John Hancock: How the Other Half Lives

(Photo credit: Looper).

If you’ve lived in one Chicago high-rise, you’ve lived in them all? Not by a longshot. While residents of Marina City allege deeply entrenched condo board mismanagement in the wake of board member Gary S. Kimmel’s federal indictment on prostitution-related money-laundering charges, the situation couldn’t be more different for residents of Chicago’s other midcentury modernist residential skyscraper: the John Hancock Center.

Besides a physical plant in impeccable shape, actual union doormen, and a condo association that’s fully accessible to its members, Big John’s association also has a reserve six times that of Marina City (check out their board president’s report, in PDF format on their website).

So for your comparison, below I give you the Marina Towers Condominium Association website, versus the John Hancock Center/175 East Delaware Place Home Owners Association website.

Marina Towers Condominium Association
John Hancock/175 E. Delaware Place Home Owners Association

Small funny. Big point.

Other posts you might like from Chicago Carless:
The Joys of High-Rise Living
Kneeling in front of the toilet bowl shortly after I moved into my Marina City high-rise home, I realized there are some things newbie tower dwellers have to learn for themselves. No matter how long you stare at the water line, you're not going to see evidence of the building swaying. That was an early lesson in skyscraper ...
Rime of the Pimp Dentist
So Gary Kimmel was finally sentenced to prison today. And Marina City's just fine without him. Here's a wrap-up of the pimp-dentist story in prose...and limerick.
When the Wind Blows (at Marina City)
Friends rarely believe me when I tell them about the grandmother on a rocking chair who lives in the walls at Marina City. At least, that's who it sounds like inhabits the cast-in-place concrete of my high-rise corncob home every time a stiff wind blows through downtown Chicago. Here's proof.
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5 Comments

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