Status Update: HoJo is Gone; Make Way for the HoJo Tower

720 North LaSalle rendering courtesy of bKL Architecture

The future of River North is well and truly upon us, as the half-block of land at 720 North LaSalle is ready to receive its bounty: The HoJo Tower.

Work appears imminent on the 38-story skyscraper designed by friends-of-the-blog bKL Architecture*, judging by this photo of the space sent in by River North Spy Mike.  City hall hasn’t handed out a foundation permit yet, which is usually the next step after removing the previous building.  In this case, a 71-room Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge.

While there are differing opinions about the value of saving that motel, it’s a moot point now.  Neighbors are just looking forward to the new miniature public park that comes along with the skyscraper.  It was designed by the awesomely-named Kettelkamp & Kettelkamp out of Evanston.  You may know them from such landscape projects as the Regenstein Library Gardens at the University of Chicago and JeffJack in the West Loop.

In the background of the 720 site is the recently topped-out apartment building at 707 North Wells.  It’s being developed by Akara Partners and will have 51 units and an equal number of parking spaces when done.

*Speaking of bKL, check out its fancy new web site.

Location: 720 North LaSalle Street, River North#map_1 {clear: both; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin-top:0px; margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-bottom:0px; left: 0px; border-radius:0px;
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Location: 707 North Wells Street, River North#map_2 {clear: both; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin-top:0px; margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-bottom:0px; left: 0px; border-radius:0px;
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from The Chicago Architecture Blog http://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2015/06/23/status-update-hojo-is-gone-make-way-for-the-hojo-tower/