| Chicago’s Marina City • River North • North Loop | Steven Dahlman, Editor | news.MarinaCityOnline.com |
26-Jan-12 – Fueled by a $2.7 million pledge from media giants Comcast and NBC, the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago expects to “reopen fully” by June 13, its 25th anniversary. The museum announced the support on Thursday. Comcast will donate half a million dollars worth of 30-second television spots on its cable system to promote the museum. NBC News and NBC 5 Chicago, also known as WMAQ-TV, will “make available” historic artifacts for the museum to display. NBC News has also committed $200,000 to help the museum complete construction of some exhibits. “We are grateful to have Comcast, NBC News, and NBC 5 Chicago – institutions that have contributed so much to the history of television – show so much support for our new facility,” said MBC founder Bruce DuMont in a news release. “We are excited to open our doors and share the experience with visitors.”
MBC has hosted events at its unfinished new location on North State Street, next door to Marina City, since last June, when DuMont called his museum “a work in progress.”
19-Jan-12 – Except for a large chunk of real estate in the northeast corner, the 42nd Ward emerged mostly unscathed in Thursday’s redistricting of Chicago’s 50 wards. The city council voted 41 to 8 to approve a new ward map. In the deep south of the 42nd ward, Alderman Brendan Reilly, who voted in favor of the new boundaries, picks up a few blocks here, loses a few blocks there. Up north, while an area north of Superior Street and east of Michigan Avenue is now in the 43rd ward, Reilly holds onto Michigan Avenue and Rush Street. What is missing is a large portion of the Gold Coast and about one-third of Streeterville in the northeast corner of the ward, where much of the ward’s population was located, explained Reilly in his weekly newsletter on Monday. “Dramatic, painful changes to our ward boundaries were inevitable,” wrote Reilly. “I worked very long hours and did my level best to keep as many of our downtown neighborhoods as whole as possible.” From Lake Shore Drive, the new northern border goes west on Superior Street, north on Michigan Avenue, west on Cedar Street, and south on State Street. It then goes around two blocks, taking Delaware Place east to Wabash Avenue, then south on Wabash to Pearson Street, where it goes one block west to rejoin State Street. Then, three blocks south to Huron Street, west to LaSalle Street, north to Chicago Avenue, and west to the Chicago River. Every ten years, the city redraws political boundaries according to population counts. With a population of about 80,000, almost 1.5 times the size of most wards, Reilly said last November the 42nd Ward was a candidate for redistricting. The new boundaries will take effect in time for the general election on November 6. Updated 23-Jan-12. Click on image above to view larger map. (Below) The old ward map.
17-Jan-12 – (Above) Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel tours the newly renovated CTA Red Line station at Grand Avenue and State Street this morning. Emanuel officially re-opened the station following three years of work that cost taxpayers $73.6 million. “Having world-class infrastructure is a key focus for any world-class city,” said the mayor. “These targeted and strategic investments in our infrastructure will allow Chicagoans and visitors to get around the city more easily – to jobs, businesses, and neighborhoods.” The station’s first renovation since being built in the early 1940s added new escalators, elevators, stairs, information and security systems, and more space. According to a forecast for the Chicago Central Area Plan, by 2020 an average of 16,000 people per day will use the station to ride the Red Line. At left is CTA President Forrest Claypool. (Photo obtained from Mayor’s Press Office. Click on image to view larger version.) 22-Jan-12 – The owner and president of Chicago’s First Lady Cruises has been reappointed to a national board that advises the Secretary of Commerce. Holly Agra is one of 32 members on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The other Chicagoan is Rosemarie Andolino, Commissioner of the Chicago Airport Authority.
Since 2003, the board has advised the Secretary of Commerce on matters related to the travel and tourism industry in the United States. This is Agra’s second term on the board. She will serve through January 2014. 29-Jan-12 – Three buildings north of Adams Street have each been recognized as “The Outstanding Building of the Year,” or TOBY for short. The awards “recognize excellence in office building management,” according to a news release. Competing in nine categories based on building size and type of facility, nominees were judged on such qualities as tenant relations, environmental sustainability, and emergency preparedness. 55 West Wacker Drive, managed by MB Real Estate, won in the 100,000-249,000 square feet category. 101 North Wacker Drive, managed by Hines Interests Limited Partnership, won in the Renovated Building Category. And The Realtor Building at 430 North Michigan Avenue, managed by GNP Management Group, won in the Corporate Facility Category.
The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago announced this year’s winners on Friday at an awards gala in the Great Hall at Union Station. “These office buildings drive our economy and outstanding property management is essential to ensuring Chicago remains a global center of commerce,” said Robert Six, president of BOMA Chicago. Chicago TOBY winners will be invited to compete against winners from other cities in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.
