A couple years ago, Streeterville was boom town. The downtown 'hood was cluttered with construction cranes, and a handful of new condo and rental towers were added to the skyline. Now, it's all quiet on the Streeterville front, but there is at least one new development in the pipeline, albeit non-residential. The Ronald McDonald Charities of Chicago is set to break ground this winter on a 14-story House, known as the "Skyline Oasis," which will have 86 guest rooms and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Groundbreaking was pushed back a bit when the existing four-story commercial building at 211 E. Grand Ave. was placed on the city's Demolition Hold List last year, but the site has since been cleared. The new building is designed by Joe Antunovich, and it looks like a pretty unimaginative design, to put it mildly. Antunovich also designed the Salvation Army youth center that's currently under construction on the far South Side, prompting a commenter on a recent Crain's article about the architect to write, "Good to know that there is ONE architect who has work on the books - the rest of us are dying out here!!!" According to the Ronald McDonald website, groundbreaking is set for February, and construction will wrap in July 2012.
· New Ronald McDonald House near Lurie Children’s [Ronald McDonald]
· 2 supersize building projects also share same architect [Crain's]