In the September issue of New Homes, Phil Berger dishes on the latest architectural designs that are catching his eye. His favorites may surprise you. (Yes, he has good things to say about Pappageorge / Haymes.) You can read Phil’s article now, or you can wait until this weekend, when you’ll be able to find the issue at these locations.
On a related note, Joe Zekas started studying the latest Appraisal Research Counselors report as soon as he returned from vacation this week, and he came across a mention of buyers avoiding “generic” towers. What is a generic tower? Is that just a euphemism for “ugly,” or does it suggest a lack of creativity and originality?
Mark and I immediately thought of Marquee (right), a building that, according to commenter Gordy, “might not be a beauty queen, but it certainly isn’t the ugliest condo building in the boom.” It’s just… there.
Of course, Sedgwick Properties would argue that sales haven’t been any worse at Marquee than anywhere else. After all, just 27 of its 208 homes are still for sale, which is better than some projects can say. So maybe it’s worth looking at last week’s “Construction-Free Zones” list. Most of those projects seem to be at a stand-still — could a ho-hum design have anything do with that, or are they suffering solely from bad timing?
Throw in your suggestions for downtown’s most generic buildings, and we might just put a new list together: Chicago’s Generic High-Rises.
About 4 years ago I was staying at the Marriott on Michigan. My room faced west. I was noticing that Ontario Place had about 9 other neighboring highrises that weren’t present when I was in school (I graduated in ’92). Although I never considered Ontario Place a stand-out building, the new towers surrounding it certainly gave new meaning to the word “generic.”