Saturday, April 14, 2007

Is Streeterville the loser in this 3 way battle?

Three downtown lakefront areas are sprouting high rise condominiums at a remarkable place:

Streeterville, Lakeshore East, Central Station

To me, Streeterville is the unquestionable loser in the group and when all is done and built, will be the worst of the three areas.

Both Lakeshore East and Museum Park stem from planned developments. As such, they were able to give considerable discretion to appropriate placement of parks. In addition, they even had power in altering the city's street grid to help soften the effect of extremely tall buildings. Further, town houses/rowhouses were part of the plan to prevent a forest of high rises. Overview and planning has helped to create an inviting atmosphere in both areas.

And then there's Streeterville.

Always popular, it is now more than that. It's hot. It 's old shipping/industrial era is now out of sight and the location, the lake, and the river were too powerful forces to keep it down. Meanwhile, that endless string of parking lots were something no developer could pass up. So what do we have going on today? Endless high rises where residents will be looking into each other's windows. No master plan, no open space, perhaps Manhattan like density. All high rises....and no rapid transit in a setting that is beginning to look as oppressive as the bland high rise stretch due west of the Mag Mile.

A pity.>

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