Maggie Daley Park

Maggie Daley Park Ice Skating Ribbon is a seasonal public ice skating surface in the Maggie Daley Park section of Grant Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, which is bounded by Columbus Drive, Randolph Street, Monroe Street and Lake Shore Drive. The ice skating ribbon opened on December 13, 2014, along with the park. The rink extends for one-quarter mile (0.40 km) mile and has a capacity of 700 skaters. In the summer, the rink serves as a walking and rollerskating path. The rink features changes in elevation, which give it an incline and decline.On November 20, 2014, the city announced that the ice skating ribbon would open on an undetermined date in December with free admission and $12 skate rentals, which was the same price structure as was being used at McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink at the time; other outdoor public skating rinks in the Chicago Park District charged a $3 admission for adults but had lower rental fees. Lockers are also available for rental for a nominal fee at the skating ribbon. Among the numerous rules for the skating ribbon is a ban on the use of smartphones while skating. In the first month, 28,000 skate rentals generated over $300,000 for the city.The rink is closed for one-hour periods during which the ice is resurfaced by a Zamboni machine. Because of the inconvenience of frequent lengthy closure periods, the Park announces the skating schedule and resurfacing schedule daily via a dedicated Maggie Daley Park Zamboni Twitter account, @MDPZamboni.

The BP Pedestrian Bridge, or simply BP Bridge, is a girder footbridge in the Loop community area of Chicago, United States. It spans Columbus Drive to connect Maggie Daley Park (formerly, Daley Bicentennial Plaza) with Millennium Park, both parts of the larger Grant Park. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry and structurally engineered by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, it opened along with the rest of Millennium Park on July 16, 2004. Gehry had been courted by the city to design the bridge and the neighboring Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and eventually agreed to do so after the Pritzker family funded the Pavilion.Named for energy firm BP, which donated $5 million toward its construction, it is the first Gehry-designed bridge to have been completed. BP Bridge is described as snakelike because of its curving form. Designed to bear a heavy load without structural problems caused by its own weight, it has won awards for its use of sheet metal. The bridge is known for its aesthetics, and Gehry's style is seen in its biomorphic allusions and extensive sculptural use of stainless steel plates to express abstraction. The pedestrian bridge serves as a noise barrier for traffic sounds from Columbus Drive. It is a connecting link between Millennium Park and destinations to the east, such as the nearby lakefront, other parts of Grant Park and a parking garage. BP Bridge uses a concealed box girder design with a concrete base, and its deck is covered by hardwood floor boards. It is designed without handrails, using stainless steel parapets instead. The total length is 935 feet (285 m), with a five percent slope on its inclined surfaces that makes it barrier free and accessible. Although the bridge is closed in winter because ice cannot be safely removed from its wooden walkway, it has received favorable reviews for its design and aesthetics.

The Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Garden was built in 1996 and occupies 2 ¼ acres of land in the Northeast corner of Maggie Daley Park. The garden located in Chicago is one of 24 Cancer Survivor parks across the country built by the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Foundation. The R.A. Cancer Foundation primarily funded the garden costing $1.3 million to create. The park is designed to be a celebration of life. It is a safe haven for cancer patients and meant to aid them in their healing process. The three main garden rooms represent the three main states of healing: acceptance, support, and celebration.

340 on the Park is a residential tower in the Lakeshore East development of the neighborhood of New Eastside/ East Loop Chicago and was completed in 2007. The building briefly surpassed 55 East Erie as the tallest all-residential building in Chicago. It is the second-tallest all-residential building in Chicago (One Museum Park is the current tallest) at 672 feet (205 meters) with 62 floors. The architectural firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz designed the tower and it was built by Magellan Development. The structural engineering firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates designed the building using post-tensioning in order increase the floor-to-ceiling heights. James McHugh Construction Co installed post-tensioning tendons supplied by Amsysco Inc.The tower is located in the Lakeshore East complex which, when completed, will house thousands of residents. 340 on the Park is set flush next to Randolph Street, allowing unobstructed views of Millennium Park, Grant Park, The Park at Lakeshore East and Lake Michigan. The tower's design also allows for nearby buildings to maintain some views of the park. 340 on the Park has also become the first residential tower in the Midwestern United States to achieve Silver LEED certification for its "green" design, including a large winter garden for residents. Additional benefits include a connection to the Chicago Pedway system, low-flow water fixtures for both residential and public spaces, and energy-efficient fixtures such as lights and mechanical equipment. The north side of the building is contoured so that views from The Buckingham next to the building are not interfered with.

