CHICAGO | River Point | 730 FT | 52 FLOORS

[ardecila]

What's with the accessory structure we see on the north of the tower in the watercolor? Judging by the Atlanta building, we know that Pickard Chilton likes annexes. Was that the original design for the boathouse, which has been replaced with the current design at the corner of Lake and the river?

[aaron38]

Originally Posted by neverdone

This artist perspective is quite misleading.

Could you elaborate? The watercolor matches the model to my eye.

[Dr. Taco]

^ when i was a young lad, I used to play these type of games:

Five things are different in these two pictures.
Can you find all five?






The matching game between the watercolor and the new rendering is basically the same thing, except you have to replace "Five" with "somewhere around 2,000"






....Good luck!

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by jstush04

^ when i was a young lad, I used to play these type of games:

Five things are different in these two pictures.
Can you find all five?






The matching game between the watercolor and the new rendering is basically the same thing, except you have to replace "Five" with "somewhere around 2,000"






....Good luck!

1. Ball on Teddy's hat
2. Purple/Gold Trumpet
3. Missing eye on teddy
4. Extra stripe on drum
5. Tuner pin on guitar

[aaron38]

Okay, I thought you were talking about something more substantial. I don't think 'misleading' is the right word. I don't see any malicious fakery in the watercolor.

[harryc]

The park area would be over the current Metra lines, with the tower to the West of the tracks - still not a lot of vehicle access.
I love the idea of a boat area there, good point to go north on the scenic Chicago river.

[Dr. Taco]

^ hahahaa, congratulations, BVic. You are obviously one of the more intelligent persons in this forum

[Alliance]

Where was this "malicious" watercolor?

[AnotherPunter]

New mega tower planned for Chicago riverfront

By Susan Diesenhouse
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 19, 2007, 4:52 PM CDT


Chicago has about 5 million square feet of new offices under construction ... and it soon may have 6 million square feet.

A new 1-million-square-foot, $400 million office tower that will overlook the Chicago River at 200 N. Riverside Plaza is in the works -- if Houston-based Hines Interests LP can find the anchor tenant it is seeking.

"I'm confident the tower will attract a great company looking for a headquarters with a corporate campus because it's a unique design at a large riverfront location near public transportation," said Gregory Van Schaack, Hines' senior vice president in charge of development in Chicago.

"We believe that the Chicago River corridor is the prime spot for corporate Chicago because it has permanent water views, natural light and is now a 24/7 neighborhood with other offices, hotels, restaurants and housing," he added. "Clearly, there's demand for a new generation of office towers since most of the 5 million square feet under construction is leased."

Hines hopes to develop the 50-story tower in a partnership with Chicago food service entrepreneur Larry Levy.

The curved-glass and metal-clad tower designed by Pickard Chilton Architects Inc. of New Haven, Conn., will have an adjoining 200-room hotel.

The complex will occupy an unusually large 111,205-square-foot triangular site bordered by Canal and Lake Streets and the river. It will feature a 51,000-square-foot landscaped plaza that will cover Metra train tracks, as well as a winter garden and stairs to a river walkway.

If Hines can lease 350,000 square feet for rent in the $45- to $50-square-foot a year range, it plans to start construction early in 2009 and complete it in mid-2011. Likely tenants would include law, accounting and investment banking firms, Van Schaack said.

Problems roiling the nation's tightening debt market are not expected to impede the project since Hines has pension-fund-backed partners able to finance projects with little or no debt.

"Our development funds have a lot of flexibility," he explained.

Currently, Hines is building another office tower at 300 N. LaSalle St. that is about 75 percent leased. Last year, it sold a tower it developed at One South Dearborn St. for $422 square foot, a record price for the city.

sdiesenhouse@tribune.com



Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...l=chi-news-hed

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by AnotherPunter

The curved-glass and metal-clad tower designed by Pickard Chilton Architects Inc. of New Haven, Conn., will have an adjoining 200-room hotel.

There's the answer to my question about the accessory structure.

Also, good news about 300 North LaSalle being 75% leased - that's a pretty solid number. Hopefully it's not reflective of a "musical-chairs" downtown office-swapping, and it actually does include many businesses new to downtown Chicago.

[2PRUROCKS!]

Good news about the tower and the hotel sounds like a good idea for that spot as well. I hope the boat house is still in the works.

[MrLakepoint]

You would think that it would be more feasible to raise the building another 10 stories than to build a small high rise next to it? I am missing something by doing that.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by ardecila

There's the answer to my question about the accessory structure.

Also, good news about 300 North LaSalle being 75% leased - that's a pretty solid number. Hopefully it's not reflective of a "musical-chairs" downtown office-swapping, and it actually does include many businesses new to downtown Chicago.

