The annual Emporis Skyscraper Awards unveiled ten winning tall projects today with the new Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, Russia taking the top spot this year.
Standing 1,515 feet (462 meters) tall, the GORPROJECT & RMJM-designed headquarters for natural gas giant Gazprom is the tallest building in Russia as well as in Europe and ranks number 14 worldwide.
The Paragon in Chicago’s South Loop took the seventh spot.
Chicago developer John Murphy is jump-starting a stalled 12-story apartment project in downtown Skokie after securing a $38.5 million construction loan for the building.
Murphy took control of the 153-unit development at 8000 N. Lincoln Ave. at what seemed like a bad time: In April, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The stock market had just crashed, the economy was in lockdown and lenders were in no mood to finance big, risky real estate projects.
The long neglected old black-and-white floor tile is no longer covered in grit and dirt, now cleaned and polished to a sheen. The water leaks are gone. A drop ceiling has been removed to reveal ornamental plaster and crown molding.
Some of the old surgical halls — their seats rusted over or covered in graffiti just last year – have been repurposed into hotel rooms, with wallpaper featuring the Chicago skyline and other Chicago-centric art.
For most of a century starting in 1916, the massive Cook County Hospital opened its healing hallways to wave upon wave of new and often destitute Chicagoans. European immigrants came first, followed by African Americans of the Great Migration from southern states. Latino and Asian newcomers, too, received world-class care from thousands of America’s best-trained physicians.
The renovation and reinvention of the old Cook County Hospital is a triumph of historic preservation, one that should resonate far beyond the walls of the beloved Beaux-Arts landmark on Chicago’s Near West Side.
Not only does it give new life to an ornate, more-is-more work of architecture that Cook County leaders, unconscionably, had in their demolition crosshairs 17 years ago.
Stroll through the co-working lounge at The Paragon apartment high-rise in the South Loop, and you feel like you’re in a library. It’s that quiet.
More than a dozen residents are spread out amid the massive space, hunched over laptop computers and smartphones. Several more are camped out behind the glass walls of private conference rooms where they hold meetings or make phone calls without disturbing anyone. Some are working in small groups, but most are engaged in individual pursuits. To read the full article click here.
These new buildings enhanced the look and character of the neighborhoods around them this year—some of them in surprising ways. Read the full story here
Michigan State University’s vision of transforming health care via biomedical research received a big boost today with support and a significant gift from Doug Meijer and the Meijer Foundation.
In June, Health Innovation Partners (a real estate development joint venture between MB Real Estate, Walsh Construction/Walsh Investors and Rockford Construction) and MSU signed a long-term lease for the development of a medical innovation building and parking structure at the MSU Grand Rapids Innovation Park. The first building at the site, the MSU Grand Rapids Research Center, opened September 2017. The Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Facility is anticipated to open in late 2021. Read the full article here.
The southwest edge of the Loop, for decades a sleepy buffer between downtown office skyscrapers and South Loop residential high-rises, is ready for its multibillion-dollar awakening. Just south of Willis Tower, Murphy Development Group is seeking anchor tenants to kick off construction of 50-story office towers alongside the existing 65-story skyscraper at 311 S. Wacker Drive. Read the full Chicago Tribune article here.
Murphy Development Group and CIM Group have refinanced the Paragon, a 47-story high-rise at 1326 S. Michigan Ave., with a $150 million loan, allowing them to pull nearly $60 million out of the project. Read the full story here.
