Says the wannabe muckraker who can't go for a paragraph without using alliteration or puns.

He probably puts ketchup on his hotdogs.

Oh my. :koko:

He usually is unable to even make it through a title without making some horrible pun or reference to 1970s TV shows. He's kind of a weirdo

Haha ya like reacting with the haughty tone of Barbara Walters is just silly.

^^ No. A line or two about our over-excitement could be comical, but "Editor" sat around for at least an hour of his menial life to devout an entire blog post on his irrelevant website just to chirping us. And from behind his keyboard no less. I feel sad for the guy. Nothing better going on but to berate a small group of construction enthusiasts.

This^ that website is such a total waste of time... most of what he does is post a single photograph from a developer with a catchy headline and then fail to contribute even the smallest iota of new info or reporting...

It is like the worst writing in the world.

A. SSP has a lot more insider info floating around between members than you realize. Also, just about any question one has about a development can and will be answered here almost immediately. In fact, beyond the regular user base, we often see new members who are clearly directly involved in these projects and just following these boards join just to chime in and answer a tricky question that has "stumped the chumps".

B. The issue with the CAB post was that he wrote more words lambasting a brief speculative conversation about possible buildings heights on SSP than the original conversation itself had. Beyond that, the vast majority of the words in that conversation were in a single post by Steely which was really just a breaking down of possibilities (and therefore necessarily more long winded).

Such conversations might seem silly to most people, but they are a part of what makes SSP so interesting. If you are a newbie reading a post like Steelys would teach you a lot about how different uses result in different floor to floor heights and how there's even a range of possible ceiling heights within each use. Seems totally wonky and unecessary information, but when I was younger and trying to learn about real estate I gleaned countless study hours of information off this forum by reading posts like that.

That said, enough about the ding dong over at CAB, we've wasted enough time talking about it already. I wasn't going to post anything further about it myself, but felt it necessary to defend the honor of my favorite website!

^ adding to that it's obvious that "Editor" relies pretty heavily on the insider info that is received here for much of what he posts. Without SSP his job would get significantly more difficult.

He also deletes reader comments that point out article errors, whether he ends up correcting the errors or not.

+1 (as a general proposition)

Lol I remember when he referred to the West Loop as "West Town". When I pointed this out, he told me that the West Loop was a made up name by real estate developers. I tried to tell him he could refer to it as the Near West Side, since that was the official community area where it was, but that West Town was a completely different community area. It was literally like Randolph and Morgan that he was talking about. He didn't seem to be able to understand.

^ 200 N Riverside's façade reminds me of Hilton Worldwide's logo.

Anyone know what's up with all the semis that have been parking on Wolf Point lately?

Probably a trade show at either the Mart or fmr. Apparel Center.

If that new rendering contains the actual design for the South tower as well, it looks like a Trump Tower-sized behemoth.

You can see the office at the bottom too. The design for the east tower looks very clean but looks to be a glass box.

I wish the super tall would start Phase 1 first. :(

Any time I see these multi phase developments with a super tall are included, they always start on the smaller stuff, and then when it comes time for the signature tower, we get disappointed and a height cut happens.

I don't think there's any reason to doubt the Kennedy's intentions here. They always said the east tower would be 750', and indeed it is. It makes sense that they'd wait until the next cycle to fill the office component of the south tower if whatever corporate moves remain for this cycle are already eyeing other projects.

^Haha give it up Harry, that bank hasn't been 'natural' since groundbreaking of WPW in 2014!

I like the new design. It's crown and east facade are a nice ode to the instant-icon across the way at 150 N Riverside. Looks like they're also toying with the design of WPS shown with square columns now. It could be a behemoth to say the least. Looks like a 2,000-footer judging by size of that base! Having a real feeding frenzy over here...

i'd say it's gotta be at least a mile high based on the girth of that base! OMG, it's probably a reincarnated FLW mile-high "illinois" tower. FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency!

i'm so excited my asthma is acting up!

shit, where are my cheetos?

Two miles steely dan, .....Two miles high. That calls for jalapanio cheeto's. HAHA

Hmm...probably either in your parents' basement or in-between your chins. :haha:

WPE looks slick -- definitely hearkens to both WPW and 150 Riverside. I definitely like this over the previous (and obvious) placeholder design. But the center tower: Yum yum. Is there anyone here who may have another set of images that show us exactly what may be in the pipeline? Looks like a definite monster from those newly released renderings...

Besides the news of the immient groundbreaking of Chicago's first 10 mile high building, I think the WPE design looks pretty good. The real design challenge will be routing the O'Hare flight paths over downtown to avoid a building that scrapes the stratosphere.

