Friday, May 9, 2008

Riv Gets Windows, Crew Goes Gray

Some major progress has been made lately at Broadway and Lawrence. Several readers contacted us to let us know the Riv building was getting its ground level windows installed today, and as you can see, they are large and welcoming.

Update: This is what the building looked like a couple years ago. Some difference, huh? It must have been easier to slap some metal panels on it when it started deteriorating than pay for the extensive and expensive rehab. A tip of the hat to GB Properties (corrected!) (and its deep pockets) for seeing it through. (photo courtesy of karbon69 on Flickr.)

A bit further north on Broadway, Crew was given a fresh coat of gray paint and the flower boxes for the outdoor seating area were being repainted also.

20 comments:

  1. Am I the only one who glanced at the headline and saw "Crew Goes Gay"? ;-)

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  2. ha! I didn't see that, but it's pretty funny! I have to say as well that both buildings look great! We need more neighbors like this!

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  3. Lawrence & Broadway sure has changed alot lately. Keep it up Uptown!

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  4. gray? I hope that's primer for a different color to be painted.

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  5. The Riv building looks great. Does anyone recall what the 2nd and 3rd floors will be? I assume office. It would be cool to have another restaurant/bar above Bank of America.

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  6. Crew is still painting. It won't be gray, but it will be gay.

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  7. The Lawrence and Broadway building is really becoming an awesome sight. Who ever knew that the old mattress store and the 1960s era metal panels contained this beauty? The windows look amazing, and I can't wait to see how it looks when it's completed.

    Does anyone have any photos of the hot mess it was a couple years ago?

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  8. I want to know who thought metal paneling was a good idea. I can't wait until that bank opens.

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  9. A lot of buildings were clad in metal in the sixties to help them look "more modern;" the Riviera Building wasn't unique in this, and covering it in metal was, at the time, aesthetically more desirable than keeping all that old-fashioned limestone and brick exposed. It was a way of emulating (although poorly done, most would say) the work of architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose work includes many Chicago landmarks.

    It wasn't just office buildings, either. For a while, the alleys of Chicago were filled with stained glass windows and other architectural elements pulled out of bungalows in order to "bring them up to date" with mid-century modern styling and tastes. Local dumps were a burying ground for Sullivan terracotta elements.

    Trends come and go; now we look at such metal clad buildings as an atrocity.

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  10. What's with the different mortar color in the brick at the base of the new storefront windows? And the patching job on the northwest corner of the Uptown Broadway building is an entirely different brick color. How are these details lost in otherwise stunning renovations?

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  11. The building looks great! I'm considering switching to B of A for my checking account, just to thank them for the investment they've made in that building. Of course a bank is not a very sexy business, but no way a renovation of this caliber would have been possible without deep pockets. With luck something interesting will move in to the 2nd-floor space.

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  12. The building was rehabbed by GB Properties. Had nothing to do with Bank of America. So thank GB Properties not Bank of America.

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  13. Wrong, Bank of America had everything to do with it. They wanted to lease the building, but they refused to do so unless the renovation was up to their standards. A renovation this nice was not the original plan at all.

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  14. I had a great evening last night entertaining out-of-town guests on Broadway. This is the first time in the whole 12 years that I have lived here that I have been able to entertain guests at a variety of establishments for an entire evening in my own neighborhood. It really was a nice treat and I was very happy that my money went into the pockets of business people who were willing to take a chance here.

    I am happy to report that the new color at Crew looks very nice (more deep blue than "gray" now), the Reuben Balls at Fat Cat ARE good and while the book drive at Borders is "officially" over, it did appear that they got quite a few donations for the McCormick Boys & Girls Club. (If you have been putting it off, I bet you can still run over there today and last minute donation.)

    My posts usually tend to be highly critical of the goings-on in Uptown, but I thought I would share how proud I am with what has been accomplished on Broadway lately. (Who knew I was in store for such a fun evening when I moved here and the Riv looked like it did in the first picture???)

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  15. Thank you for posting the "before and after" photos of the building. The building looks amazing now and is a great addition to the neighborhood.

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  16. Aren't all of these beautiful, new, fun structures in the 48th ward???

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  17. No, this one structure happens to be in the 46th Ward. The northern and southern edges of the ward are jagged so it gets confusing.

    This rehab was never discussed in any community meeting (well, we don't have community meetings) and there's nothing on the ward's website about it. But I'll say this one nice thing about Helen: She didn't try to stop it, at least not that I'm aware of.

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  18. Now when is the actual Riv Theatre going to be rehabbed?

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  19. Call Jam and ask them when they plan to rehab the Riv.

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