Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Close Your Eyes And Imagine This At Broadway & Wilson

A reader came across this other Uptown dream project on the Daniel P. Coffey and Associates website. This is "Uptown Center" and was to be located at Broadway and Wilson for your reference. There are 5 photos to scroll through, (the one shown here shows Broadway and the McJunkin's roof). You will notice the McJunkin Building and Stewart School as reference points in the other photos. Sadly, this isn't coming anytime in the near future, but isn't it nice to dream a little?

14 comments:

  1. I don't see the good in this proposal. It looks like Wilson Yard Lite.

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  2. Ah, to be able to dream. I have always envisioned something like this for that intersection - modern architecture in harmony with old. I like their renderings, but wish they would have kept the TCF bank (on Wilson) into the plan since it is a historical building. There are also a number of storefronts on Wilson north of Broadway towards Leland that would be worth salvaging.

    Regardless, the site mentions that this would be mixed use and mixed income - 2 things that Helen always manages to translate into LOW INCOME housing. We can dream, but it is probably best to let the insection continue to rot while she is in office otherwise we would end up with another Wilson Yard there.

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  3. I'm confused...the post says Broadway & Wilson, it looks like Broadway & Wilson but the link says Broadway and Lawrence. Did the architects go to the wrong address?

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  4. It actually stretches from Broadway, just south of Wilson up to Broadway and Leland (4700 N), that's a block south of Lawrence.

    This rendering isn't very accurate though, I don't see one panhandler or prostitute in the picture! Where's the lady selling the socks on a blanket?

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  5. I'd just be happy if we were able to tidy up that strecth of broadway.

    I'm tired of being emberrassed by how ridiculously shoddy it looks.

    You'd think in her twenty years in office the alderman might take some pride in terms of cleaning up the main thoroughfair of our hood...

    .....but that would mean progress, and in the small minds of her followers - progress leads to cost prohibitiveness.

    We should just be thankful that a developer had the heart to restore the Uptown Broadway Building. It's a hell of a start! A start Shiller should get zero credit for!

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  6. The only reason the Uptown Broadway Building was restored is because it is in the 48th Ward (Mary Ann Smith). Shiller would had have let it sit abandoned or turned it into a shelter if it was in her ward.

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  7. Hey sheridanparkparade, why do hate diveristy so much? (KIDDING)

    I agree with you 100%. It boggles the mind that this area of Broadway can exist like this, considering the huge differences you find both to the north AND south.

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  8. Some of this is cool, especially the development north of Wilson, but I'd be horrified if the ginormous tower replaced viable business like the Harris Bank, Payless Shoes, Dunkin Donuts...and yes, the currency exchange. Social services do have their place and I'm proud to live in a neighborhood that supports them...to a limit of course (and, yes, I agree that we're beyond our limit)

    Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Have you been to Lakeview lately? I want to clean up this stretch as much as anyone, but it would turn my stomach to walk out into this type of characterless, mass production, architecture every day.

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  9. I don't think Harris, Dunkin and Payless would have any problems moving into the storefronts of the proposal. I personally believe currency exchanges, payday loan type businesses and the lottery arre predatory and should be discouraged from locating in depressed communities.

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  10. thanks irish pirate...much more realistic.

    i wonder if the lady selling socks on a blanket would get subsidized retail space...hey, there's an idea for helen, she can start subsidizing commercial housing! that way, the government can pay for crackhouses! i think i've finally figured out that commercial zoning they are trying to pass for mcjunkin!!!

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  11. Thanks Pirate for making me laugh. Too funny.

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  12. oh to dream.

    I always get a laugh from people who react negatively to conceptual renderings. I understand if you don't desire the nature of the project but understand that maybe 50% of the key features in an initial rendering actually make the final plans (75% of the time). The rest of the while designs go thru multiple iterations (especially multi-building projects) and end up with little resemblance to the first renderings. So before we all become architecture critics, lets be positive about the intent and cross our fingers.

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  13. I could be wrong, but this looks like a fairly new rendering. (in the last year) If you look at the picture on link #3, the building in the foreground was not built until this past summer.

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