CHICAGO | Highrise Projects & Construction, v7

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

It will be interesting to see where Chase wants to take this. Is it almost assured they will headline a new building or is it just as likely they will try to find leasable space in a pre-existing I wonder.

If they do choose a new building location I kind of hope it is not 130 N. Franklin. Though it's absurd that the lot has been as vacant as long as it has I just don't think a building is likely to add much from a skyline perspective at the location, hidden largely behind the new N/S Wacker buildings.

There's an article from The Real Deal mentioning they also toured existing "vacant" buildings. So there is no guarantee for a new tower if the plans go through, but there's a possibility. Also they mention Fulton Market. I'm not sure if they just don't understand that 655 W Madison is not Fulton Market, or if there's something Chicago Tribune isn't telling us..

One of the benefits they've had in NYC is the fact that there's a lot of space in multiple buildings in the same area as the HQ as well as some others. So people are kind of relocated to other spaces while the main HQ is demolished with a new building built over it. That's not nearly as much the case in Chicago even if they wanted to go the same route of demolishing a big skyscraper to replace it with something else.

From a prominence perspective, it depends also on how tall a new tower would be relative to the others around it and where it's positioned. From that perspective, I suspect the one on Madison for example would be attractive if you're talking about prominence and showing the company's name and/or logo at the top basically. From a suburban commuter perspective it's a nice location. But from a city train perspective it's not the greatest. I think 130 N Franklin is the best location wise from a logistics perspective though.

Also consider if they do want a new tower, how architecturally significant they'd want it. I'd guess to keep up with B of A and BMO, they'd want it to be something that looks good potentially iconic....which would be great for Chicago.

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Also they mention Fulton Market. I'm not sure if they just don't understand that 655 W Madison is not Fulton Market, or if there's something Chicago Tribune isn't telling us..

The Trib also mentioned the Bridgford Foods site, which is definitely in Fulton.

[Tombstoner]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I'd guess to keep up with B of A and BMO, they'd want it to be something that looks good potentially iconic....which would be great for Chicago.

I think BoA and BMO are a pretty low bar for "iconic." Neither is ugly and BMO is actually nice, but a new tower could certainly do much, much better than either.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Tombstoner

I think BoA and BMO are a pretty low bar for "iconic." Neither is ugly and BMO is actually nice, but a new tower could certainly do much, much better than either.

Yeah - which makes it even easier to outdo them

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

The Trib also mentioned the Bridgford Foods site, which is definitely in Fulton.

And if it were to go there, I could see Burnett getting the elevated stop at Halsted he's mentioned wanting before.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

And if it were to go there, I could see Burnett getting the elevated stop at Halsted he's mentioned wanting before.

Seems to me the most remote possibility of the bunch.

I'm not actually saying "no way" but this would be a huge disappointment if we were to end up with a 400,000-700,000 sq ft built-to-suit (or essentially so) Fulton Market box for a bank - for what should be a 1-1.5+ mil. sq ft. Loop tower that a bank anchors. I can just see the red brick on the first couple floors.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yeah - which makes it even easier to outdo them

Yep - there's a real opportunity here to if not quite anchor a true vanity tower than at least make a statement that one-ups the competition. And it shouldn't be that difficult.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by marothisu

There's an article from The Real Deal mentioning they also toured existing "vacant" buildings. So there is no guarantee for a new tower if the plans go through, but there's a possibility. Also they mention Fulton Market. I'm not sure if they just don't understand that 655 W Madison is not Fulton Market, or if there's something Chicago Tribune isn't telling us..

One of the benefits they've had in NYC is the fact that there's a lot of space in multiple buildings in the same area as the HQ as well as some others. So people are kind of relocated to other spaces while the main HQ is demolished with a new building built over it. That's not nearly as much the case in Chicago even if they wanted to go the same route of demolishing a big skyscraper to replace it with something else.

