Ditch the video wall, increase the height of the building!

My theory would be they planned WPS with the expectation it wouldnt go until next cycle. Now they have a tenant in hand quickly and need to move up the construction schedule. They may not have as much faith about introducing more residential product right on the back of the 600+ units they are putting in at WPE.

They could also be concerned with the office market considering most existing companies are consolidating (less space per person). And they would be coming on the back of The Post Office and 110 along with competing head to head with Union Station probably along with that Dearborn one. Not to mention any success Lincoln Yards or 78 have.

A bunch of anchors potentially triggering Class A office construction is great, but its not totally clear they'll be able to lease out the rest at a reasonable pace.

The expected height reduction is certainly disappointing....especially in light of how they touted that it would be an architecturally significant masterpiece or something to that effect. A twenty story high-end hotel at the top would have been a great addition.

You're being really generous here. They promised the public that they're in this for the long haul and there was an explicit understanding that this was a marquee location that generated massive public interest, one that deserved a marquee tower. They should be held to that promise, step up, and aggressively go after more tenants. Instead, they're not even trying. They're gonna sign one big tenant and treat this just like any other piece of real estate. They could go after a hotel; they could add a residential component; they could woo more office tenants. Not even trying.

Pretty disappointing.

Original Plan
West tower | 493ft| Residential, parking
East tower | 750ft | Office, Hotel, Residential, parking
South tower | 950ft | Office, Hotel, parking

Current
West tower | 493ft| Residential, parking
East tower | 679ft | Residential, parking
South tower | 800ft | Office, parking

I agree, although luckily a couple of other Chicago projects have gotten minor height bumps.

800 feet hopefully isn't exact, if it were significantly taller than the East Tower (850+ ?), I think it will still look good.

Does anyone else find it interesting that Hines is also the developer of San Fransisco's SF tower that rises 1,070'?

I think Suiram's explanation makes the most sense at this point.

If the design is good, once finished, I don’t thing a single person in the world will stand at the confluence of the Chicago River and feel disappointed.

I don’t understand why they don’t do some super-luxury condos at the very top of this thing.

I mean, with the lowest floor being 800 ft, and if you do full floor units, you could probably charge at least $3-4 million a pop. Probably more, especially given the sheer volume of ultra-luxury sales we’ve seen of late.

The Dow is on fire, this tower will have some of the best possible views—EVER in the city. I mean, being at the confluence is nothing short of epic.

We’re number 7 on the planet for number of ultra-wealthy, so don’t be going all Crawford on me and telling me the money’s not there in the Chicagoland market. And don’t forget about all those rich and bored Wisconsinites, Michiganders, and yes, even coastal and international people who want a pied a terre.

Hines is leaving money on the table not building up to 950’. I could sell condos here in my sleep

You may be right, but net absorption of office space in the CBD has been very strong for a few years now and we seem to keep hearing of new companies opening up downtown.

Presumably adding in a second, non-office use complicates the design quite a bit (residential entrance, separate elevators, amenities, parking) in what's already a slender floorplate. That said, yeah from a top floor penthouse the whole city would feel like your personal kingdom. Maybe that's enough $$$ to make the mixed use pencil out.

Failing that, let's hope for some kind of public or semi-public event space on the upper floors, not just some corner offices and conference rooms.

Absolutely spot on.

^+1 they're just phoning it in if they stop at 800 and it's disappointing af

Nobody really knows what Hines is thinking now... This building must have gone through significant design changes as well... so we just need to get much more information as it comes out... wasn't this designed by peli?... I mean 60 story pure office still should get to the 900ft range...christ NYC has buildings like 1200ft at 70 stories in hudson yards...im hoping there was some misquoting or bad reporting on the tribune article and nothing has changed.

Block 37 version 2.0?

I was hoping for a hotel component to enable some degree of elevated "public access" at this important location. Disappointing.

With high profile buildings don't hotel portions usually occupy the lower floors as the higher office floors are far too valuable?

Yes, he was was probably referring to a hotel restaurant like 401 N Wabash.

Makes sense. My bad VKChaz. A restaurant/rooftop deck similar to virgin rooftop would be incredible.

A sign on the proposed Salesforce tower? So what? Let’s worry about important things

Kamin article hopefully the developer feels some pressure to up there game for this site.. we shall see...

"In case you haven’t been following this saga, Salesforce is said to be considering a lease of 500,000 square feet or more in the proposed third and final tower in the Wolf Point development along the river. The company’s wish list includes a sign atop the building, which would be a glassy version of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the art moderne centerpiece (and masterpiece) of New York’s Rockefeller Center"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...23-story.html#