Coming in at #26 on YIMBY’s year-end countdown of tallest active projects is the renovation of The Belden Stratford, a hotel-turned-residential building bordering Lincoln Park. Standing 16 stories and 176 feet, this iconic Beaux-Arts-style building was designed by Meyer Fridstein and completed in 1923 at the address 2300 N Lincoln Park West.
Coming in at 28th is the first renovation project in Chicago YIMBY’s year-end construction countdown, the 13-story former Bridgeview Bank Building, located at 4753 N Broadway in Uptown. Originally known as the Sheridan Bank and Trust Building, the classically-styled edifice was designed nearly 100 years ago by the Chicago-based Marshall and Fox. Four years after its initial completion in 1924, another four floors (and a mechanical penthouse) were added, bringing the final height to 151 feet.
One of Chicago’s more common high-rise colors is the omnipresent beige that can be seen in large herds clustered in areas like River North and West Loop Gate. We recently looked at 600 N Dearborn in River North, where The Farallon’s owners have been repainting its exterior walls from a tan-like tone to a cooler dark gray. As seen in recent photos, the Presidential Towers at 555 W Madison Street in West Loop Gate have been receiving a similar treatment. All four of the 49-story, 461-foot-tall towers are transitioning to a medium-gray paint job along most of the exterior walls, as well as a secondary dark-gray at the base and top.
At the southwest corner of Streeterville, facade scaffolding can be seen directly north of Tribune Tower at 160 E Illinois Street. Originally built in 2007 at 26 stories, the building known as “Avenue East” contains a total of 130 condominium units. The edifice offers a postmodern aesthetic with a mix of metal paneling, concrete, and glass.
Exterior renovation can be seen making headway at Carman Hall, located at 60 E 32nd Street within the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Bronzeville. Originally designed by the famed German architect Ludgwig Mies van Der Rohe, the nine-story dormitory building was completed in 1955. Recently, the midcentury residential building sat unused and in need of repair.