From a prominence perspective, it depends also on how tall a new tower would be relative to the others around it and where it's positioned. From that perspective, I suspect the one on Madison for example would be attractive if you're talking about prominence and showing the company's name and/or logo at the top basically. From a suburban commuter perspective it's a nice location. But from a city train perspective it's not the greatest. I think 130 N Franklin is the best location wise from a logistics perspective though.

Also consider if they do want a new tower, how architecturally significant they'd want it. I'd guess to keep up with B of A and BMO, they'd want it to be something that looks good potentially iconic....which would be great for Chicago.

I'm sure one option being carefully considered is something similar to what BofA is doing here (IIRC) and what I'd assume Chase might be doing in Manhattan - a new state of the art tower for all of the 'highest value add' groups and some infrastructure - all the rainmakers, most expensive talent, etc, and then keep some existing nearby space for 'back office' and a lot of other infrastructure and internal functions. This would obviously cut down on the size of the new anchor lease and thus the size of the new tower.

I was just reminded of something from nearly 2 decades ago - I believe it was Bank One that signed a huge anchor pre-lease for 131 South Dearborn. I don't know exactly what they planned to put in that space, but I don't believe they ever occupied much if any of the space, and then Chase came along and purchased Bank One maybe 1-2 years after the tower opened and I don't think they had a change of heart in terms of moving in. I want to say they ended up just subleasing the vast majority or all of the space.

Not sure what the deal was going back to Bank One......perhaps Jamie Dimon - who became Bank One CEO in 2000 and moved to Chicago - was just not a fan of the deal to anchor the new tower? Could have coincided in general with a period of downtown Chicago bank footprints shrinking as well....

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SamInTheLoop

Seems to me the most remote possibility of the bunch.

I'm not actually saying "no way" but this would be a huge disappointment if we were to end up with a 400,000-700,000 sq ft built-to-suit (or essentially so) Fulton Market box for a bank - for what should be a 1-1.5+ mil. sq ft. Loop tower that a bank anchors. I can just see the red brick on the first couple floors.

It is probably the most remote of possibilities of the mentioned sites, but it's not completely out of the question. Banks like Chase do have a ton of young/young-ish tech workers and just like many other tech companies, continue to look to attract the same types of workers for the most part in a quieter manner. If they were looking to lease something like 250K-350K sq ft instead of 1M sq ft then Fulton Market might make even more sense. At the same time though, they want to sometimes be seen as more hip.

At the same time though, my money is on 130 N Franklin or the Madison site if getting a new site is truly what the deal is.

[Randomguy34]

^ I agree 130 N Franklin is a more attractive site, but I have a feeling Chase would be leaning towards the Hines site at 401 S Wacker. Hines has a great track-record of developing "hard-to-build" sites, have secured some of the most expensive construction loans in the city's history, and are excellent salesmen in attracting tenants such as Salesforce and DLA Piper. 130 N Franklin on the other hand has been struggling the past decade to secure tenants and begin construction.

If Hines really was able to secure a major Australian company for 401 S Wacker, then Chase would see them as a safer bet. Plus they'd be closer to Union Station than 130 N Franklin, which could be more attractive than being closer to Ogilvie

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

^ I agree 130 N Franklin is a more attractive site, but I have a feeling Chase would be leaning towards the Hines site at 401 S Wacker. Hines has a great track-record of developing "hard-to-build" sites, have secured some of the most expensive construction loans in the city's history, and are excellent salesmen in attracting tenants such as Salesforce and DLA Piper. 130 N Franklin on the other hand has been struggling the past decade to secure tenants and begin construction.

If Hines really was able to secure a major Australian company for 401 S Wacker, then Chase would see them as a safer bet. Plus they'd be closer to Union Station than 130 N Franklin, which could be more attractive than being closer to Ogilvie

The site at 401 S Wacker from a logistics standpoint is pretty good, that is true. It's close to Union Station as well as LaSalle Street for Metra. Plus it's pretty close to some city train stops. It's also close to OPO..

