Structural beams can now be seen at the site of 3115 N Broadway in Lake View East, where JSM Venture Inc has planned for the renovation of a former five-story parking garage with retail on the ground level. This Art Deco structure will retain its ground-level retail, while converting the former parking component into 72 apartment units.
Demolition work can be seen at the site of the former Sears department store, situated at 4712 W Irving Park Road in Portage Park. Under development by Novak Construction, this initial work will clear the way for a mixed-use transformation. Estimated to cost $90 million, this massive undertaking is another piece of a broader effort to enliven the six corners commercial node. Just across the street, work is progressing rapidly for a 10-story senior living and retail development known as Clarendale Six Corners.
The iconic Morton Salt branding and logo has re-emerged at the former Morton Salt Factory in West Town. This refurbished roof is part of an adaptive re-use scheme by R2 Companies, Blue Star Properties, and Skydeck. These plans at 1357 N Elston Avenue involve the conversion of the facility into a new entertainment and office venue.
Exterior renovations can be seen making progress at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) at 5700 S Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park. At the northern end of Jackson Park, just northeast of the now-underway Obama Presidential Center, this Beaux-Arts edifice is originally known as The Palace of Fine Arts, built for Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition in 1893. The building was designed by Charles Atwood for the Chicago-based firm D. H. Burnham & Co, originally founded by Daniel Burnham and John Root. Standing as a centerpiece to the original exposition plan, the structure was the only one within the fair grounds to utilize a brick substructure underneath its plaster facade.
The edifice’s story begins almost exactly 100 years ago, when The Chicago Tribune newspaper held a public competition to design its new headquarters. The key guideline was to design the “most beautiful office building” in the world, with over 260 submissions vying for that title and a first prize of $50,000 (roughly $800,000 in 2021). The winning entry was the Neo-Gothic design by New York-based Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, whose dramatic Neo-Gothic design came to fruition with the tower’s completion in 1925. The Chicago Landmark would serve as the Tribune’s headquarters for another 93 years, up until its 2018 relocation to One Prudential Plaza. Upon the departure, the property was sold for $240 million to co-developers CIM Group and Golub & Company.
