There's been some groaning on Yo over the years over the large, ugly edifices that parking structures create at street level. Why not just bury the parking structure? What's so difficult about that?

It can be expensive, for one, but there are benefits to burying parking. In Streeterville, for example, where outdoor green space comes at a premium, MCL Companies is putting in a new public park in the lot adjacent to ParkView Condominiums. Sales agent Susan Devine says the developer is in the process of excavating the site and should have the park finished by the end of summer.

The skeptic in me says, "Great, but who's going to pay for park maintenance? The condo association won't want to pay for a public park." But Devine assures me that the park won't be turned over to the condo association or the Chicago Park District; instead, MCL Companies plans to maintain it in the future. It's not uncommon for developers to offer landscaped green space, but in many cases the green space is either private or it's turned over to the park district.

Could this be an instance of genuine developer altruism?

Below are a couple more park renderings from Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates.

- Rate and review this development on NewHomeNotebook.com.

More than three-quarters of the homes at Printers Corner have sold, leaving only 20 one- and two-bedroom condos scattered throughout the 17-floor building at 170 W Polk St in the Printers Row district.

Five one-bedrooms are selling from the low $300s, and 15 two-bedrooms start in the low $400s. All the homes are ready for immediate occupancy.

All of the homes have 10-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors in the living and dining areas, carpeting in bedrooms, and crown molding. Their island kitchens include 42-inch cabinets with under-cabinet lighting, granite countertops, and GE stainless-steel appliances, while the bathrooms have ceramic tile floors and walls, whirlpool tubs and Grohe fixtures.

Parking, which had been free for buyers this spring, is back to $36,000 per space.

- Rate and review this project at NewHomeNotebook.com.

Anyone who wants the distinction of owning a new home in the Helmut Jahn-designed 600 North Fairbanks has eight chances left, according to sales agent Jennifer Owen.

The only unsold units at Schatz Development's Streeterville high-rise include two-bedroom penthouses on the 37th, 38th and 39th floors. They have 1,832 square feet of living space, 2.5 baths, 12-foot ceiling heights, and 28' x 8' outdoor terraces, and they are priced from $1.02 to $1.29 million, Owen says.

The other units include a three-bedroom priced at more than $1 million, three two-bedroom units (combinations of one-bedroom floor plans, actually) priced in the $890s to $940s, and a single one-bedroom priced in the $480s.

All of the units are finished and ready for immediate delivery. Parking is available for $57,500 to $65,000, depending on the unit purchased.

Yo readers may remember the lively discussion we had about 600 North Fairbanks back in early March. "What the he** does this building have to do with its surroundings? Is that a joke? Where is the entrance?" asked reader Paul. UptownR said it was "the best new high-rise in Chicago that I've seen in quite a while!" Now that it's been around a while, what are your thoughts on this one?

We haven't managed to post a construction update on Yo for over a year, but it sounds like Lennar Urban's Library Tower in Printers' Row is doing just fine without us. We received a press release last week announcing that first move-ins for the 17-story high-rise will begin next week, and an official grand opening will be held on July 26.

The agent manning the sales center wasn't able to provide any updated sales information, but price points are listed in the New Home Notebook from the $370s to the $880s for one- to three-bedroom condos.

The press release singles out unit 510, "the only remaining corner home in the building facing the Harold Washington Library and one of only a handful of homes that has a discounted parking spot of $20,000." (Parking is normally offered at $40,000 per space.) That two-bedroom / two-bath condo is said to have 1,430 square feet of living space, and it's priced in the $530s.

Construction timetables have been drawn up and thrown out for Renaissant Development's Park 1000 over the past couple years, and still the planned 40-story high-rise hasn't gotten off the ground. Now, more than two years after it was first announced on Yo, construction crews are nowhere in sight, and as far as I know, there's still a surface parking lot at 1000 S Michigan Ave.

Antoinette Cannatello from the Park 1000 sales center says that construction on the high-rise will probably be postponed until spring of 2009, and that part of the building could potentially be used as a hotel. If the hotel option is pursued, it's likely that the building will have fewer than the 346 condos that were originally planned, but Cannatello isn't sure what the developer will decide. Either way, she says they are still planning to go ahead the 40-story high-rise, as it was originally designed.

The above photo is one that Joel posted in 2006 of the gap in the Michigan Avenue streetwall that Park 1000 would fill.