Question though, someone said they could tear down the Enwave building there. Is that an actual viable thing? I was under the impression that this building was kind of important to many office buildings in the area as it provides cooling to tons of buildings. How would this realistically work to tear this thing down? Wouldn't it need to build a new facility first and re-route everything to that before it can even be torn down?

[Mr Downtown]

Probably just a pipe dream for Chase to build an adjacent tower and then renovate and reuse the Thompson Center—especially with no developer yet on board to offer up the possibility. But it would make me like them more if they did.

[JMKeynes]

Great news!!!!!!

[Bonsai Tree]

401 S. Wacker drive is the property next to Enwave on the south side of Van Buren, just for clarity's sack in case anyone is wondering. The property next to 311 S. Wacker is currently under Murphy development ownership and under the 321 S. Wacker address. I can't officially find who owns the 401 S wacker piece of land, but I assume it's Hines, or maybe they're partnering with Enwave?

My question is, how can that small piece of land be large enough even for a million square foot + office tower? That would be even skinnier than Salesforce tower!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by bcp

That cooling building will never go away...it's like a data-center - lots of connections and major impacts to relocating

That is what I suspected. I imagine that even if they rebuilt something somewhat close by (like across the river and south of Congress) that it would take multiple years before this thing could even be torn down.

Couldn't the parking lot theoretically hold a building of this size?

[jpIllInoIs]

Why are we ruling out the parking lot for the of 311 S Wacker, 333s wacker? And the OPO has an empty plaza on the riverfront.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by Bonsai Tree

401 S. Wacker drive is the property next to Enwave on the south side of Van Buren, just for clarity's sack in case anyone is wondering. The property next to 311 S. Wacker is currently under Murphy development ownership and under the 321 S. Wacker address. I can't officially find who owns the 401 S wacker piece of land, but I assume it's Hines, or maybe they're partnering with Enwave?

Hines agreed to purchase the property in 2019. No documents filed for the Enwave parcel.

PIN 17-16-237-006 & 17-16-237-007
Memorandum of Purchase and Sale Agreement (dated 9/16/19 recorded 10/15/19)
between 401 S WACKER ASSOCIATES LLC and HINES INTERESTS LP

[Randomguy34]

West Loop Metra station is happening, alderman says

A long-rumored infill Metra rail station for the booming Fulton Market District could be constructed just west of Odgen Avenue—that is if funding can be found.

New details on the transit project emerged at a virtual community meeting to discuss a 19-story life science development slated for nearby 400 N. Elizabeth Street. Chicago developer Mark Goodman said the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) requested his building include a pedestrian greenway along a vacated stretch of Kinzie Street to connect to the future station, which would be located on the opposite side of Ogden in between the two sets of Union Pacific tracks.

"They have designed—and they asked us not to share the rendering, but I can describe it—a platform that runs from Ogden all the way to Ashland so that the Metra station could connect with the CTA line at Ashland," Goodman said. "I think would be a very positive benefit for the community."

https://urbanize.city/chicago/post/w...n-ogden-kinzie

[lakeshoredrive]

I would love it if the rumored 98 stories building’s design is similar to One Vanderbilt in NYC. I’m obsessed with that skyscraper and I always thought it would’ve looked really good in the Chicago skyline. The top of the building with the spire is my favorite aspect of the design so I hope the design for this rumored building is unique, not just another box shaped skyscrapers that we’ve gotten lately lol

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by lakeshoredrive

I would love it if the rumored 98 stories building’s design is similar to One Vanderbilt in NYC. I’m obsessed with that skyscraper and I always thought it would’ve looked really good in the Chicago skyline. The top of the building with the spire is my favorite aspect of the design so I hope the design for this rumored building is unique, not just another box shaped skyscrapers that we’ve gotten lately lol

You will get a blue Goettsch box and you will like it.