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The troubled Block 37 project seems to have suffered another setback today as David Barton Gym, "the first and largest retail tenant to sign," has pulled out of an agreement to put a 40,000 square foot gym on the top level of the structure. Instead, Barton will be focusing on a gym located at The Roosevelt Collection, a mixed-use project in the South Loop. Said Barton, "Even though Block 37 has suffered a few delays, I do think that the project will be a success in the long term. However, I have instead decided to focus on the Roosevelt Collection project which will cover the region effectively and makes more sense for my growth strategy."
Sources say missed construction deadlines are what allowed Barton to back out of the project. In an official statement released to the media, developer Joseph Freed & Associates LLC said, "We have been working with them since we took control and would like to retain them. Recently the company has been trying to extricate itself by making various claims, but we understand the economy is the real factor here." A spokesman for Freed said more tenants for the project would be announced "over the coming holiday season." Freed, the third developer to take on the project, claims on its website that the project is still scheduled for a Summer 2009 opening.
Photo by chascarper
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So, besides Channel 2, what's left in this monstrosity?
Barton probably wanted to back out anyway. with the economy the way it is, an upscale gym like that is probably suffering already.
Landlords need to be way, way more generous to their tenants. Until that happpens this will keep happnening.
Also what an embarassment that CBS won't even complete the televisions in the center that they promised.
I wish they'd finish the damn thing so they can re-open that stretch of the Pedway allowing me to NEVER have to surface between the train and the office in the winter!
Here, here tankboy. I been waiting to go from my office at the Thompson center to the Bally's gym around the corner from Old Navy on state for YEARS now. C'mon, it's going to be REAL winter pretty soon!
This has got to be the most cursed piece of property in the US.
More to the point though is the complete ineptitude and mismanagement of the parcel. How hard can it be to build a fricking shopping mall? There have been skyscrapers erected in this city faster than the time it has taken B37 to get to this point..and now they're predicting a fall '09 finish date. What a complete joke.
Unfortunately I think the pedway is closed indefinitely. Without the money to finish the transit station there, the pedway is left unusable as well. The above ground portion being finished will not open the pedway. Not this winter Tankboy, and probably not for a couple more.
Via CTA Tattler and other sources, the Washington St. tunnel between Dearborn and State will never reopen until the airport "express" train station is finished...which is probably never, or at the very least hinges on the Olympics.
How hard can it be to build a fricking shopping mall?
Any other mayor but Daley would have had something up and running there in month and as the years went by we would have just accepted it as part of the city landscape (does anyone still refer to the Thompson Center as "the spaceship" anymore?). Unfortunately Daley the artiste has to give it a distinctive mark and purpose and footprint and whatever, meaning skipping out on some much-needed revenue for years to come.
yep
I like the sound of "Patronage Express" better than "Airport Express".
All the construction mess, closed sidewalks and lanes get more irritating everyday. If we can't manage to finish up one little project like this on time, I sincerely don't want to know what it will be like to live here during construction for the Olympics.
Unfortunately Daley the artiste has to give it a distinctive mark and purpose and footprint and whatever, meaning skipping out on some much-needed revenue for years to come.
And even still, we only ended up with a bland mid-rise building.
If we can't manage to finish up one little project like this on time, I sincerely don't want to know what it will be like to live here during construction for the Olympics.
I worry about that, too (I oppose the Olympics but think that Obama's election is going to give us the games). And let's not forget the cost and schedule overruns on major projects such as Mil. Park and O'Hare runways, both of which the mayor had major responsibilities for. He also can't keep the police staffed to a safe level. Why people think he, along with a successor, perhaps, can help create the infrastructure for the Chicago games is beyond me.
This guy is a fucking joke. Just being white and vaguely Irish (fake Chicago Irish, that is) does not a good mayor make, despite the fantasies of so many people in this city.
Successor? There is no way Daley doesnt stay in office until the games. He will run and he will win.
There is no way Daley doesnt stay in office until the games.
You are probably right, but I can see a scenario that, once Daley beats his old man's record, he "retires" to some supervisory position for the Games, and also backs a successor, who would basically function as Mevedev to his Putin.
Living in Chicago has made me paranoid about politics, I guess.
Some kind of Putin & Mevedev scenario is exactly how I'd imagine it too matilda. I don't think you're paranoid.
Daley will be Obi Wan Kenobi-ing some young machine padawan in the ways of the power and corruption force......