The Chicago Boom (Evanston, Riverside, Orient: credit, skyscrapers, real estate)

[via chicago]

Is anyone else as fascinated as I am by the unprecedented skyscraper construction thats going on right now? The skyline will be transformed in 5 years. Heres just a sampling of whats on tap:

Chicago Spire- 2,000' (under construction)



Trump Tower Chicago- 1,362' (under construction)



One Museum Park- 734' (under construction)



Waterview Tower-1,047' (under construction)



Legacy at Millenium Park- 822' (under construction)



The Elysian- 700' (under construction)



300 N LaSalle- 784' (under construction)



Aqua- 815' (under construction)



BCBS vertical expansion- 25 new floors for a total of 743' (under construction)



Arquitectonica Lakeshore East- 921' (proposed)



200 N Riverside Plaza- 700' (proposed)



Mandarin Oriental- 845' (site prep)



Park Michigan- 866' (proposed)



680 N Rush- 752' (proposed)



560 N Fairbanks- 787' (proposed)



InterContinental North Tower- 850' (proposed)



Fountain Square Tower (Evanston)- 523' (proposed)



Wolfe Point- 89 stories (proposed, no renderings yet)


And those are just the big ones...

[NYLATINQT]

the architecture in Chicago is just breathtaking.

[Steve-o]

All are gorgeous, but that 200 N. Riverside is stunning, love the location!

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

All are gorgeous, but that 200 N. Riverside is stunning, love the location!

i believe that ones likely to go ahead. a law firm has already singed on to become the primary tenant. it would be nice if it was taller, just due to its location at the bend of the river. but its still very good.

the wolfe point project on the river is the one to really watch. thats the most coveted piece of real estate left in the city. the family that owns the plot has waited decades for the right time to develop it, and it should hopefully be a knockout.

also, there are rumors that Gerret Kellher (developer of the Chicago Spire) is possibly planning ANOTHER 2000' tower somewhere in Chicago. this is very preliminary, but its been confirmed by some aldermen.

[Steve-o]

Interesting indeed. These supertall structures are popping up all over the world it seems.

Quick question, how do you post the pics directly to your post, rather than the links? I can never get it to work right.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Interesting indeed. These supertall structures are popping up all over the world it seems.

Quick question, how do you post the pics directly to your post, rather than the links? I can never get it to work right.

theres an icon that looks like a mountain, click it and paste in the link for the image.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by via chicago

theres an icon that looks like a mountain, click it and paste in the link for the image.

Ive done that many times and when I post all it shows is the link. LOL Im retarded.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Ive done that many times and when I post all it shows is the link. LOL Im retarded.

make sure its a direct link to the image (i.e. a web address ending in .jpg, .gif, etc). outside of that, i dunno!

[Drover]

I well and truly wonder what is fueling all of this construction. I seriously can't believe there's so much pent-up demand for downtown floor space that all of a sudden there's all these major skyscrapers going up. Let us not forget that the cost to build upward grows exponentially the higher you go; and we've got a bunch of 700-plus-feet towers already under construction?? We appear to be heading into a serious credit crunch, or at the very least, liquidity sure isn't what it was when these projects got off the ground. I'm worried the property development industry may be stretching itself dangerously thin, with serious potential ramifications for the city's economy...

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Drover

I well and truly wonder what is fueling all of this construction. I seriously can't believe there's so much pent-up demand for downtown floor space that all of a sudden there's all these major skyscrapers going up. Let us not forget that the cost to build upward grows exponentially the higher you go; and we've got a bunch of 700-plus-feet towers already under construction?? We appear to be heading into a serious credit crunch, or at the very least, liquidity sure isn't what it was when these projects got off the ground. I'm worried the property development industry may be stretching itself dangerously thin, with serious potential ramifications for the city's economy...

the thing is, most of these are not offices. in fact, the only office buildings are the Riverside Plaza location and 300 LaSalle (as well as the BCBS expansion). All the rest are residential condominiums/hotels. The fact is, there is a demand for these buildings or they woulndt be getting built. The Arquitectonica tower was just revealed a couple months back and theres already a waiting list several hundred people long. Aqua is practically sold out. Downtown has transformed from a place that was strictly somewhere to work, into a place to live. 10-20 years ago not a single person would say they want to live near the loop. It was a businesss district, period. Now look at the demand to live in the west/south loop, and many other areas. The south loop neighborhood didnt even exist 10 years ago. Same with a lot of River North. It was all industrial wasteland. This is how Chicago has avoided a lot of the other problems that have plagued rust belt cities. Its desireable to live downtown again. Also, many of these buildings are introducing brands for the first time into the US, which are already pretty familiar and highly regarded overseas (Mandarin Oriental, and Shangri-La hotel which will be in Waterview).

Now thats not to say there isnt a glut of luxury buildings being built right now. But most buildings won't go ahead with construction until they have a certain amount of presales (with the exception of Chicago Spire, which is being financed differently and being marketed to a compeltely different level of buyers).