McDonald's Cycle Center (formerly Millennium Park Bike Station) is an indoor bike station in the northeast corner of Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city of Chicago built the center at the intersection of East Randolph Street and Columbus Drive, and opened it July 2004. Since June 2006, it has been sponsored by McDonald's and several other partners, including city departments and bicycle advocacy organizations. The bike station, which serves bicycle commuters and utility cyclists, provides lockers, showers, a snack bar with outdoor summer seating, bike repair, bike rental and 300 bicycle parking spaces as of 2004. The Cycle Center is accessible by membership and day pass. It also accommodates runners and inline skaters, and provides space for a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group.Planning for the Cycle Center was part of the larger "Bike 2010 Plan", in which the city aimed to make itself more accommodating to bicycle commuters. This plan (now replaced by the "Bike 2015 Plan") included provisions for front-mounted two-bike carriers on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses, permitting bikes to be carried on Chicago 'L' trains, installing numerous bike racks and creating bicycle lanes in streets throughout the city. Additionally, the Chicago metropolitan area's other mass transit providers, Metra and Pace, have developed increased bike accessibility. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was an advocate of the plan, noting it is also an environmentally friendly effort to cut down on traffic. McDonald's controversially claimed that, since it is providing a healthier menu and fostering grade school physical education in an effort to help its customers improve their health, sponsoring bicycle and exercise activity in the park augments the company's other initiatives.Environmentalists, urban planners and cycling enthusiasts around the world have expressed interest in the Cycle Center, and want to emulate what they see as a success story in urban planning and transit-oriented development. Pro-cycling and environmentalist journalists in publications well beyond the Chicago metropolitan area have described the Cycle Center as exemplary, impressive, unique and ground-breaking.

The Buckingham, formerly known as Buckingham Plaza, is a 44-story all-residential condominium designed by Fujikawa Johnson & Associates. Located on East Randolph Street in Chicago, Illinois, the building sits between the new 340 on the Park building to its west and the older Outer Drive East building to its east. Two parks, Millennium Park and Lakeshore East Park, are immediately located to The Buckingham's south and north faces respectively. It is one of the few buildings that predates the new surrounding Lakeshore East development in the New Eastside neighborhood. There are 7 rooms located on every residential floor of the building for a total of 306 units. An indoor pool, sauna, laundry room, fitness center and open roof deck are located on the top floor. The Buckingham has 3 high-speed elevators that run the length of the building plus one elevator that runs from the first floor to each floor of the 4-story underground parking garage.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower (BCBS) is on the north end of Millennium Park along E. Randolph Street at the NE corner of Randolph and Columbus Drive, in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. It is home to the headquarters of Health Care Service Corporation. The building's address is 300 E. Randolph Street and is next to the Aon Center. Original plans to connect the two buildings via an underground pedway never came to fruition. Architect James Goettsch of Goettsch Partners designed the building. The 33-story first phase was completed in 1997 under the firm name of Lohan Associates (now Goettsch Partners). The 24-story second phase started in 2007 and was completed in 2010.

The Chicago Stock Exchange Arch is one of the few surviving fragments from the Chicago Stock Exchange building designed in 1893, installed outside the Art Institute of Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The arch was sculpted by Dankmar Adler & Louis Sullivan in 1893 and was preserved when the building was demolished in 1972. It was installed outside the Art Institute of Chicago in 1977.