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26-Jan-12 – Six refugees from four Chicago bands have named their new group after the “two iconic towers in the heart of the Chicago skyline,” according to a rough cut of Marina City’s new website. The band says its music “flirts with rock, pop, and electronica genres.” Lead singer Ryan Alan, rhythm guitarist Brian Johnson, keyboardist Matt Gaudiano, lead guitarist Ricky Sutton, Nick Mooneyham on bass guitar, and drummer Eric Somers-Urrea created Marina City last year and are working on their first album. They expect In The Wake Of Dreaming to be released this spring. “The sextet has taken inspiration from their namesake and started to change the face of the Chicago music scene,” reads the band’s page on onesheet.com. “Marina City takes the best of many genres, crafting a unique blend of in-your-face rock, a heavy dose of electronica synth, pop-punk melodies, and even the occasional use of piano to help you shed a tear.” The site says Marina City was “built from the ashes” of Chicago bands American Riot, Another Perfect Getaway, A Fire In The Attic, and The Valley Jumpers.
27-Jan-12 – The last visitor has left its Modern Wing exhibit on the life’s work of architect Bertrand Goldberg, and The Art Institute of Chicago estimates more than 102,000 people stopped by over four months. Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention opened on September 14, 2011 and closed on January 15, 2012. Goldberg’s son, Geoffrey, called it “a lovely show, rigorous and lively. It appealed to both regular people and the architectural scholar – quite an accomplishment.” Next door to the exhibit, Inside Marina City, a project by architect Iker Gil and photographer Andreas Larsson, offered large photographs of residents and residences at Goldberg’s arguably most famous work. “Visitors were happy to have the chance to get a glimpse of what happens inside such an iconic building in Chicago,” said Gill. The pairing of their show with the Goldberg exhibit, he says, “worked really well.” The larger exhibit “showed the scope and quality of Goldberg’s work and Inside Marina City added the point of view of the residents of his most known building. It demonstrated that the forward-thinking ideas proposed for Marina City 50 years ago are as current as ever.” Another Goldberg exhibit continues at The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 East Ontario Street, for less than two more weeks. Bertrand Goldberg: Reflections runs through February 8. Admission is free and the gallery is open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Show Prentice Some Love” will accept an entry in any form as long as it can be digitized, is no more than 10 MB in size, and can be sent by email to loveprentice@gmail.com. The Save Prentice Coalition will select the five best entries and post them to its Facebook page for a public vote. Winners will receive prizes that include a $150 gift basket from Marina City’s BIN36 and a $100 gift certificate from 10pin Bowling Lounge. The contest deadline is February 13 at 5 p.m. Formed by a group of local architecture and preservation organizations – including AIA Chicago, Landmarks Illinois, and Preservation Chicago – the coalition says it is educating the public, including public officials, on the significance of Prentice Women’s Hospital. Although Northwestern University, the current owner of the property, has not discussed recently its plans to demolish the nearly vacant structure, they did reject proposals by Landmarks Illinois for its re-use.
Meanwhile, an advertising campaign on CTA trains started last Monday. The ads appear on the Brown and Blue lines. Landmarks Illinois declined to say how much it will cost to run the ads.
Police officer Mike Seiser, called to 10pin on January 9 at about 5:50 p.m., met a 35-year-old man outside the main entrance, who told him the gang member “made multiple threats” when he was asked to leave. Specifically, he said, “I’m going to kill you” and “I’m going to shoot you.” According to the police report, the man was waving his arms while yelling the threats. The two went looking for the gang member and found him. He was taken into custody but while being transported to 18th district police headquarters, Seiser says the man kicked the right rear window of his squad car numerous times, damaging the window frame. The man was charged with simple assault and criminal damage to government property. He was in court on January 17. The week after the incident, police were called back to 10pin, where they found a security officer trying to detain a man who, according to the police report, became hostile in the elevator as he was being escorted out of the bowling alley for causing a disturbance. When the police officer tried to take the man into custody, he “pulled away and stiffened his arms in an attempt to defeat arrest.” The officer used force to get the man into custody. He was taken to 18th district headquarters and charged with battery. The suspect in the second incident, which happened on January 14 at about 12:55 a.m., was described as a 37-year-old man who is not a resident of Illinois. 1-Feb-12 – Three executives with the real estate investment trust that owns Marina City’s Hotel Sax and adjacent commercial property have been awarded stock worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The awards are performance-based, says the company, and a significant part of their compensation.
According to a document filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock was awarded on January 26. These “time-based restricted” shares, for which the executives are eligible after a certain time period, make up about two-thirds of their equity compensation. The Maryland-based company’s board of trustees increased this percentage from half after giving the executives raises last October. They will be eligible for more stock next January and at least one more year after that.
From 1984 to 1990, he was a regular contributor to ABC Radio Networks. Dahlman has written extensively about Marina City since 2005 and is currently working on a book about its history. He is married to Dr. Carol Pandak, manager of the division at Rotary International that is eradicating polio. Please send comments, complaints, corrections, suggestions, news tips, and questions to: news@loopnorth.com. |
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