I would not expect the tenants moving to these new super class A+ office towers to attract many businesses new to downtown. These are attracting the established very profitable professional and business services and financial services firms that are already downtown. However, this does not mean its just a game of musical chairs going on - rather, a portion of the older office tower space that these firms are vacating when they move to the new towers will be back-filled by new businesses, or businesses that are at least new to downtown. Again - despite the occassional whining you will hear from landlords of older downtown office towers (who are losing some of their largest, most credit-worthy tenants to the new buildings, and are often gaining smaller, less credit-worthy tenants who present more risk to their building's cash flow), a continuous stream of new state-of-the-art space is undeniably a very healthy trend for downtown, as space is freed up in older buildings (often at quite reasonable asking rental rates) to attract new and expanding businesses to constantly re-shape and strengthen the downtown economy...

[Marcu]

I am gonna go out on a limb and predict that the law firm DLA Piper will move to 22 n. riverside. It's the only mega-firm in the city that hasn't moved to a new Hines/Buck A+ class building during the last couple of years.

[honte]

Originally Posted by MrLakepoint

You would think that it would be more feasible to raise the building another 10 stories than to build a small high rise next to it? I am missing something by doing that.

My thoughts exactly. Get the higher rents from the office space on higher floors, open up more plaza space.

At first I was thinking that they want flexibility to move forward with one or the other, but given the site circumstances, the hotel might not be possible without the office tower due to costs associated with bridging the tracks, plaza construction, etc. So, why not do it?

[Alliance]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

a continuous stream of new state-of-the-art space is undeniably a very healthy trend for downtown, as space is freed up in older buildings (often at quite reasonable asking rental rates) to attract new and expanding businesses to constantly re-shape and strengthen the downtown economy...

Provided, of course, that the little businesses stay downtown.

[BVictor1]

New mega tower planned for Chicago riverfront

By Susan Diesenhouse
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 19, 2007, 4:52 PM CDT

Rendering of a 50-story, $400 million office building proposed for 200 Riverside Plaza.
June 19, 2007


Chicago has about 5 million square feet of new offices under construction ... and it soon may have 6 million square feet.

A new 1-million-square-foot, $400 million office tower that will overlook the Chicago River at 200 N. Riverside Plaza is in the works -- if Houston-based Hines Interests LP can find the anchor tenant it is seeking.

"I'm confident the tower will attract a great company looking for a headquarters with a corporate campus because it's a unique design at a large riverfront location near public transportation," said Gregory Van Schaack, Hines' senior vice president in charge of development in Chicago.

"We believe that the Chicago River corridor is the prime spot for corporate Chicago because it has permanent water views, natural light and is now a 24/7 neighborhood with other offices, hotels, restaurants and housing," he added. "Clearly, there's demand for a new generation of office towers since most of the 5 million square feet under construction is leased."

Hines hopes to develop the 50-story tower in a partnership with Chicago food service entrepreneur Larry Levy.

The curved-glass and metal-clad tower designed by Pickard Chilton Architects Inc. of New Haven, Conn., will have an adjoining 200-room hotel.

The complex will occupy an unusually large 111,205-square-foot triangular site bordered by Canal and Lake Streets and the river. It will feature a 51,000-square-foot landscaped plaza that will cover Metra train tracks, as well as a winter garden and stairs to a river walkway.

If Hines can lease 350,000 square feet for rent in the $45- to $50-square-foot a year range, it plans to start construction early in 2009 and complete it in mid-2011. Likely tenants would include law, accounting and investment banking firms, Van Schaack said.

Problems roiling the nation's tightening debt market are not expected to impede the project since Hines has pension-fund-backed partners able to finance projects with little or no debt.

"Our development funds have a lot of flexibility," he explained.

Currently, Hines is building another office tower at 300 N. LaSalle St. that is about 75 percent leased. Last year, it sold a tower it developed at One South Dearborn St. for $422 square foot, a record price for the city.

sdiesenhouse@tribune.com



Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by Alliance

Provided, of course, that the little businesses stay downtown.

They generally are. Office space demand trends are very healthy right now downtown. I think net absorption was something like 3.5 million sf last year....the pace this year looks to be another 2.5-3 million sf. This strong demand often gets lost when people talk about the market by focusing on the new supply that will come online and somewhat overblown fears about the impact on vacancy and rental rates...

[djvandrake]

Problems roiling the nation's tightening debt market are not expected to impede the project since Hines has pension-fund-backed partners able to finance projects with little or no debt.

"Our development funds have a lot of flexibility," he explained.

As more and more projects get delayed or canceled across the nation due to escalating costs of money and material, this is very encouraging news indeed!

That's quite a premium in the sq-ft lease rate too.

[Eventually...Chicago]

i actually met van schaack a few times. I doubt he would introduce a project before he knew that it would be built. Obviously nothing is for certain, but i would say this project is going to happen.