MARINA CITY AND LAKE POINT TOWER CHICAGO

 

From 1960 until 1991, Chicago was home to the tallest residential buildings in the world. 1960-1968 MARINA CITY I AND MARINA CITY II:  Marina City is a mixed-use residential-commercial building complex designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg.  The complex consists of two 587-foot 65-story apartment towers, and occupies almost an entire city block on State Street on the north bank of the Chicago River on the Near North Side, directly across from the Loop.  When finished, the two towers were both the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. The complex was built as a "city within a city", featuring numerous on-site facilities including a theater, gym, swimming pool, ice rink, bowling alley, stores, restaurants, and, of course, a marina.  1968-1991 LAKE POINT TOWER:  Lake Point Tower is a residential skyscraper located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago, just north of the Chicago River at 505 North Lake Shore Drive. It is the only skyscraper in the city east of Lake Shore Drive.  Lake Point Tower was completed in 1968, is approximately 645 feet tall, and was the tallest apartment building in the world at that time.  Its tall curved three wing 'Y' shape was an inspiration for the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by Chicago-born architect Adrian Smith.

MARINA CITY I AND II (LEFT) AND LAKE POINT TOWER (RIGHT)

KENNETH C. GRIFFIN – RESIDENTIAL PURCHASES – NYC AND CHICAGO

 

Kenneth Griffin, born October 15, 1968 is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chief executive (CEO), Co-Chief Investment Officer (Co-CIO) and majority owner of the investment firm Citadel.  Griffin owns an expansive private luxury real estate portfolio valued at around $1 billion.  In 2019 Griffin set the record for the most expensive residential sale ever closed in the U.S., when he purchased roughly 24,000 square feet across three floors at 220 Central Park South for $238 million. The space was “raw space” meaning Griffin had to build it out.  In 2017 Griffin, who is a resident of Chicago, purchased a penthouse apartment atop the No. 9 Walton, a luxury condo tower, for $58.75 million. The purchase broke the record for the most expensive sale in Chicago’s history.

220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South is composed of two sections: a 70-story, 950-foot tower on 58th Street that is the 17th-tallest building in New York City, and an 18-story section on Central Park South.

Looking east along 58th Street across 9th Avenue
By Jim.henderson - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=82938492

MILLENNIUM PARK – CHICAGO

Millennium Park is a public park in downtown Chicago. The park, which is bounded by Michigan Avenue, Randolph Street, Columbus Drive and East Monroe Drive, features a variety of public art. The park covers a 24.5-acre section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously occupied by parkland, Illinois Central’s rail yards, and parking lots. Because the park sits atop a parking garage and commuter rail Millennium Station, it is considered the world’s largest rooftop garden.

MILLENNIUM PARK (LOOKING NORTH - MICHIGAN AVENUE ON THE LEFT)

CHICAGO CHRISTMAS WEATHER HISTORY

MCDERMOTT STREET – CHICAGO, IL

Chicago’s shortest street is McDermott Street, a tiny stub off Archer Avenue in the Bridgeport neighborhood. The street is officially listed at 1400 west, from 2928 to 2936 south. That’s eight address points.

View from Archer Avenue

WRIGLEY FIELD CENTER-FIELD FLAGS

At Wrigley Field, the color-coded flags of each team flown above the center-field scoreboard are arranged daily to reflect National League division standings in win-loss order. Until divisional play began in 1969, the team standings flags were arranged with top four NL teams on the left-field side, the bottom four on the right. Now three poles are used to inform fans of the current order of the league’s three-divisions.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY BY THE NUMBERS

You will find more infographics at Statista

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY IN CHICAGO

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

TELEPHONE AREA CODE 3-2-1

Area code 312 was the original area code assigned to the Chicago metropolitan area. It remains today as the area code for downtown Chicago. When area codes were initially assigned under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), area code 321 was reserved for future use in the Chicago area. In 1999, the 407-area code in central Florida was to be split with the east coast (Space Coast) to be assigned a new area code. A local resident by the name of Robert Osband launched (pun intended) a drive to have 3-2-1 assigned as the new area code. The code refers to the countdown sequence for spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral. Osband’s efforts were successful and 321 was activated for the Space Coast in 2000. When it was activated in 2000, area code 321 was used as an overlay for most of area code 407 in the Orlando area. (An overlay is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to a geographic numbering plan area (NPA)). 321 is the only area code in North America that is the overlay of one area code and the sole area code elsewhere. 10-digit dialing* is mandatory in both areas.

