John Buck Co.'s Shops at North Bridge Opens With Expectations to Boost Mag Mile Revenues

CHICAGO-The interlocking rings at the top of a sculpture at the entrance to the John Buck Co.’s new Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue are meant to symbolize the unusual alliance between public and private interests that made the overall nine-block North Bridge development possible. Indeed, it’s been a long road from conception to completion for John Buck and its investment partner Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds Inc.

“This has been the most complex project I have ever worked on,” says Greg Merdinger, the John Buck principal in charge of the project. “It took many years from idea to completion, which isn’t surprising considering you’re dealing with a nine-square block project.” The idea for the project was tossed around John Buck as early as 1984 and the company was in negotiations with Nordstrom, whose 271,000-sf store will anchor the retail portion of the development, as early as 1987.

John Buck had to overcome significant opposition to redevloping the historic Art Deco McGraw Hill Building on the Michigan Avenue frontage portion of the site. In the end, a compromise was reached in which the Art Deco front panels were removed, refurbished and put back. And critics are still complaining. In today’s “Tempo” section of the Chicago Tribune, Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin blasts the North Bridge development for its “canyon effect” and “lack of attractive public space”.