A temporary walkway over Wabash gives an open view of the cleared site.
With the Sun-Times Building gone, the buildings across the River to the south are in full view. A similar view is what the plaza between the Sun-Times and Wrigley buildings afforded, along with sunlight and a place to sit and enjoy both the view and the sun.
This is the view of the IBM Building between the two Wrigley towers.
The "money shot" from the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Compare to the previous view with the Sun-Times Building and the future view with Trump Tower.
View from Columbus Avenue a couple blocks east of Michigan Avenue.
As I was taking many of these photos, people around me were commenting on the circumstances. "Boy, that building's gonna cover that up!" and "Man, that's a big open site!" indicative of the power of the visual abyss now apparent on the banks of the River. It reminds me of the World Trade Center site, its void a powerful presence that in some ways begged to be left intact, uncluttered by towers. Here, the same argument can be made, but ironically we wouldn't have the current view and the impressive open space without the plans for Trump Tower and the concomitant demolition of the Sun-Times Building. Since Trump is moving ahead with his tower, all that can be achieved is perhaps a respectful re-shaping of his residential tower's mass to allow similar views along the River. And to achieve that maybe Trump needs to get out of his limo as it rides across the Michigan Avenue Bridge, look west, and appreciate the impact he's made without even having to build anything.
Update 03.18: The local CBS affiliate station has a news tidbit on the unobstructed view of the IBM Building. Unlike Edward Lifson's commentary, Channel 2 doesn't take a stand, if anything prepping people for the impending Trump Tower.
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