*Your humble blogger happened to live in central Florida when 10-digit dialing became mandatory. For those of you not familiar with 10-digit dialing, this meant that you had to dial the area code for all calls. For example, if I wanted to call my next-door neighbor, who also had an area code of 407, I still had to dial the area code + the telephone number (10-digits). As an aside, it quickly became routine to dial 10 numbers every time you made a call. So much so, that when I moved from area code 407 and no longer had to do 10-digit dialing, it became a difficult habit to break.

THE MANHATTAN BUILDING - CHICAGO

The Manhattan Building is a 16-story building at 431 South Dearborn Street in Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney and constructed from 1889 to 1891. It is the oldest surviving skyscraper in the world to use a purely skeletal supporting structure. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1976, and designated a Chicago Landmark on July 7, 1978.

Manhattan Building 431 S. Dearborn St. Chicago, IL

MOSCOW V. CHICAGO

Moscow, Russia (969 square miles) is 4.1 times bigger than Chicago (233 square miles).

CHICAGO ZIP CODE 60629

Zip code 60629 is the most populated zip code in the city of Chicago

STATS AND DEMOGRAPHICS FOR ZIP CODE 60629
Population	113,916
Population Density (people per square mile)	16,726
Housing Units	34,000
Median Home Value	$159,700
Median Household Income	$40,650

NEMA CHICAGO

When NEMA Chicago is completed in 2019 it will be the 9^th tallest building in Chicago.

Official Name	NEMA Chicago
Name of Complex	Central Station
Street Address	1200 South Indiana Ave.
Building Function	Residential
Structural Material	Concrete
Completion	2019

TEN TALLEST BUILDINGS IN CHICAGO

1		Willis Tower	1974	442 m
2		Trump International Hotel and Tower	2009	423 m
3		Vista Tower	2020	363 m
4		AON Center	1973	346 m
5		875 North Michigan Avenue	1969	344 m
6		The Franklin – North Tower	1989	307 m
7		Two Prudential Plaza	1990	303 m
8		311 South Wacker Drive	1990	293 m
9		NEMA Chicago	2019	270 m
10		900 North Michigan Avenue	1989	265 m

	Completed
	Under Construction

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, CHICAGO AND THE PANAMA CANAL (HOW PANAMA CITY GOT ITS NAME)

A straight line from Chicago passes through Panama City, Florida and continues on to the Panama Canal.

The development in this once unincorporated part of Northwest Florida had previous names such as Floriopolis, Park Resort, and Harrison. In 1906, the development was named Panama City and it was first incorporated as Panama City in 1909. According to the Panama City Public Library's A History of Panama City, George Mortimer West hoped to spur real estate development in Bay County during a period of intense popular interest in the construction of the Panama Canal by changing the town's name from Harrison to Panama City, because a straight line between Chicago and the capital of the Central American country of Panama intersected the Florida town. Additionally, since required meanders around land formations in a seaborne route to the canal added distance when starting at other ports, Panama City was the closest developed port in the US mainland to the Caribbean entrance of the Panama Canal.

10 HIGHEST PROPERTY TAX BILLS FOR 2015 IN COOK COUNTY, IL

There are roughly 1.4 million residential properties in Cook County. In Chicago, the average bill rose 12.8%, to $3,663 (increase from 2015 to 2016).

10 HIGHEST PROPERTY TAX BILLS FOR 2015  IN COOK COUNTY, IL
OWNER	LOCATION	TAX ($)	INCREASE FROM 2014
Terry A. McKay	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	300,439	+2.2%
Dimitry Godin	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	294,012	+2.2%
Donald Wilson	Dickens Ave., Chicago	261,524*	+25.6%
Richard Parillo	Burling Street, Chicago	256,172	+10.4%
Muneer Satter	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	246,455	+23.1%
Lorrill A. Haynes**	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	246,035	+2.2%
Cameel Halim	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	245,640	+2.2%
Sinjay Shah	Wabash Ave.,*** Chicago	223,502	****
Byron Trott	Sheridan Road, Winnetka	222,016	+2.2%
Karen Citow	Lakewood Dr., Winnetka	219,265	-10%

*This was an increase of $53,277 from the prior year’s bill.

