The Chicago Plan Commission has approved a school expansion at 5099 W Quincy Street in South Austin. The expansion will be to the existing Chicago Jesuit Academy bound by W Jackson Boulevard to the south and W Quincy Street and Moore Park to the north. The new Solomon Cordwell Buenz-designed extension will tie into the existing school building and bring a variety of new facilities to the growing campus.
Site prep can be seen progressing for the Obama Presidential Center, a three-building masterplan by The Obama Foundation now underway in Hyde Park. The project will occupy a portion of Jackson Park’s western edge, and will be oriented around a central plaza space that will accommodate planned events and public artwork. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Interactive Design Architects will serve are the architects involved in the building design, while Michael van Valkenburgh Associates, Site Design Group, and Living Habitats have overseen the landscape architecture.
The National Parks service has opened The Pullman National Monument, Chicago’s first National Monument at 11001 S Cottage Grove Avenue in Pullman. Opening ceremonies for the complex took place over Labor Day weekend, a holiday which traces its origins back to the workers that made the Pullman Company into a passenger rail juggernaut with its iconic sleeper cars. The new monument is expected to attract over 300,000 yearly visitors and bring a major economic impact to the growing neighborhood.
The Chicago Committee on Design has reviewed a proposed mixed-use development at 3201 W 31st Street in Little Village. Envisioned as a campus, the now 30-acre development aims to bring life to a partially occupied lot enclosed by W 31st Street to the north, S Kedzie Avenue to the east, and the future Cinespace Campus 2 to the west. Developer Chicago Southwest Development Corporation (CSDC) has teamed up with HDR Architecture to design the massive southwest side complex.
Construction permits have been issued for a new annex addition to the Wendell Phillips High School, located at 244 E Pershing Road in Bronzeville. Planned by the Public Building Commission of Chicago, the building will mainly serve as a new gymnasium, and will replace an existing surface parking lot on the northeast corner of the campus. The existing structures on the campus include a landmarked three-story brick building from 1904, as well as other two buildings built in 1937 and 1944.
