B12 Solipsism

Local high profile designed Maria Pinto (we’ve discussed her store before) is closing down her boutique, located at 135 N. Jefferson St in the West Loop.

All of the praise for Michelle Obama’s grape- and tomato-colored sheaths couldn’t bear enough fruit to spare their Chicago-based designer — Maria Pinto — from the recession’s blight.

Pinto, whose work has been worn by not only the country’s first lady but also queen-of-talk Oprah Winfrey, will open her West Loop boutique for five final days starting Tuesday. Her daywear, eveningwear, wraps and one-of-a-kind accessories will be liquidated at 50 percent to 70 percent off their original prices.

In January, Pinto arrived at the decision to close her shop and cease wholesale operations, she said. A fashion designer for 20 years who previously worked for Geoffrey Beene, Pinto launched her own line in 1991. Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York and Takashimaya in New York, as well as high-end boutiques across the country, carried her pieces.

[Click to continue reading Maria Pinto: Chicago designer Maria Pinto liquidating boutique - chicagotribune.com]

I’ve glanced at her store window a few times, and I didn’t see any item that entranced me. Perhaps her best work was customized to particular customers, and not for display on a clothing rack.

And this statement mostly sounds true:

“In the general scheme of things, our store was doing very well. But our other retailers are paring down their open-to-buys (merchandise purchases) and looking to build sales through trunk shows,” she said. “It’s difficult because it makes your forecasted cash flow challenging. You’re waiting for the show to happen, waiting for things to happen. Before, the stores were committed to larger inventories.”

Any avid shopper can see the shift, she said.

“Walk through the stores and see how the stores are buying very differently. Saks had blast-out sales going in November 2008. November this year, there was very little in stores that was on sale. What was left was bottom-of-the-barrel. Everyone is having to reposition themselves.”

For 2009, total U.S. apparel sales fell 5.2 percent to $188.5 billion, market research firm NPD Group reported last month.

Mayor Daley’s budget is in deficit, municipal projects don’t get funded, schools don’t get funded, yet developers can get as much TIF money¹ as they need, no matter what. No consequences, no strings. Just plain ole corporate welfare.

A city panel approved another major increase in financial assistance for planned Loop apartment development that has struggled to get off the ground because of rising costs and the tough lending climate.

The Community Development Commission signed off Tuesday on a $34-million tax-increment financing subsidy to help pay for the conversion of a vintage Loop office tower at 188 W. Randolph St. into a 310-unit apartment building.

That’s more than four times the $8 million in TIF funds the city initially approved for the development back in 2006, when its total cost was estimated at $79 million.

But the projected cost had soared to $139 million in 2008, and the project’s developer, Village Green Cos., went back for more. The city complied by hiking the subsidy to $20 million.

[Click to continue reading Loop project poised to get another big TIF boost - Chicago Real Estate Daily]

Via Lynn Becker, who adds:

When, in 2006, a developer announced plans to rehab Vitzhum & Burns Steuben Club Building at 188 W. Randolph, an $8 million dollars contribution from the massive Central Loop TIF was going to kick in about 10% of the $79 million cost.

…

But wait – there’s more! The project is also getting $40 million dollars in tax-exempt bonds from the state, plus $37 million in tax credits. You, lucky taxpayer, kick in almost half of the project cost and the private developer gets the building. Socialism, Chicago style.

When Draconian cutbacks are effecting everything in Chicago from the CTA, to the schools, to 4th of July Fireworks, the city is diverting another $26 million in tax revenues to an economically unsustainable development.

[Click to continue reading ArchitectureChicago PLUS: Welfare Queen]

Really disgusting. The Vitzthum & Burns Steuben Club Building is not a cookie-cutter square box, but it isn’t in the upper echelon of Chicago architecture either.

from a CBS Chicago report (presumedly based on the press release from Village Green Companies)

The Community Development Commission approved a plan to redevelop the vacant and historic Randolph Tower at 188 W. Randolph St. into 310 apartments, retail and commercial space, according to a release from the CDC.

The action recommends the designation of Village Green Companies as the developer for the proposed $145 million renovation.

Plans call for the mixed-use building, formerly known as the Steuben Club Building, to be converted into 168 studios, 98 one-bedroom and 44 two-bedroom units, the release said. Sixty-two of the residential units will be made affordable to households at or below 50 percent of median area income.

Village Green bought the 45-story office building out of bankruptcy in 2005 and will convert the 80-year-old structure into apartments. Plans also include 9,500 square feet of ground floor restaurant and retail space. Village Green will occupy 11,400 square feet on the second floor as its Chicago regional office.

Amenities will include a fitness center, swimming pool and spa. A social club will be located on the 38th and 39th floors, offering 360-degree views of the skyline and Lake Michigan, the release said.

The Gothic-style building will have extensive work done to preserve its historic terra cotta façade and other ornamental details and a gut rehabilitation of the interior.

The CDC also approved a redevelopment plan for the proposed Randolph/Wells tax increment financing district. Creation of the district will support the renovation of Randolph Tower and help redevelop other underutilized and vacant buildings in the area.

