on.  Plus, the beach is rarely packed like most lakefront beaches.

Back to the point of this picture, you can see a few construction projects like Trump International Hotel and Tower, One Museum Park West, Legacy at Millennium Park, Blue Cross-Blue Shield expansion, and even the very top of Aqua.  Enjoy!

Village Green plans for a $141M apartment conversion in a historic Loop building!

This article from ChicagoRealEstateDaily.com, talks about an upcoming apartment conversion from Village Greenin the historic Gothic Revival office building, located at 188 W. Randolph Street, in the Loop.  This 45 story building served as office space but became obsolete and went into terrible disrepair.  As recent as a few years ago, pieces of terra cotta facade from the tower portion of the building dislodged and fell to the street below…not good.  Since then, much of the tower has been covered to prevent more from falling.

When open, the building will be named Randolph Tower City Apartments and judging from other Village Green properties, including MDA Chicago City Apartments and the Fisher Building, this new building will be amazing when complete.  Because of the major overhaul needed, and the lack of available financing, Village Green is looking to the City of Chicago to provide TIF financing for this project. 

According to the article, there will be 313 apartments with a cost of $450,000 per unit when renovation and conversion is complete.  Because of this extremely high cost, the buildings original owner planned to demolish the building because the cost to build an entirely new building would be much less than converting to apartments.  Construction is slated to begin in early 2010 and should be complete in 2012!

Check out the full article by clicking here!