Yeah, after I saw the video of the SF building in San Francisco, I was on board.

Yeah i'm all for a little razzle dazzle here that can be used to celebrate all sorts of holidays and events.

I’ve been in SF twice this year and don’t find the building, including its top, gaudy at all. Just a matter of personal taste whether one takes issue with the aesthetic appearance of the building. I quite like it.

While WPS will be tall, it won't dominate the skylike like SF Tower in San Francisco does. Chicago's skyline has too many peaks and is simply much larger and beefier. If anything, WPS's LED crown would bookend the north end of the Loop proper skyline, with the bright white 311 S Wacker crown holding down the southern end. It would fit in pretty well, IMHO.


The fact that this building will be at the confluence of the river, making it even more visible from street level, is definitely a plus that the developers no doubt should consider taking advantage of.

I just hope it happens :cheers:

Exactly, it's okay to have a little flair and pizzazz from time to time ;)

I still can't believe the Salesforce news on this. I doubt Rahm will give a rats ass about granting them everything they want since he's not running for reelection.

Man i hope not. The city has the upper hand here.

Also, don't count your chickens just yet on these jobs. The EDGE program is deeply flawed, mostly because the oversight is so weak. Indeed, there's are no regular evaluations to make sure companies keep their promises. Thankfully, the Tribune did a big study on this to show how the program is really fleecing taxpayers.

"In the first comprehensive analysis of 783 EDGE agreements, the Chicago Tribune found that two of every three businesses that completed the incentive program failed to maintain the number of employees they agreed to retain or hire.

State officials can't say how many jobs have been created through the job program; nor can they say how many jobs EDGE companies have eliminated. The Tribune, however, found that 79 current or former EDGE recipients have reported eliminating 23,369 jobs through layoffs and closures since entering the program.

...

But the Tribune's analysis suggests that tax credits often do little to help companies expand or create sustainable jobs. A pattern of deals emerges in which businesses lobbied for maximum rewards and minimum requirements — and the state said yes."

^^^ I agree with you on the first part, the city has the upper hand here. However, these jobs are not happening because of some tax credit whether SF gets one or not. SF is growing rapidly and needs to find more sources of labor and San Fran just can't accommodate all these FAANGS businesses at once. As our resident city bookie pointed out to me in a PM, Salesforce's cloud revenue has nearly doubled since 2015. I'm not at all worried about whether these jobs will materialize if Salesforce signs a lease here.

You're right that Salesforce will probably keep growing. I just don't trust companies to police themselves. They might decide to move a thousand jobs to Atlanta at some point. You never know how their needs could change. If EDGE had some real teeth and accountability, I would be more supportive of tax abatements.

^ Well, this wouldn't be EDGE, it would be property tax relief.

If I were Mayor of Chicago, and I would be a kick ass one, I would put it in clear writing that every year a headcount of actively salaried local SF staff needs to be provided prior to issuing a property tax break. Or, it can be on a per capita basis.

Not enough headcount? Tax bill goes up.

After all, what the hell do we employ all those loafers at the offices of the Cook County Treasurer & Assessor (2 different offices! :duh ) for? They obviously don't answer the phone when you call, so give them some work to do

Eh, pretty sure EDGE is big component per someone else's comment and per that article.

Sounds like the only loafers here are you and me on this forum all day when we should be working. :cool:

EDGE is a State tax relief program (income tax relief?), whereas property taxes are local. I'm no expert but that was my understanding.

And yes, we're both loafers... ;) believe it or not I'm at work (and even busy) as I post this

Same, i'm fielding all sorts of Slack conversations and worried i'm going to type something about skyscrapers...

Ardecilia is the expert on this tax stuff i believe, but you might be right.

Just in, looks like Rahm is doing what needs to be done to bring Salesforce to Wolf Point South:

Emanuel dangles a signage deal to seal Salesforce tower and its 5,000 new jobs

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-...-5000-new-jobs

The article referred to the video board in question as "plaza level". If that's accurate we can say goodbye to the LED crown video board.

Nice! :)

The Crains article has been update. The screen will now be inside the building and a deal is in the process of being signed.

An interesting paragraph from the article:
“In another tweak, signage rights would be provided not just to companies that occupy at least 51 percent of a building’s leasable space as in current law but to those that lease at least 350,000 sq. ft of space in a building or employ more than 1,000 employees there. Officials say the current threshold is largely unattainable for tenants of the city’s largest office towers, some of which have more than 1 million square feet of leasable space.”

Never knew what the regulations were. I’m always proud to see building signage; n indication to me that the city is flourishing economically.

Though I will always resent Motorola for replacing “Stanta Fe”.

Trib is saying "likely to be about 800 feet (about 60 stories) tall."

BOOOOOO!