Archinect - News

Whither 400 Lake Shore Drive? Chicago critic Edward Keegan asks for a firm answer

2024-08-15T13:05:00-04:00

Chicago’s most infamous vacant site of the 21st century is finally getting a tower. But will we be getting the architect’s best vision — or just half of a good design? A look at some recent history of large projects in the city offers some guidance, and reason for concern. I have no reason to doubt Related’s stated intention to build both towers, but if history is a guide, it’s more likely than not that the single tower will never see its sibling.

The Windy City's newest architecture critic, Edward Keegan, explains 400 Lake Shore Drive (designed by SOM's Chicago office with David Childs) against five other similar projects that never saw the original vision of their architects fully realized. He says a potential void might become a permanent edifice where once Santiago Calatrava endeavored to build his 2,000-foot Spire tower if Related Midwest is not kept to task by city officials and an active group of "concerned citizens."

"We need a planning mechanism that pays more attention to the interim state of larger projects without becoming too enamored with the complete design," he writes further for the Tribune's newly established architecture column. "Because city building is always a work in progress, as a number of orphan towers can attest."

The first half of the project broke ground in June and expects to be ready for its initial tenants to move in by the fall of 2027.

Construction starts at SOM-designed 400 Lake Shore Drive replacement in Chicago

2024-03-05T14:24:00-05:00

The much-publicized void left behind in the wake of Santiago Calatrava’s failed Chicago Spire proposal is finally being attended to, as now the Chicago Sun-Times and other outlets are reporting on developer Related Midwest’s start of construction for the SOM-designed replacement at 400 Lake Shore Drive.

The 76-foot hole was partially filled by the 12-hour concrete pour required for the mat foundation for the two-tower scheme that will yield 1,100 apartments and the new DuSable Park at the three-acre site by Q3 2027.

Video showing the 12-hour mat foundation pour, which included 250 concrete trucks delivering 9 million pounds of concrete. Video courtesy Related Midwest

This update comes after caisson permits for the project were granted in December. David Childs is responsible for the design, which references Chicago's vernacular masonry and terra cotta architecture in two faceted 765- and 857-foot forms. Urbanize Chicago reports there to be a total of nine million tons of concrete...

Chicago issues caisson permit for 400 Lake Shore Drive

2023-12-14T12:41:00-05:00

An important milestone has been reached in the construction of 400 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. According to Urbanize Chicago, a caisson permit has been issued, and below-grade work is scheduled to kick off early next year.

The blog reports that once that work is done, "above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027. Landscaping and the final completion of the tower is expected for Q3 2027."

The project had previously set a date for around December 1st for its construction to start. SOM's chairman emeritus David Childs is the designer of the two-tower scheme, which quotes the masonry and terra cotta traditions that are synonymous with the Windy City.

Previously on Archinect: Chicago's 400 Lake Shore Drive developers finally set a construction start date

The project will culminate in a total of 1,100 residential units. The first phase of its development calls for the construction of the 3.44-acre DuSable Park and the 72-story Tower One, which stands as a half-size...

Chicago's 400 Lake Shore Drive developers finally set a construction start date

2023-10-19T12:25:00-04:00

In 45 days, the construction team will be on site to begin site clearing and mobilization. Crews will begin below-grade work, including caissons, sheeting, and the cofferdam. Work below-grade is expected to begin in Q1 of 2024 and run through Q2 2025. Once underground work is done, crews will transition to vertical construction, including concrete pours, the building enclosure, and interiors. Above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027.

Developers Related Midwest had initially promised a start of the project by the end of last year. Construction now will begin with the 72-story Tower One and work towards an eventual 2027 completion, ending a saga that began with the cancellation of Santiago Calatrava’s ambitious 150-floor Chicago Spire proposal in 2008.

Writing after the revised SOM plan’s approval in 2020, critic Blair Kamin said it offered a “watering-down of the project’s previously arresting skyline presence and a weakening of its contribution to a network of public spaces that was envisioned in the 1980s.”

SOM-designed towers planned atop Chicago Spire site finally set to begin construction this year

2022-04-11T17:19:00-04:00

Fifteen years ago, a world renowned architect planned to bring the Spire to Chicago a giant luxury condo building with sky high prices. Years later, all that's there is hole in the ground, at a prime spot by the river and the lake. Now, a new project may actually come to life there.

Construction is set to start later this year at 400 Lake Shore Drive after more than a decade as an empty plot. The site was originally reserved for the Chicago Spire, a 2,000-foot tall, twisted tower designed by Santiago Calatrava. The project, however, was canceled following the onset of the 2008 recession. Left as a mere hole in the ground, the site was acquired in 2014 by developer Related Midwest with a proposal to build two sister luxury apartment towers.

Previously on Archinect: 1,100-unit SOM towers in Chicago head toward construction

The SOM-designed project received city approval in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Now, its groundbreaking is planned for the end of 2022. The towers will be built alongside a fellow long-awaited endeavor, DuSable Park, a 3.44-acre reimagined space set to be completed in 2025.

1,100-unit SOM towers in Chicago head toward construction

2020-09-04T12:10:00-04:00

A twin-towered residential development slated for the former Chicago Spire site on Lake Michigan has received formal municipal approvals and is now heading toward construction.

