Streeterville Real Estate Updates

Northwestern University recently announced that Perkins+Will won the design competition held for the biomedical building to replace Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital. You can read the full announcement here.

Gail Spreen, SOAR president and chair-Real Estate Committee, said, "We are eager to continue to work with Northwestern University to ensure that Perkins+Will reviews, understands and implements the organization's Planning and Zoning Principles and issues raised in the letter we sent to the University last month. There will be opportunities for the community to review the project in various stages and SOAR will play a significant role in organizing meetings." Read the letter to the University and online comments.

 The SOAR Real Estate Committee heard a presentation from Optima Chicago Center this week and will issue comments soon. Read about the proposal.

In other real estate news, a previously planned hotel development at 150 E. Ontario that was stalled, is seeing action on the site. Read the details.  

Thanks to Chicago Curbed for their interesting compilation of current Streeterville construction.

Congratulations to the folks at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive for being among the most pet-friendly buildings in the city. Read about it.

SOAR Welcomes New Supervisor of Lake Shore Park

Welcome to Juan "Dan" Puente, the new supervisor of Lake Shore Park, who recently arrived from the same assignment at Wicker Park. To enable everyone to get to know Dan, we soon will include a story about him in News Briefs. He can be reached at 312.742.7891.

The Lake Shore Park Advisory Council, whose president is Streeterville resident Peggy Holst, meets at 4:00 pm on the second Monday of each month at 808 N. Lake Shore Drive. The next meeting is Monday, June 10. Board member Howard W. Melton represents SOAR on the Council. If you have concerns you'd like to raise, please contact him. For more information visit the Lake Shore Park webpage.

Participants in the May 1st Safety & Security Panel Announced

SOAR task force co-chairs Craig Kaiser and Manny Martinez announce participants in the Safety and Security Panel discussion on Wednesday, May 1, at the Allerton Hotel, 701 N. Michigan, beginning with registration at 6 pm. From the Chicago Police Department 18th District: Commander William Dunn; Chicago Transit Authority: Jim Keating, chief of security; Navy Pier, John Graeber, director-safety and security; Northwestern University: Chief of Police Bruce Lewis and Assistant Chief Dan McAleer; Loyola University Water Tower Campus: Police Lieutenant Bob Langan.

The SOAR Safety and Security Task Force is developing a very exciting new approach to safety and security in our community modeled on the Chicago Police Department's Community Symposium Initiative. To initiate the project they have invited senior security leadership to participate in a panel to discuss how we, as a community, can make Streeterville the "Safest Neighborhood in Chicago".

Residents will be educated on the resources available to protect themselves and the community.  Following the speakers, there will be a Q&A period where residents can ask questions. This program is FREE. Register today.

SOAR Forms Preservation/Landmark Task Force

SOAR is pleased to announce the formation of the Preservation/Landmark Task Force, chaired by Shelley Gorson, with Maurice Champagne, Betty Eaton and Gail Spreen as founding members.

The mission of the task force is to "identify buildings in Streeterville with architectural or historical significance in order to advocate for their preservation as part of the urban fabric of our community."

View the task force process and the Chicago Historic Resources Survey buildings in Streeterville: North-South Streets and East-West Streets. (Note these are large documents and may take a few minutes to download.) 

Alderman Robert Fioretti Town Hall (Ward 2), April 10

On Wednesday, April 10, 2nd Ward Alderman, Robert Fioretti will give a brief address after which there will be a question and answer period.

 

Town Hall Meeting with Alderman Robert Fioretti 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Registration 5:30 pm, Town Hall 6:00 pm

Northwestern University Law School, Rubloff-Thorne Auditorium

375 E. Chicago Ave.

RSVP Today

SOAR has asked Alderman Fioretti to address these topics of interest to our members during his initial 20 minute address:

• When issues of commonality arise how will you and the Alderman of the 42nd Ward collaborate?

• Many things, when looked at individually, don't seem to have a lot of impact on traffic. Things such as CTA and Free Enterprise bus staging, increase of buses due to BRT project, new residential, commercial, and institutional development, and an increase in using traffic lanes for protected bike lanes. But when layered on top of one another, these individual things have a big impact on the flow of traffic and pedestrians into and out of Streeterville, as well as impact the quality of life of the neighborhood. How are you addressing all of these elements collectively to ensure their compound effect is something that Streeterville can absorb? How are you working with the various city agencies and developers to ensure a holistic view is being taken into account when individual projects are being approved?

• Discuss what actions you will take this year in Streeterville in the areas of greening, preservation, and parks.

• Safety & Security issues continue to be a big concern among Streeterville residents and, with spring and warm weather approaching, we are vulnerable to multiple offender incidents, loitering and large crowds moving to and from beaches, etc.  What do you see as your role in helping Streeterville to manage these security concerns and what exactly will be your strategies to deal with these on-going problems?