What we really need is a construction update for Mesa Development's Legacy at Millennium Park. The first 30 of high-rise's 72 stories are up and are easily visible from Millennium Park, says sales manager Adrian Hulse. This is important - after all, the Legacy fronts Wabash Avenue, not Michigan Avenue, but some clear sight-lines will go a long way toward legitimizing the Millennium Park connection that Mesa emphasizes so strongly.

Construction crews are pouring a floor every three days, Hulse says, and the building is still on track to completion in September 2009.

The 51 homes still for sale represent almost the entire range of floor plans offered at the 356-unit building, located at 60 E Monroe St. One-bedroom / one-bath homes start in the $430s, two-bedroom / two-bath homes start in the $640s, three-bedroom homes with family rooms start at about $2.6 million, and penthouses top out at around $4.2 million.

As Patrick mentioned in February, Solomon Cordwell Buenz's design places heavy pillars inside the Legacy's condos, leaving the glass facade unmarked by structural elements. I don't think we'll be seeing that facade just yet, but hopefully we can bring you a new picture of the work site to look at alongside this rendering.

We've had surprisingly little to report about Lincoln Park 2520 over the past few months, so when reader David recently asked for an update about the tri-tower Lincoln Park development at 2520 N Lakeview Ave, it seemed like a good excuse to see what (if anything) is new.

It looks like the project is still on track to completion and first deliveries in late 2010 or early 2011, the same target Joel reported way back in October of 2006. No date has been set for the start of construction, but workers have already started "cocooning" the Mother Cabrini Shrine to protect it from the construction activity.

Sales of the one- to three-bedroom condos reached the 40-percent mark after about 100 days on the market (roughly this time last year). The sales staff might not want to admit it, but things obviously have slowed considerably since that time. A call to the sales center today revealed that the project is a little more than half sold.

Only a couple of Lincoln Park 2520's smallest one-bedrooms are still available at prices "around the $500s." Larger one-bedrooms go for as much as $1.2 million, two-bedrooms are priced from the $750s to $1.7 million, and three-bedrooms are listed from the $970s to $2.4 million. Penthouse prices reach as high as $13 million, although one unpriced unit could eventually fetch as much as $40 million, according to the agent I talked to, which is a price I've only heard associated with the Spire's swankiest penthouse.

The total number of units is also in flux, since buyers have the option of combining units. Lucien Lagrange's design called for about 300 homes, but the final total could come out to somewhere between 220 and 250.

Construction on Mondial at 900 W Huron St in River West is pushing forward. Jim Murrin from Koening & Strey GMAC Real Estate tells me that contractors have reached the ninth or 10th floor in what will be a 14-story high-rise. He expects deliveries to begin in February of 2009 and says that all construction should be done in the summer of 2009.

It looks like two-bedrooms have been the most popular units so far, considering that 22 of the 38 units that have sold have been two-bedrooms. However, Murrin says that units are available in every layout, ranging from a 655 square-foot one-bedroom to the 2,725 square-foot, four-bedroom condo seen below.

One-bedrooms and lofts start in the $250s, and that four-bedroom on the seventh floor is listed in the $990s.

The backward sales trend continues at Avenue East in Streeterville. Whereas in September there were 15 available units, and in March there were 20, now 22 of the building's 133 units are available.

However, two of those units are currently being used as models, and they might not have been taken into account when Joe posted his March sales update, so it's possible that sales have just been flat this spring.

An agent at the sales center says that a condo association has been formed, and that the remaining units are ready for immediate delivery. Parking is still available for $45,000 to $60,000, depending on the size of the parking space.

Of the 22 available condos in Avenue East, only one is a one-bedroom, and the rest are two-bedrooms. That one-bedroom is on the 17th floor and is listed in the $390s. The Avenue East Web site says the unit has 805 square feet, a balcony and washer / dryer hookups.

Does this tower look lonesome? Maybe just a little. Sometime next year it should have a twin, but for now it's a solitary giant.

I spoke to an agent from the SoNo sales center today who told me that this west tower is about 60 percent sold, and that about 90 units are still available. However, if the Smithfield Web site is right in saying that each tower will have approximately 275 units, one of those numbers must be a bit off, because 90 is not 40 percent of 275. (These are only estimates though, I know.)

Condos are still available in one- to three-bedroom floor plans, and prices are the same as Patrick reported in March, from the $270s to the $570s. The price for parking has been reduced from $35,000 to $30,000.

The 27-story tower isn't yet topped out, but it looks like it's pretty close. (There's a sign on the other side that says, "SoNo SooN.") I don't have an official count, but I count 25 floors in this photo.