Lettuce and peppers and bees! Oh my!

Residents of the Prairie District were treated to a recent tour of one of the best kept secrets in the neighborhood – the rooftop garden atop the West Building of McCormick Place.  Covering 20,000 square feet of space, it is the largest farm-to-fork rooftop garden in the Midwest, providing fresh produce to some of the three million visitors at McCormick Place each year.  The garden also features spectacular views of the surrounding neighborhood and the Chicago skyline.

View north on Prairie Avenue showing construction for the
DePaul Arena (left) and Marriott Marquis Hotel (right)

The garden is operated by Savor . . . Chicago, the exclusive provider of food and beverages at McCormick Place.  Working in partnership with the Chicago Botanic Garden, the garden fulfills Savor’s mission to promote local sustainable agriculture and to train city residents for careers in urban agriculture.  It was designed and planted by staff from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest urban agriculture program.  

Last year, the garden yielded 8,000 pounds of produce including tomatoes, beets, kale, carrots, lettuce, peppers, beans, and a variety of herbs.  

Although that only represents a small fraction of the food served to McCormick Place guests, the garden and other green initiatives undertaken by Savor . . . Chicago have attracted business from industries looking for green convention options. 

Composting is an important element of the garden and a portion of the coffee grounds used on site are incorporated into the process.  Nearly 2,000 Red Wiggler worms create more than 200 pounds of vericompost annually.  In addition, shells are used as the base for the soil, and natural soaps are used to spray the plants, as the garden works toward organic garden status. 

Beehives

Additional features of the garden include three hives containing 20,000 honey bees which produced 50 pounds of honey last year.  (Frances Glessner would like this part of the garden in particular – she was an active beekeeper at her summer estate in New Hampshire, and produced 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of honey annually).  

The garden has started growing hops – one of the most beautiful plants on the rooftop – and is partnering with a local brewery to produce a unique McCormick Place brew.  The beds also contain a variety of flowers including nasturtiums and several types of perennials.

The garden has been tended by Darius Jones since its inception.  This is truly a great success story.  Raised in Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood, Jones became interested in urban agriculture while serving a five-month sentence in Cook County’s Vocational Rehabilitation Impact Center’s garden program in 2010.  The next year he completed his nine-month certificate program through the Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest Apprenticeship program.

Jones has been honored several times for his work with the McCormick Place garden including an “Eco-Hero” award from WBEZ radio and a “Golden Beet Award” from the Illinois Stewardship Alliance.  In 2014, he was named one of the Botanic Garden’s Employees of Distinction. 

Savor . . . Chicago provides limited tours to local organizations and industry groups.  For more information, visit http://savorchicagomcpl.com/sustainability/rooftop-garden/. 

Marriott Marquis breaks ground

On Tuesday July 28, 2015 ground was broken for the new Marriott Marquis Chicago Hotel at the northeast corner of Prairie Avenue and Cermak Road.  The hotel is being built as part of the new McCormick Place Entertainment District, which will include the McCormick Place Event Center on the northwest corner.

Arne M. Sorenson

The ground breaking began with remarks from several individuals involved in the project including Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) CEO Lori Healey, MPEA Chairman Jack Greenberg, and Arne M. Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International.

Alderman Pat Dowell

Third Ward Alderman Pat Dowell noted that “the Marriott Marquis Chicago and the McCormick Place Entertainment District represent phenomenal opportunities for the community.” 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Mayor Rahm Emanuel reminded attendees that just a few years ago, Chicago was quickly losing its hold on the convention business to places like Las Vegas and Florida, but in the past year, it has regained its position as the number one city for conventions in the country.  As such, a new hotel adjacent to McCormick was essential to maintain that competitive position. 

After the Mayor’s comments concluded, the assembled group of dignitaries grabbed their shovels for the ceremonial spading of dirt.  The event concluded with the Mayor pressing the red button to start up the massive drill which bored a hole into the ground for the first of many piers.

The 40-story hotel is designed by Gensler.  Prairie District3 Partners is the design/build team, which includes Clark Construction Group-Chicago, LLC, Bulley & Andrews, LLC, Old Veteran Construction, Inc., McKissack & McKissack Midwest, Inc., Goettsch Partners, Inc. and Moody Nolan, Inc. 

