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Yo’s truly has a little more news on 400 North Lake Shore Drive, the 2,000-ft. high-rise designed by Santiago Calatrava, formerly known as Fordham Spire. As we’ve said previously, Irish-based Shelbourne Development has taken over the project from The Fordham Company. The other day, Yo had a quick chat with Shelbourne’s counsel in Chicago, Tom Murphy, who gave us a few more details.
The company is still talking with Calatrava about the exterior of the 126-story building, which may be altered slightly. There will be 300 condos, tentatively priced from the $600s to $5 million (we’ll have to ask them about penthouses – guess the spire tapers a little too much to support a really massive top-floor unit.) The developer isn’t giving up any information about square footage or price per square foot at this stage. Construction is slated to being early next year and delivery is scheduled for late 2010.
Sales are expected to get underway in “a few months,” Murphy said. The unit finishes aren’t finalized. The lobby will have some distinctly Calatrava flourishes, he said, although he didn’t elaborate. “Every aspect of it will have the Santiago signature on it,” Murphy told us. “The building will be very luxurious. It’s going to have a very international feeling to it.”
We also hear that homeowners will be able to drive out of the development directly onto Lake Shore Drive. Murphy says that particular stretch of the busy road is relatively quiet.
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So sales won’t even get underway until early next year, and so will construction?? Oh, come on – this Murphy character is losing credibility everytime he opens his mouth. Realistically, the earliest we could hope for a true groundbreaking (not environmental remediation or largely ceremonial sitework, but actualy foundation construction consisting of rock caissons) is late 2008. Don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer, and trust me no one wants this project as currently designed to be realized more than me (I attended a large community presentation on the project and attended the Plan Commission meeting in which it was approved – and was thrilled to see Calatrava in person speak about the project), however it is time to critically evaluate this proposal: What are the realistic prospects of financing a building with only 300 condo units and perhaps 150 hotel rooms that could cost well in excess of $1 billion? Does Shelbourne have the type of extensive expertise and track record it would take to pull a project of this gargantuan magnitude off? Will the currently downshifting condo market be able to support the high volume of extremely expensive units Shelbourne will need to pre-sell next year? In my opinion, the present poposal is unfortunately not going anywhere. A major redesign is in order, and i only hope the result will be something that is also architecturally significant. Something big will be built on this site, I just have no idea what that will be…
That design won’t fly. They could build it, but it wouldn’t be livable unless you like puny rooms. The interior would be a forest of columns and transfer girders. But it did it’s job of sucking in the mayor and his plan commission. If a non-starchitect had proposed this, there would be nothing but ridicule. When we start embracing the Trumps and the Calatravas, it’s an indication of an inferiority complex.
From the angle provided in the picture, the spire reminds me of San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid — only taller and after being run through a giant threading nut.
there will not be columns in many units as someone described. the whole structure will essentially be cantleevered off a circulation core at the center. that is the only way to allow every floor plate to rotate. It has been done before and the reason it is not ridiculed coming from calatrava is that being an engineer his projects are always well thought out and designed to work unlike many of the local people in the city. It is not as simple as a box, but it is not impossible to build.
No one said it’s impossible, merely impractical. A long span cantilever has incredible thickness whether it’s steel or concrete. That’s a lot of material and a lot of incredibly expensive waisted volume. This isn’t some government boondogle. It’s needs to pencil out financially.
I wouldn’t call taking the effort to actually design a decent building instead of the normal crap put up in this city a waste of volumne. it might not happen exactly as designed, but the basic design will remain intact. if it was not viable shelbourne would not have bought it.
It is a stunning, elegant design and would be a worthy new icon of the city. Nearly anything the human imagination can imagine could physically be built with unlimited resources or a centrallly-planned economy. However, as resources are clearly finite, and thankfully this is a free market supply-and-demand based economy, this tower needs to be able to make an economic return for the developer. This is kindof how it works here. Great initial vision may be a necessity for the production of an architecturally great skyscraper, however great vision won’t get it built – only a vigorously vetted financial pro-forma will do that. Jack – you say “if it was not viable shelbourne would not have bought it”. That’s a fairly ridiculous statement. Look at Shelbourne’s website – go ahead, examing their portfolio of real estate developments and acquisitions. Does it appear that their previous experience in any way would prepare them for what is proposed as potentially the most ambitious and risky megaproject in Chicago history? Of course not!! Everyday, experienced and successful real estate developers and investors, as well as investors across every financial asset class that exists make the wrong call, the wrong bet, the foolish move that lose $ millions, if not $billions. We’ll see how this deal ends up, but it’s highly likely that given the evolving risk-return profile of this project, the basic design will not, in fact, remain intact.
Calatrava is an experienced structural engineer as well as a great architect. He has a good idea how it will be built, while still providing units of the size and type people will buy. Last I saw, the amount people were willing to pay per square foot for this building was in excess of $1,300. As it gets more known, that number could go up more. In any case, the developer will find a way to make money on it. This guy knows what he’s doing… and, as a result we’ll get a piece of true architecture in this city as opposed to the crap condos that are going up on every block that I have no clue why anyone actually buys.
Nothing against Calatrava. Good luck to him. He is indeed very experienced -at public sector and institutional work -not speculative gambles. It’s a much different animal.
Dios mio, how dare you question ze Masterpiece! It will be ze world’s greatest project.
This is an outrage! I am ze ultimate architect of ze universe. Si, si, there is no comparison! Ze insolence will not be tolerated. No no no no no no
Nobody is even remotely suggesting that Calatrava is not a master architect and structural engineer – he is a pure genius. However, his remarkable skills have nothing to do with this project’s profitability – or, more specifically, lack of profitability. As currently designed, the spire will undoubtedly lose hundreds of millions of dollars. The numbers will simply not even come close to working, so that is why we should all expect a complete redesign, which of course unfortunately begs the question of whether Calatrava will want to continue to be involved…
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