Chicago Spire Replacement Not Dead Yet
Yesterday we told you that 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly decided that Related Midwest’s two-tower plan for the space that failed to become the Chicago Spire is a non-starter. The alderman had a fair number of rather significant problems with the plan for 400 North Lake Shore Drive, including traffic, security, the big honking podium, and the mere existence of a hotel. Fortunately, the height of the towers in the project...
Alderman Spikes 1,100-Foot-Tall Chicago Spire Replacement
In a blocking move that would make Hakeem Olajuwon say, “Oh, snap!” 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly pulled on his Bulls jersey, reached up with political hand spread wide, and blocked a planned supertower in Streeterville. The project in question was 400 North Lake Shore Drive, a pair of skyscrapers at the site of the long-dead Chicago Spire, and the even longer-dead Fordham Spire. If you don’t know what either of...
Dopes on a Rope: Urban Explorers Climb Two Chicago Construction Cranes
There’s something about being young that makes you believe that you’re indestructible. I can’t be all that critical of the feeling, because when I was a youth, I ate so many Doritos my corpse will never decompose. At least I had the sense not to climb to the top of a 900-foot-tall construction crane. That’s just stupid. But that’s just what a youthful “urban explorer” codenamed Ugly Steffy...
Related Midwest Drives an 1,100-Foot-Tall Nail Into The Chicago Spire’s Coffin
If you’ve spent the last eight years waiting for someone to drive the final nail into The Chicago Spire’s coffin, Related Midwest is your carpenter. Tonight the River North real estate developer pulled the cloak off of a duo of towers it plans to erect at the site of Chicago’s most magnificent hole — 400 Lake Shore Drive. 400 is an SOM design crafted by David Childs, known mostly for his work on such New York...
7 Days Until Spirepalooza: Chicago’s Biggest Building Event
Glasses are fogged, butts are perched on seat edges, and pearls are clutched in anticipation of Tuesday, May 15th. The that’s the day Chicago finds out what will become of the city’s infamous Chicago Spire site. Streeterville neighborhood group S.O.A.R. will host a meeting one week from today for real estate developer Related Midwest to unveil its plans for the space that was supposed to hold a 2,000-foot-tall skyscraper by now. What...
Steel Work Complete at Streeterville’s One Bennett Park
After a little over two years of work, One Bennett Park has reached another milestone: The completion of structural steel work. The last piece of steel was recently put in place at the top of the soon-to-be 836-foot-tall tower after a ceremony at the base of the building, involving the people who developed, designed, and are building the skyscraper. In traditional fashion, everyone got a chance to sign a 28-foot-long girder before it...
A Look at the Plans for the Tribune Tower Redevelopment
In a matter of weeks, the Tribune Tower will become just another chapter in the Chicago Tribune’s proud 171 year history, as parent company Tronc uproots Chicagoland’s paper of record from its home of nearly a century. With the Trib decamps for Prudential Plaza across the river, Los Angelino developer CIM Group can begin work turning the beloved landmark into 163 swishy condominiums for Chicagoans with thicker wallets...
Gasp-Worthy Proposal Unveiled for Chicago’s Second-Tallest Skyscraper
As the kids say these days: “Oh. My. God.” That was the reaction — positive and negative — to the proposed new skyscraper unveiled tonight at a public meeting at the Sheraton Grand Chicago. Development duo CIM Group and Golub & Co. pulled the sheet off of a stunning new skyscraper proposal that, at 1,422 feet, would be the second-tallest building in Chicago. It’s planned for the surface parking lot behind the...
We’ll Soon See Michigan Avenue’s Huge New Skyscraper
Remember a few months ago when Alderman Reilly knocked over a pot of beans about the new skyscraper coming to Michigan Avenue? Back then, all we knew was that the planned building could be as much as 1,388 feet tall, making it the third-tallest in Chicago. And at the time, we put together a graphic illustrating what a skyscraper that tall might look like rising out of the Tribune Tower’s parking lot: We also predicted that the...
One Bennett Park Peeks in on Grant Park
You’d expect a building with the statue of One Bennett Park (451 East Grand Avenue) to offer incredible views. Now we can see just how incredible. In the photograph above of the construction of the 836-foot-tall One Bennett Park, taken from One Grant Park by Joe Zekas of YoChicago!, we can see a huge portion of the tower rising above Streeterville and Lakeshore East, gazing upon Grant Park. We also see that the amazing view...