Lurie Garden is a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park in the Loop area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by GGN (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol), Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel, it opened on July 16, 2004. The garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees. It is the featured nature component of the world's largest green roof. The garden cost $13.2 million and has a $10 million endowment for maintenance and upkeep. It was named after Ann Lurie, who donated the $10 million endowment. For visitors, the garden features guided walks, lectures, interactive demonstrations, family festivals and picnics.The Garden is composed of two "plates" protected on two sides by large hedges. The dark plate depicts Chicago's history by presenting shade-loving plant material. The dark plate has a combination of trees that will provide a shade canopy for these plants when they fill in. The light plate, which includes no trees, represents the city's future with sun-loving perennials that thrive in the heat and the sun.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion, is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph Street and east of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. The pavilion was named after Jay Pritzker, whose family is known for owning Hyatt Hotels. The building was designed by architect Frank Gehry, who accepted the design commission in April 1999; the pavilion was constructed between June 1999 and July 2004, opening officially on July 16, 2004. Pritzker Pavilion serves as the centerpiece for Millennium Park and is the home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free outdoor classical music series. It also hosts a wide range of music series and annual performing arts events. Performers ranging from mainstream rock bands to classical musicians and opera singers have appeared at the pavilion, which even hosts physical fitness activities such as yoga. All rehearsals at the pavilion are open to the public; trained guides are available for the music festival rehearsals, which are well-attended. Millennium Park is part of the larger Grant Park. The pavilion, which has a capacity of 11,000, is Grant Park's small event outdoor performing arts venue, and complements Petrillo Music Shell, the park's older and larger bandshell. Pritzker Pavilion is built partially atop the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the park's indoor performing arts venue, with which it shares a loading dock and backstage facilities. Initially the pavilion's lawn seats were free for all concerts, but this changed when Tori Amos performed the first rock concert there on August 31, 2005. The construction of the pavilion created a legal controversy, given that there are historic limitations on the height of buildings in Grant Park. To avoid these legal restrictions, the city classifies the bandshell as a work of art rather than a building. With several design and assembly problems, the construction plans were revised over time, with features eliminated and others added as successful fundraising allowed the budget to grow. In the end, the performance venue was designed with a large fixed seating area, a Great Lawn, a trellis network to support the sound system and a signature Gehry stainless steel headdress. It features a sound system with an acoustic design that replicates an indoor concert hall sound experience. The pavilion and Millennium Park have received recognition by critics, particularly for their accessibility; an accessibility award ceremony held at the pavilion in 2005 described it as "one of the most accessible parks – not just in the United States but possibly the world".

The Chicago Yacht Club is located in Chicago, Illinois. "CYC" is well known as being the Organizing Authority for the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac held each July. CYC also organizes dozens of other sailboat races and regattas throughout the boating season, which is usually considered May 1 to October 31 in the Chicago area. CYC has two club houses or stations, one at Monroe Harbor and one at Belmont Harbor.

400 East Randolph Street Condominiums or simply 400 East Randolph (formerly Outer Drive East) is a 40-story high-rise in Chicago, Illinois, designed by Reinheimer & Associates. The building primarily consists of residential condominiums, though there are a few businesses and restaurants also located in the building. Situated on East Randolph Street on the New Eastside, the building sits between the Buckingham to its west and Harbor Point to its east. Two parks, Millennium Park and Lakeshore East Park, are immediately located to 400 East Randolph's south and north faces respectively. It is one of the buildings in the area that predates the new surrounding Lakeshore East development. It was developed by Jerrold Wexler, who saw the legally protected lakefront as an ideal location for high income young office workers without children. In 1957, he encountered legal difficulties acquiring a lakefront site. Mayor Richard J. Daley, worried about a tendency of upscale Chicagoans to move to the suburbs, supported the project and told the planning department to make it work. The lakeshore was legally protected, but the city secured the needed legislation and resolved disputes with the Illinois Central Railroad, which originally owned the property. The city extended Randolph Drive into the lake area making the project possible. It was completed in 1962, as one of the largest apartment buildings in the world outside of New York City, with over 900 one-and two-bedroom units. It offered indoor parking, a pool and exercise facilities, a restaurant and a small grocery store. When it opened in 1962 The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reported that Loop-area apartment towers such as Marina City, a few blocks away, "caught the city by surprise." A near-Loop location permitted one to walk to work at hundreds of office buildings, as well as walking access to the major department stores and theaters. In 1963 it became the first major apartment building in this part of downtown Chicago and started the trend of downtown living so that it is now surrounded by other upscale apartment and condominium buildings. However, after the 1970s, the amenities tended to leave the Loop and moved to North Michigan Avenue. It was converted from apartments to condominiums in 1973. Today the building houses a few businesses including the Lakefront Children's Academy.