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...
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...
Lendlease’s South Loop Project Has a Name: Southbank
After its split with CMK over the development of the Riverline project, Lendlease has come up with a name for its portion of the project on the east bank of the Chicago River: Southbank. Southbank is the portion of the development, designed by Perkins+Will, that runs from Harrison Street down to Polk. The portion from 9th Street on down to Roosevelt Road is being developed independently by CMK after the two decided to split...
CMK and LendLease Divorce, Cut Riverline Baby in Two
A couple of companies building a neighborhood in the South Loop apparently don’t remember their Old Testament, because River North’s CMK and Australia’s LendLease are going their separate ways, and slicing their baby in two. Dating someone overseas is always tough. The Chicago Tribune has the scoopage. Even though both sides are talking, neither is airing its dirty laundry. After all, both have done successful...
One Bennett Park Tops Out and Towers Over Streeterville
The tallest building in Streeterville has topped out. One Bennett Park is anticipated to be the tallest all-residential building in Chicago when it’s completed later this year. It will also soar 836 feet high right on the edge of Lake Michigan, ensuring it will be a landmark for anyone who admires the city from the water. One Bennett Park is a project of River North’s Related Midwest and Australia’s Lendlease. The...
Alderman Sends Three-Tower Lakeshore East Plan Back to the Drawing Board
Remember that sultry, silvery sliver of a skyscraper that you lusted after during the summer? Well, the gales of December have blown in, and you can just forget about her. 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly has informed Magellan Development and LendLease that their proposed three-tower plan for completing the northeast corner of Lakeshore East is a non-starter. Mr. Reilly says he received hundreds of comments from his constituents...
New Erection Will Have Goose Island Sporting Wood
Yes, we're all a bunch of fifth-graders around here. But in spite of the juvenile headline, what's planned for Goose Island is clearly innovative. Texas mega-developer Hines officially plans to put up a new office building on Goose Island that's made of wood. Crain's Chicago Business first reported Hines knotty notion way back in February, and we noted back then that this isn't Hines' first time going out on this limb. It has a...
South Loop’s Newest Hotel Gets The Green
The newest hotel project to plant roots in Chicago’s South Loop has been given the green light to go full-throttle. 1101 South Wabash Avenue was once the home of one of those weird one-story, pee-stained, hoboriffic parking garages leftover from yesteryear that still dot downtown Chicago. Demolition of that garage was completed in February of 2016, and then in December of that year, ground was broken on a new Hilton Homewood...
Developers Detail Big Big Big Plans for Lakeshore East
After weeks of anticipation, skyscraper nerds, architecture enthusiasts, and the just plain curious got the information they’ve been craving about how the development of Lakeshore East will end. The answer: With an 875-foot-tall bang. At a crowded public meeting at the Hyatt Regency, hosted by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, architects and developers took the wraps off of two major projects: The final three skyscrapers...
Lakeshore East Moving Forward, Losing a Skyscraper
One of the first long-form articles we published in Chicago Architecture way back in October of 2003 was a preview of Lakeshore East. Back then, the only building that had been erected was The Lancaster at 201 North Westshore Drive. The rest of Lakeshore East was dirt and weeds and a former caddyshack that still sported a small luncheonette that refused to die. My how things have changed. From the curvalicious skyscraper that put...
