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Diagrams of One Central (via City of Chicago)

Here are the highlights of the new One Central project:

  • Net site area: 1,358,264 square feet
  • Open space: 395,339 square feet
  • Floor area ratio: 16.42 (16.0 base + .42 bonus)
  • Nine new skyscrapers, arranged north-south between East McFetridge Drive and McCormick Place
    • Four residential towers on the north end, plus several small residential buildings.
      • 9,300,000 square feet
      • 9,050 residences total
    • Four commercial towers in the middle.
      • 9,450,000 square feet
    • One hotel tower at the south end, next to the convention center.
      • 1,500,000 square feet
  • A new transit hub
    • CTA train spur from the current Green and Orange tracks
    • Metra commuter trains
    • South Shore Line commuter trains
    • Amtrak trains
    • “ChiLine” service. This looks like one of those downtown transit circulators that certain second- and third-tier cities have. It’s just a bus route with a fancy paint job, so don’t get excited. You can put puppies in the oven, but that don’t make them biscuits.
    • 100 feet tall above podium, 161 feet above grade
    • 5 stories
  • A “welcome center”
    • 350,000 square feet
  • A pedestrian bridge linking East 15th Place and Solider Field
  • Miscellaneous other buildings and infrastructure
  • Phase 1
    • Transit center
    • Common podium to link all buildings
      • Decks over the train tracks and Weldon train yard
      • Height: 61 feet
      • Automobile parking: 3,500 spaces
      • Cost $3,800,000
    • Four residential buildings
      • 42 feet tall
      • 5 stories
      • 190 total residences
  • Phase 2A
    • Estimated construction dates: 2025-2035
    • 4 residential towers
      • 9,300,000 square feet total
      • 8,860 residences total
      • Each between 60 and 89 stories
      • Tallest building: 890 feet above podium
    • 1 commercial building
      • 1,200,000 square feet
      • Between 45 and 55 stories
      • 770 feet above podium
    • 1 hotel building
      • 1,500,000 square feet
      • 2,500 hotel rooms
      • 60-80 stories tall
      • 806 feet above podium
  • Phase 2B
    • Estimated construction dates: 2030-2040
    • 3 commercial buildings
    • 8,250,000 square feet
    • 55 to 73 stories tall
    • Tallest building: 1,015 feet above podium

https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2021/01/24/nine-new-skyscrapers-transit-hub-planned-for-chicagos-south-loop/

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Gold Coast south!

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Dang… Completion in 2040?

Ill be waiting here for a while :popcorn:

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A 1,000’ building will never see the light of day that far south. These “mega-projects” with the ready made downtowns (just add water) approach is getting ridiculous. Chicago needs to densify and urbanize traditionally.

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Very nice!

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Despite the towers being connected with mid-rise development at their podium, I think the density looks very inorganic compared to the rest of Chicago.

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Looks like Dubai meets Chicago. Not a huge fan.

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Hopefully those are just placeholders and not the final designs. I’d like to see something more creative and cohesive.

Well, I’m hoping for a 1,200 ft tower in that project.

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Rendering of the hotel tower from the Hard Rock ONE Central proposal by Hard Rock


Context rendering of the Hard Rock ONE Central proposal by Hard Rock

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The 78 and Hard Rock bids are my favorites

I wonder why they can’t just build more than one casino. Would love to see all projects be built

Not a fan of casinos, at all. But love the design of the River McCormick Place and the 78 bids, especially the 1,000 ft observation deck.

The Bally’s design is awful. It’s Chicago, not the Vegas strip or some suburb.

Yeah, it’s pretty bad. Looks like a copy and paste traditional vegas casino design.

I love the Central project. Chicago needs this badly!

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I feel like with this, Lincoln Yards, Bronzeville, and the 78, Chicago can at least catch up to NYC in some ways. Getting that extra bit of infill and developing some architectural stronghold on the near south side would really help in terms of achieving that additional urbanization that this city needs. NYC is taking a bit of a breather right now, so Chicago, it’s your time to strike. The 606 needs a real termination spot like the High Line has in NYC, so Lincoln Yards is the best bet. Bronseville should teach NYC that it’s okay to build really high-density development in mid-rise public housing areas. The 78 should be a decent, smaller project that puts some pressure on the holdouts surrounding it. Overall, there are some dice here Chicago.

Chicago needs to build more supertalls to compete with New York. It used to have more than New York… now it has 1/4 of the supertalls.

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It should. Vista Tower is complete, and the Tribune Tower redevelopment looks to be pretty good.