Results tagged “loop”

42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, who represents the north end of Chicago's downtown, is opposing efforts by the city's commercial property owners to establish a TIF district in the East Loop, bounded by Wacker, Randolph, Columbus and Wabash. "Owner reinvestment and market forces should ultimately decide ‘winners’ and ‘losers,’ not TIF subsidies,” Reilly said in a press release. “The East Loop TIF proposal appears to provide a competitive advantage to those properties within the proposed TIF boundary. The intent of TIF was never to place surrounding properties at a leasing disadvantage. This proposal would very likely have exactly that effect.” Reilly seems to understand that TIFs were intended to combat blighted neighborhoods, not subsidize established business.

Those of us who've been jonesing for a conveniently located high-end movie theater complete with tableside liquor service and extra-wide, plush seating have been dissed once again. The Trib is reporting that Muvico Entertainment, which was to have opened such an establishment as part of Block 37, actually withdrew from the project back in June. Block 37 in trouble? News to us! Oh well--back to the Brew & View we go.

    

On Saturday, a team of Eyewitness News Chicagoist scribes were walking the streets of downtown Chicago (which we enjoy), scribbling metaphors about the gritty city into our Pulitzer Prize-winning notebooks and getting all hopped up on coffee drinks, when we encountered this young man and his sign standing on the Boule Mich, just outside the Art Institute. "Will play Nietzsche trivia for a dollar," it says. "If you win I will give you 50 push-ups." He told us his name is Michael, and that he comes here by way of San Francisco. He'll be sticking around town for a while, so brush up on your Zarathustra and pay him a visit. Oh, and yes, that's a Nietzsche tattoo.

         

On Saturday, Chicagoist decided to play tourist and take some photos of life in the Loop. Our favorite subject of the day was this man (pictured), who with CD player in hand and dance moves in motion turned a N. Michigan Ave. median strip into his own stage from which to entertain pedestrians and traffic. We don't know your name or your mission, Mr. Dancer, but your moxie makes you our new hero.

     

The man shot dead by police during the incident in the Loop yesterday afternoon has been identified as 45-year-old Jacob Paul Stolarz. After yesterday's flurry of unconfirmed reports, here's what we now know:

Starting Monday morning River North residents heading to the Loop have a new option for their weekday commute. The Water Taxi will be making a new stop along the River Walk at the edge of Erie Park between North Larrabee and West Erie, in addition to the stops at Michigan Avenue and Union Station. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) plugged it as the “first ever residential-oriented stop” and told the Tribune it would “ease downtown congestion at no cost to the city.”

We're having flashbacks to when Marshall Field's became Macy's or when Comiskey Park became U.S. Cellular Field. Forget about that proposed paint job. The Sears Tower, currently the tallest building in the U.S, is due to be renamed Willis Tower. London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd. is about to become the tower's largest tenant, taking over 140,000 square feet of space. And that means bragging rights. “Having our name associated with Chicago’s most iconic structure underscores our commitment to this great city, and recognizes Chicago’s importance as a major financial hub and international business center,” said Joseph J. Plumeri, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. They'll have about 500 employees working in the building when the move is complete.

In an attempt to cater to more than just tourists and business types, a new web-based initiative called Loop U Chicago launched Thursday. The site links up 35 businesses - ranging from Old Navy to the Art Institute - with 16 campuses and an estimated 60,000 Loop students. It offers users access to coupons, exclusive discounts, scholarships, job and internship offerings and news and event listings.

Illinois ranked ninth in the country for total number of foreclosed properties in 2008 -- at almost 100,000 -- but it’s not just homeowners who are suffering. A New York-based investment firm has only a few days left to pay off more than $48 million in loans on the building at 500 W. Monroe St., or it could be become the first Chicago skyscraper in a decade to face foreclosure, Crain’s Chicago Business reports.

After years of talking, the City of Chicago might finally get cracking on the Carroll Avenue project, which would utilize the old bridge near Kinzie and the connected tunnel that runs beneath the Merchandise Mart as a means to connect train stops (presumably both Metra and CTA) in the West Loop to Michigan Ave.

The city envisions a streetcar -- or an express bus -- picking up passengers at the train stations and carrying them north along Clinton. City officials would like to create an underpass under the Metra tracks so cars and buses wouldn't have to wait for the train.

Continue reading "Bridge to Somewhere?"

An electrical fire broke out in a residential high-rise located at 54 E. Madison in the Loop earlier this morning. The fire occurred in the basement and was put out 45 minutes after it broke out. The CTA is rerouting some buses but said trains running on the adjacent elevated tracks along on Wabash were not affected. The biggest inconvenience was a mile-long traffic jam extending south on Michigan as that street was blocked to allow access for fire trucks.

We first visited Vong’s Thai Kitchen almost four years ago, after seeing its dessert selection featured on an episode of "Top Five" on the Food Network. An oasis of good taste and value in a section of River North dominated by large chains like P.F. Chang’s, VTK was created by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten in 2002. Vong’s Thai Kitchen is labeled as French/Thai fusion, but it leans heavily towards the Thai, offering faithful renditions of traditional specialties in a trendy downtown atmosphere.

The city continues to lose its ever-lovin' mind as four people were shot in the Loop Thursday night, one fatally, as roughly a million people left Grant Park following the city's annual lakefront fireworks display. The gunshots sent the crowd of celebrators scattering for cover behind cars. The first shooting happened near Dearborn and Van Buren. Courtney Thomas, 20, was shot in the head around 10:40 p.m. and pronounced dead shortly thereafter at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Moments later, there was another shooting nearby at Clark and Van Buren where a 17-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. He was treated and released. Two more young men were shot close to that scene: one in the butt and one suffering a grazed bullet to the head. Again, both were treated and released. As of this morning, police are holding a suspect whom they believe to be responsible for all three shootings, which were likely gang-related. [Trib, S-T, CBS2]

Block 37 is a black hole where money and plans go to die, and when you combine those forces with the CTA's money-guzzling abilities, well, it's the financial equivalent of a a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see. Time to call City Hall for a bail-out.

A large sculpture that was removed from its 150 N. Michigan location three years ago was quietly put back up last month, but the artist is pissed.

A man police called mentally unstable randomly attacked six people in the Loop yesterday, including a 75-year-old woman and ABC 7 anchor Cheryl Burton. No one was seriously hurt, and police have the suspect in custody.

A bomb threat at DePaul and a suspicious briefcase at the Dirksen Federal Building both turned out to be nothing tonight, but the school's Loop campus was evacuated and police closed the Jackson Red and Blue Line stops while they investigated. [S-T, Trib]