doesn’t sound that high. Or am I missing something?

certainly have a vested interest in what happens to their neighborhood. I fail to see, however, Amy Karatz’ postulation that “We don’t want a…..commercial district in the confines of a mostly residential neighborhood…..” somewhat puzzling. What, pray tell, is it now? I think the 40,000 or so people that show up almost daily each baseball season pretty much renders her point as moot.

doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? What I should have written is that I see her statement as somewhat puzzling.

Reading the proposed traffic study is interesting. Such small but important details as right turns only from the parking garage entrance on game days are pretty smart.

Widening the pedestrian walkways and adding countdown traffic and crosswalk lights is also a good idea, but anyone who’s tried to make a right turn downtown (Mag Mile) knows that pedestrians generally behave how they choose, and not how the flashing sign wants them to. Strict crowd control is a must then.

As for the design, I think it looks pretty nice as well. No portion of the new structure is any taller than the stadium roof by more than a few feet. You can’t really see into the park from anywhere in the new building, but I would think this place would have high appeal for renters, even at those prices ($1700 and up). It’s new, with amenities, and a pretty great location.

It is one thing to have 40,000 folks come to your neighborhood 81 times a year for 5 hours ( and a few thousand more
stay around for a few hours after that) it is entirely different to build something which certainly appears totally out of character for the neighborhood and add 600 (safe to assume at least two bodies per room /apt) plus bodies on a daily basis. Someone will have to tell me how many stories we are talking here but I know of nothing in the area more than 4 and the vast majority are 2 and 3 stories even on business streets. I have no problem with a the Cubs building parking, office space & retail on the block to build a structure so out character with the rest of the area and add so many more people is a huge problem. I know there are people here who think " well those people knew there was a ballpark when they moved so screw em" but Tribune and Ricketts knew this was a completely residential area when they bought them. Tens of thousands of people live in Wrigleyville year round and the politicians should give their lives a higher priority than luxury housing to help the Cubs financing.

FYI I would love to see a list of those residents Mr. Nash says have been giving him support. Unless they live above the bars they own I doubt there are going to be many residents who support this. I know some BCB folks live in the area so I would love to hear your views.

It says the sportsworld store and automotive repair shop “extending” East "are NOT in the plans. Um those two are
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK. They are obviously having a disagreement over prices. I am also curious as to if this means the Cubs already own the rest such as the 7/11, Salt & Pepper Dinner etc or are they planning on getting the city to use eminent domain to steal them for them ?

a well known tourist hot spot, a landmark protected building, a place people pay to take tours of when the team isn’t in town….

… you have to expect that at some point, somebody is going to try to commercialize the thing as much as possible.

Its fairly obvious it isn’t going to be 100 year old buildings and single level uncovered parking lots around Wrigley forever. The good people of Lakeview would be better off working with developers to make sure whatever inevitably happens is nice and fits their neighborhood, rather than fighting progress in an area that could use it and WILL get it.

How will they be able to pull off building the hotel, while preserving the area as much as possible? I assume that will be in the building plans.

Second question: if the hotel has a parking garage, will people be able to park in it for Cubs home games?

OT: I’m a health care worker, and I may have been exposed to H1N1 last night … and I have not been able to get the vaccine for H1N1 due to the shortage of doses available.

then I don’t live there so what do I know?

Since I only get to Wrigley every few years, my take is probably not as valued. However I think the Wrigley area could use some improvements. I think widening of the sidewalks is a must. Adding some different looks, a hotel, Cubs museum, different places to eat would add to the area.
 I think this could be done with a reasonable agreement with all parties, but hell things that seem to have common sense always have headaches.

I live in East Lakeview and my building is 57 floors tall. Is that not considered a downtown style tall building?

is that it is in a “neighborhood”. The area has character. I worry that this looks somewhat sterile and that it might change that feeling.

I don’t live near there anymore, so I don’t feel like I should talk though. Ah-sometimes I really miss living in the city. But being right between Wrigley and Miller Park has it’s benefits.

The most amazing part of the preliminary drawing for me is that they’ve managed to reduce road traffic to almost nothing during the day. Very impressive urban planning.

stay in areas outside Wrigleyville, so that the residents in Wrigleyville can keep a lot that is not being used empty? Doesnt seem to make much sense to me.

Sure you can complain about traffic, but this is Chicago where is there a lack of traffic, and can you honeslty know that the additional traffic will be any worse than when people from other areas are coming and going from the games?

God forbid family or friends who come into town to visit and can now stay closer to their family and friends isntead of having to stay outside Wrigleyville and have to create additional traffic traveling from another hotel to and from (any time of year).

The points made above are valid, but all seem like they are complaining about traffic in an already busy area. if you want to say that the building does not fit in with the neighborhood, well neither does Wrigley Field, so what is the difference? Wrigley does not “fit in” with a residential area, which is part of what makes it special and unique.