It takes a village to raise a spire, so Shelbourne Development has announced a team of professionals that will be charged with delivering the goods for architect Santiago Calatrava‘s much-anticipated 2,000-foot high-rise. The tower, formerly known as Fordham (c’mon guys, time to take the rendering down from the landing page), will go by the somewhat democratic moniker of Chicago Spire. Props to Shelbourne’s Garrett Kelleher for resisting the urge to immortalise the family or the company name on what is anticipated to be the tallest building in North America.
Assuming this development isn’t pie-in-the-sky, it’s fitting that it bear the name “Chicago” because it will represent a high point in this city’s storied architectural history and will be part of this city’s rebranding across the world.
Speaking of all things that are pie-in-the-sky, is Shelbourne’s team down-to-earth enough to pull this thing off? The company has named Calatrava as the point man, and enlisted Perkins & Will as architect of record. In some circles, Caltrava is Spanish for “over budget,” so it’s tempting to think that Perkins and Will is there to reign in the iconic architect. But I like the idea of P & W’s Ralph Johnson, of Skybridge fame, working side-by-side with Calatrava, offering insights on how to navigate the quirks of the Windy City real estate and architectural worlds to deliver something spectacular. Construction is slated to begin “before June” next year, so mark it in your calenders and we’ll see what happens.