[Click to continue reading
City OK's Rehab Of Loop Tower, Home For Teen Mothers On West Side - cbs2chicago.com
]

Hey, build for the future, right? Demand for new condos might be low now, but in twenty years…

Via EveryBlock’s hyperlocal news

1. tax increment financing [↩]

Edit ∆ (delta) IL Connect Four, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

or whatever that says (Oil? Delta IL?). Pretty cryptic.

Kinzie Street and the stairway leading up to Orleans St.

Embiggen

from last spring

Intellectual Amnesia, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

slightly punched up in Photoshop (Velvia)

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from 2008

Merchandise Mart Sonnet 2628, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

yet another shot of the Merchandise Mart at night

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a little noisier¹ than I would like, but…

1. ie, digital noise from low light [↩]

Waiting for a Perfect Moment, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

in front of the St. Patrick’s church, no less

embiggen:
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I actually flubbed this photo a bit, at least from my perspective. I’m more used to using my 18-200mm lens for “street photography” than the 50mm lens I used this particular day. I think the focus was slightly off, so I used the Alien Skin Exposure 2 filter, with Kodak 25 (sharper) settings. This particular filter emulates using Kodak slide film, and subtlety sharpens the edges. In this case, the image came out pretty good, but I wish I had taken a better shot to work with. If you look at the larger view, you’ll see what I mean (maybe).

Also, the light pole “frames” are intentional. I had given myself an assignment on this particular photo-stroll; look for images that are framed by natural elements. In this case, the street lights.

In the future, I’m going to assign myself other tasks based on looking at photos I like. I’m thinking – negative space, abstractions, etc. The trick is adding a bit of theory on top of my photographic instincts. I’ve been taking photographs long enough that my eye is an extension of my camera, the goal is to challenge myself into pressing the shutter sometimes despite my finely honed instinct (which is not always correct, of course). Does that make sense?

Excellent news reported by Chuck Sudo of the Chicagoist: a delightful pub within stumbling distance of me

Construction is currently underway on Haymarket Pub and Brewing, in the former Bar Louie space at 741 W. Randolph. The project is a partnership between Pete Crowley, senior brewer at Rock Bottom Chicago, and his friend John Neurauter. We’d been hearing rumblings for weeks about Haymarket and Crowley, who’s also president of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, was more than happy to fill us in on some of the details.

Crowley said that Haymarket will focus on “classic Belgian and contemporary American ales and lagers paired with hand made sausages, pulled pork, pizza and rotisserie chicken.” There are plans for an outdoor beer garden, full bar, dining area with pool tables and games. About 600 square feet downstairs will be allocated for a barrel room for aging and blending. The centerpiece of the pub will be a walk through kitchen and brewery that leads to a “drinking and writing” theater

[From More Brewing In Town: Haymarket Pub and Brewing - Chicagoist]

Let’s hope it has better luck than the several previous occupants of this location (at least five businesses that I can think of have cycled through in the last decade)

Buddy Guy’s Legends – Chicago’s Premier Blues Club, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

and tourists (German, if memory serves)

Embiggening is just a click away: decluttr

haven’t been inside in years, however.

Family Planning protest w 50 foot Giant Virgin Mary, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

I only had a 70 mm zoom lens when I shot this, so this is a little hard to see, but it looks like a giant Virgin Mary statue is being set up to glare across the street at the family planning clinic on 659 W Washington. By the looks of the police barricades, I’d say a bevy of protesters is going to greet any woman unlucky enough to have an appointment today. I’d go over and get a closer shot, but I’d probably get into a fist fight with the fundies. Birth control is apparently their next target, btw.
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As ChicagoSage suggested in comments, we should build a 30 foot Flying Spaghetti Monster with noodley appendages next to this statue.

Fumare Meats – Metra Market, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Finally made it over to the long-awaited Metra Market. Favorable impression, we’ll be returning

www.frenchmarketchicago.com/vendor/fumare
Dick McCracken left banking to pursue his love of good food and sharing his culinary finds with others. Fumare (’smoke’ in Italian) brings traditionally cured and smoked meats from local producers to Chicago French Market. Items include locally made prosciutto, hams, smoked sausages, bacons and other delights. Menu highlights include an old-fashioned, Montreal-style smoked meat (think pastrami) cured and naturally smoked, peppered and slow-cooked to a well-marbled tenderness.

am actually pretty hungry right now, wish the French Metra Market was open

Harrison Ford at the Haymarket, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Film: BlacKeys B+W
Flash: Off

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billboard for Extraordinary Measures looking at Marry Brogger’s Haymarket Riot Memorial statue

Displaced Truths, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

West Loop

Embiggen: decluttr

The view from my office window

Kinzie Bridge in the Rain, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

North Branch of the Chicago River

View On Black

from last Yom Kippur¹, if I’m not mistaken. I smooth-talked us into celebrating in nature instead of wasting time in a shul²

Ooops, my mistake, taken on Rosh Hashanah³ instead.

1. יוֹם כִּפּוּר [↩]
2. אסנוגה [↩]
3. ראש השנה [↩]

Embrace the Gloom, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. – Sun Tzu

Randolph Street, Chicago

Embiggen:
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Search for Advantages, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Jackson Avenue, after a rain

embiggen for better detail:
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converted to Agfa Scala in Photoshop¹

1. Alien Skin Exposure 2 [↩]