On a serious note, one thing this design does MUCH better than 150 and 444 is bridge the elevation gap between river level and street level. That stairs looks like a very natural path down to the river. Hopefully there is some retail and yacht parking planned! Screw natural riverbank, I need somewhere to park my 55' Chris Craft.

The partial south tower rendering looks like Trump Tower Jr.

Stale never tasted so damn sweet. Not to brag, but we know what the phuck we're doing over here at SSP.

We're not always 100% on (my tip that this could be taller), but we're diligent and have great sleuths and posters.

Good work all. I appreciate you.

The post office is along the south branch.

Dammit. Thank you. I work on Wacker Drive and in my head, that is the "main" branch. Thanks for the correction.

Go ahead and brag, the Chicago coverage on the forum is quite fantastic. This is because despite what that disgruntled arm chair blogger says, many of us do know what we are talking about. This is, in no small part, due to quite a few of us having formal education and/or training involving the built environment and having gone on to work in the industry in some capacity.

There are a number of us forumers who work in the realm of architecture, planning, engineering, construction, property management/real estate and other related businesses. Additionally, there is some serious talent with the photographers who make regular contributions to our threads and a dedication to keep the good photos coming as these projects rise.

I will enjoy watching this tower grow as each stage is photographed and thoroughly discussed. Now pardon me as I need to crawl out of my parent's basement to make a 7-11 run for more Cheetos.

^ Kind of building on that comment, Curbed and DNAinfo have also emerged as relatively solid journalism outlets for the type of development updates - down to geek minutiae like writing whole articles just because a construction crane was delivered - that we share on this forum. It almost feels like they're an extension or outgrowth from SSP or the same community of people. I can't remember how they were a couple years back, but it seems like they've been upping their game lately; they're kind of a hyperlocal Crain's now. (So, mix in some brie & crackers with the cheetos..) And the cross-seeding of information with SSP is coming just as this cycle hits a frenzy. It's an interesting phenomenon.

^I first started lurking here well over a decade ago while still in high school. Ive learned more about construction here than anywhere else by far. The information is more accurate and reliable than Emporis or SSC if you ask me. Thanks to our profound and mysterious Spyguy we are the first to know when something is stirring, sometimes months before anything is released. Within minutes HarryC will have provided a recent picture of the development site and throughout construction, he and the likes of Solarwind & JMT keep us all current on the progress from multiple angles and perspectives. Even NIMBYs like Mr. Downtown occasionally share sound legal perspectives as they relate to certain proposals.

So yeah...eff that guy.

regarding the new renderings of the east tower I love the base as it speaks to the west tower. The first setback looks to be at about 2/3 the total height of the tower or roughly the height of the roof of WPW. I forget who mentioned it but I also saw subtle similarities with 150 N. Riverside.

One more thing I've learned here is when to get excited and when not to. I'm starting to get excited now.

This will be such a beautiful addition when viewed with riverpoint and riverside. It'll add such meat to the skyline.

"Could be" as tall as 950 feet. Where is that 1,100 foot number coming from? Wishful thinking?

Also who is the architect on this second building?

^ Hmm, don't know; the 3rd-to-last paragraph of the quote above sure fails to mention the name of the specific architect within the Pelli office who designed this.

So the west and the east towers will have a combined 1216 apartments.

Damn. That tiny peninsula known as Wolf Point, once holding a little tavern and inn at the outskirts of the developed world, just got seriously crowded

"It is expected to be completed by December 2019."

Are we to assume this means there will be no movement on WP South whatsoever until 2020? Or could they overlap?

Oh hah... Thanks

I wouldn't expect anything about WPS until 2021 at the earliest.

Back when the whole Wolf Point project was unveiled, during the very first public meeting, which I attended, the entire project had a completion date of 2022. Seems to me things are going as scheduled so far. Also, the height of WPS was projected to be 950ft. I believe the ~ 1100~ number started floating around after first seeing the version with the spire which was quickly yanked off of the original Wolf Point website once it was made light of.

I believe the original plans also had WPS being built before WPE, so we'll see how things are scheduled now.

^ nice find!

the south tower is now giving off a "glassy 30 rock" vibe.

i'm glad to see that they aren't going back to the shampoo bottle massing of the placeholder design.

Very nice. The WPS is giving me a slight 300 N. Lasalle vibe.

Hmmm, the crown of WPE doesn't seem to be cohesive with the other two - it looks like a literal crown in that one. Also, South now appears like a book inside a shorter book inside a shorter book. It now pairs better with West, but I think it's lost some personality.

Very nice.

I like either previous two designs more for the wps. That said anyone take a gander on the height looks alot more than 950' to me

I like this design best, it delivers a nice anchor the the split of the river. I'd like a different view though everything we've seen has been from the front.