**Prior owner; new owner’s name does not appear in the county records.

***89^th floor penthouse at Trump International Hotel and Tower. Owner purchased the unit for $17 million at the end of 2014.

****In the prior year, the property was still owned by the Trump Tower developer and was considered vacant property.

Crain's Chicago Business

ORIGINS OF CHICAGO PLACENAMES

ORIGINS OF CHICAGO PLACENAMES
KEY
STREET/AVENUE	NEIGHBORHOOD	OTHER

Altgeld Gardens	John Peter Altgeld (1847-1902), Governor from 1893-1897
Ashburn	The community served as dumping ground in the 1800s to the turn of the century for ashes collected from Chicagoan’s fireplaces and coal-fired furnaces.
Ashland Ave.	The Ashland estate of Kentucky statesman Henry Clay
Blue Island Ave.	Led to “Blue Island”, a ridge of land that appeared to be an island to pioneers.
Bridgeport	Claimed to be for a bridge over the Illinois and Michigan Canal, although there is no evidence that the bridge ever existed.
Bubbly Creek	The creek derives its name from the gases bubbling out of the riverbed from the decomposition of blood and entrails dumped into the river in the early 20th century by the local meatpacking businesses surrounding the Union Stockyards.
Bucktown	Residents kept goats in their yards
Canaryville	Refers to the sparrows who fed in the stockyards and railroad cars in the late 19th century. The name may also refer to youth gangs in the neighborhood, who were known as “wild canaries”.
Clybourn Ave.	Archibald Clybourn, the first police constable of Chicago
Constance Ave.	Konstanz, Germany
Cook County	Daniel Pope Cook, who served as the second U.S. Representative from Illinois and first Attorney General of the State of Illinois.
Damen Ave.	Father Arnold Damen, founder of St. Ingatius College Preparatory School.
Englewood	Englewood, NJ
Fullerton Ave.	Alexander N. Fullerton (1804-1880), lawyer and lumber magnate, who arrived in Chicago in 1833.
Garfield Park	The centerpiece of a three park and interlinking boulevard system, the 185-acre park (formerly Central Park) was renamed to honor twentieth President of the U.S. James A. Garfield after his assassination in 1881.
Grant Park	Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the U.S. Originally named Lake Park; it was renamed for Grant in 1901.
Halsted Street	William Ogden named it for William and Caleb Halsted, brothers from New York who developed parts of the Loop.
Hegewisch	Adolph Hegewisch, who laid out the town of Hegewisch which is now part of the 10th Ward of Chicago
Hirsch Street	Also Hirsch High School; rabbinical scholar Emil Gustav Hirsch
Hoyne Ave.	Named after Thomas Hoyne, who was elected to be mayor of Chicago, but was never allowed to take office.
Hyde Park	Named by developer Paul Cornell to evoke the wealth of Hyde Park, NY, and Hyde Park, London.
Jeffrey Boulevard	Edward T. Jeffery, Chief Engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad.
Kedzie Ave.	John H. Kedzie (1815-1903), an attorney who developed the North and West Sides of Chicago and parts of Evanston. He helped establish the Republican Party in Illinois.
Lake Shore Drive	The downtown portion opened as Leif Ericson Drive in 1937 and was also called Field Boulevard, but in 1946 was renamed Lake Shore Drive.
Maxwell Street	Dr. Phillip Maxwell, one of Chicago’s first surgeons.
North Ave.	Was the northern boundary of the city when the street was named.
Ogden Ave.	William Butler Ogden, first mayor of Chicago
Randolph St.	Named for Randolph County, Illinois as was part of the original plot of Chicago.
Rush St.	Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Rush Street dated back to the 1830s incorporation of Chicago.
Sibley Boulevard	Known as 147th Street (Sibley Street in Hammond, Indiana only
Southport Ave.	Led to Kenosha, Wisconsin, which was formerly named Southport.
Stony Island Ave.	Leads to Stony Island, a ridge of land that appeared to be an island to pioneers.
Torrence Ave.	Named for Civil War General Joseph T. Torrence. He led the Chicago militia during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
Vincennes Ave.	Led to Fort Vincennes, Indiana
Wacker Dr.	Charles H. Wacker, chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission, who pushed the idea of a double decked roadway along the Chicago River.
Western Ave.	Was the western boundary of the city when the street was named.