Containing 1,206 rooms, the hotel will be the only Marriott Marquis in the metropolitan Chicago area.  It will include specialty suites, 90,000 square feet of meeting room space (including two 25,000 square-foot ballrooms), a great room-style restaurant and bar as well as a Marketplace food court which will feature local food and retail entrepreneurs. 

An important part of the project is the incorporation and renovation of the landmarked American Book Company building at 330 E. Cermak Road.  That company had been formed in 1890 with the consolidation of four of the five largest textbook publishing houses in the United States.  In 1911, the company acquired the land at Prairie and Cermak (then 22^nd Street) for their new five-story plant.  Architect N. Max Dunning was commission to design a fireproof building which featured a prominent center tower that concealed a water tower.  

The building is finely detailed with brick laid in various decorative patterns, as well as limestone and terra cotta trim, including small “plaques” depicting open books.   The main entrance is executed in the Renaissance-Revival with a tympanum above containing a beautiful multi-color terra cotta crest for the company featuring symbols of intellectual and spiritual illumination. 

The scheduled completion date for the hotel is August 2017. 

The 2100 block of Prairie Avenue in the 1890s;

site of the new Marriott Marquis Chicago Hotel.

Harriet Rees House Moved

The long awaited move of the landmark Harriet F. Rees house at 2110 S. Prairie Avenue was completed on November 11 and 12, 2014.  A large crowd of curious onlookers and neighbors gathered in the cold and rain to watch the relocation of what is believed to be the heaviest house ever moved in U.S. history.

Months of preparation went into planning every last detail of moving the 762 ton house approximately 400 north to its new site at 2017 S. Prairie Avenue.  The project was overseen by Bulley & Andrews, a highly regarded Chicago firm founded in 1891, just three years after the Rees house was built.  Wolfe House and Building Movers performed the move of the house, with Iron Workers, Machinery Movers, Riggers & Machinery Erectors Local #136 providing the necessary labor.

The Rees house was the last surviving mansion on the 2100 block of Prairie Avenue and measures 25 feet wide, 72 feet high, and 95 feet long.  The house was lifted from its foundation into a protective steel-beam cage and transported on 29 massive motorized dollies.  The total weight of the house with its rolling hydraulic dollies and steel frame was 1,045 tons.  (By comparison, the Clarke House Museum, moved in 1977, weighed a mere 120 tons).  On day one, the house was moved north to Cullerton Street where the dollies were all repositioned.  On day two, the house was reversed and slowly turned 90 degrees onto its new site.  This was the most challenging part of the move, with the house and its exoskeleton clearing the adjacent structures by just inches.  Now that the house is in position, the dollies will be removed, the foundation walls completed, and the steel framing and wood cribbing all removed.

The move attracted major media attention, including all major Chicago TV stations, several newspapers, and numerous radio stations and blogs.  Total cost of the move was over $8 million, including nearly $2 million to acquire the new lot.

The relocation will make room for the McCormick Place Entertainment District, which will include a 10,000-seat event center on the block bounded by Prairie Avenue, 21^st Street, Indiana Avenue, and Cermak Road.

DAY ONE

New site with wood cribbing completely filling
the basement to temporarily support the house

DAY TWO

NATO comes to the South Loop, Day 2

Thousands of NATO protestors descended upon the South Loop this afternoon, arriving at Michigan Avenue and 18th Street at 3:25pm.  The protestors had gathered at Petrillo Music Shell earlier in the day for a rally and began their march at 2:00pm, heading south toward McCormick Place, where leaders from 60 countries were assembled for the NATO Summit.  The march ended at Michigan Avenue and Cermak Road, where numerous veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan gave back their medals as a sign of protest against U.S. involvement in those countries.  Shortly before 5:00pm, a large group of protestors started heading west on Cermak Road, while others retraced their steps north back to downtown.  By 5:30pm, the remaining protestors were being told to disperse.  There was an enormous police presence along the march route, and except for a few altercations as marchers were being directed to disperse, it was a peaceful protest.  Here are some images from the afternoon.