The project, developed by Related Midwest and designed by SOM will bring 1,100 residential units to the site across a pair of glass and aluminum-wrapped towers rising 875- and 765-feet, respectively.

Previously on Archinect: "Twin towered development by SOM slated for failed Spire site advances in Chicago." Image courtesy of SOM.

The project design has been updated to remove previously proposed hotel and condominium components, YIMBY Chicago reports. Additionally, a previously proposed above ground parking podium will be replaced with a 300-spot below ground garage.

With approvals in hand, the project team will now go about initiating construction for the project, which will be built as two phases. Under this plan the taller, northern tower will be built first with the shorter, southern tower following short...

Twin towered development by SOM slated for failed Spire site advances in Chicago

2020-05-22T13:14:00-04:00

A long simmering SOM-designed skyscraper pair slated for the former Chicago Spire site has taken a step forward in Chicago, where the city's planning commission has given the green light for the project to proceed.

Now that the project has been approved by the Chicago Planning Commission, it must be approved by the Chicago City Council's Zoning Committee and by the Chicago City Council itself before the project can break ground.

Writing in The Chicago Tribune, critic Blair Kamin reports that the 1,100-unit development will bring housing, pedestrian connections, and needed funding for a new park adjacent to the site. The project is being developed by Related Midwest.

Made up of towers that will rise 875- and 765-feet respectively, the spires feature stepped crowns that gradually grow thinner in profile as they rise. The project, designed by David Childs of SOM, is set to be developed in phases, with the northern tower set to be completed in 2024, assuming the project team can coord...

New two-tower development at Chicago Spire site could dominate the city skyline

2018-05-16T14:05:00-04:00

The long-awaited vision for the 2.2-acre site along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, unveiled in the first community meeting for the project, is toned down a bit from the 2,000-foot-tall Spire plan that stirred emotions but never advanced beyond a 76-foot-deep foundation hole. The design, by One World Trade Center architect David Childs, includes a south tower rising 1,100 feet and an 850-foot north tower.

Ever since work on Santiago Calatrava's 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire came to a halt in 2008 due to financial troubles, the city was left with a gaping hole in the ground rather than the nation's tallest building.

Rendering: Related Midwest.

A new proposal by Related Midwest for a pair of towers at 400 Lake Shore Drive, designed by architect David Childs with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, could rehabilitate the site.

Zaha Hadid Architects' conceptual rendering for Chicago Spire site

2018-01-02T13:43:00-05:00

While 2017 saw developer Related Midwest remain tight-lipped on its plans for the site of the defunct 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire project, a rendering showing a pair of very tall skyscrapers rising at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive recently reignited speculation regarding the site’s future redevelopment. The rather slender image surfaced online, credited to Britain’s Zaha Hadid Architects.

Another rendering for the vacant Chicago Spire site recently surfaced online. The image was confirmed as a proposal from Zaha Hadid Architects; however, the developer Related Midwest will not be pursuing the design.

While the project will not be built, the organic towers are certainly a stunning site to behold. Characteristic of ZHA's work, these sci-fi shaped towers appear to break the 984-foot tall supertall threshold. For now, future plans for what will be built at 400 N. Lakeshore Drive are still anyone's guess.

Image note: the previous image has been removed by request, as it was not intended for publication.

Chicago Spire's gaping hole to be hidden behind piles of dirt

2016-03-28T14:02:00-04:00

It was supposed to be a strutting 150-story lakefront symbol of the city's virility — but eight years after construction of the Chicago Spire skyscraper ground to a halt, the gaping hole where it was to have stood has instead become an enduring reminder of the Great Recession. So owner Related Midwest is now hiding the unsightly circular hole that would have formed the foundation of the world's second-tallest building behind a pile of dirt.

The Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire project previously in the Archinect news:

Looks Like Calatrava Won't Get Paid for His Chicago Spire Work

2014-11-25T14:26:00-05:00

Back in 2008, architect Santiago Calatrava placed an $11.34M lien on the Chicago Spire in the hope of being paid for his work on the project, which officially died in November, having never amounted to anything more than a hole in the ground. Now, Crain's Chicago reports that Calatrava may have missed the two-year window he had to file a lawsuit to enforce his claim.

Previously: Legal Troubles Dog Famed Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava and Chicago Spire developer wants to resume project

Chicago Spire developer wants to resume project

2014-02-07T17:52:00-05:00

The Irish developer behind the Chicago Spire said it has found an investor to pay its creditors, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy and possibly restart work on the long-stalled residential project.

Chicago Spire developer in talks with AFL-CIO for funding

2009-03-25T11:03:00-04:00

AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trusts, a "deep-pocketed pension fund", may help finance the stalled Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire. AFL-CIO's interest is 5 years of 100% union jobs. ChiTrib

Spire Gets Planning Approval

2006-03-16T18:50:00-05:00

Calatrava waves his magic marker and secures planning approval for the Fordham Spire. "With this approval, we're on our way to adding another architectural treasure to this great city," says the developer. Crain's Chicago Business