An awed “whoa” was Dana Sindha’s gut reaction to Trump International Hotel & Tower, under construction at 401 N. Wabash Ave. in River North. The 27-year-old medical student was visiting from her home in Ohio for the first time in five years. The last time she was here, the squat, metallic Sun-Times building blighted this prominent spot on the river. “This looks like it’s going to be pretty awesome. I love the blue,” she said quickly, the sharp breeze off the river hustling her along.
Even on a wintry day, it’s hard for tourists walking the Magnificent Mile and lifelong Chicagoans alike not to stop to witness the drama of a skyscraper going up before their eyes. “Ultimately, this 92-story tower with this amazing glass façade will be an iconic image in this city,” says Tere Proctor, the Koenig & Strey GMAC Real Estate agent leading sales at Trump Tower. “The presence of this tower is already being experienced by the neighborhood and anybody that happens by the site.”
You’d never mistake the building, festooned from top to bottom with banners bearing only the word “Trump,” for anything other than the brainchild of real estate mogul Donald Trump, and that, Proctor says, is the point.
“A big part of our success is the Trump brand, which really brings an identity to the building,” she says. “People know that it’s associated with high-end luxury and quality.” Buyers outside of Chicago have purchased units over the phone, Proctor says, because of the trust they have in the developer. “They know if it’s Trump, it has to be good.”
“Good” may be an understatement. As Trump himself would say, it’s gonna be huge.
The tower, poised to become the largest residential building in the country, has 472 residential condos and 286 hotel condos all with access to five-star hotel amenities including maid services, in-house spa services, catering, and around-the-clock room service and concierge staff. Thirty thousand square feet of health club space includes more than a dozen spa treatment rooms. A deck on the 16th floor will provide outdoor dining space for one of the building’s restaurants, and the hotel’s grand ballroom has 30-foot ceiling heights and views of the lake. The residential lobby will have 35-foot ceiling heights, stone floors, wood-paneled walls and dramatic chandeliers. “Everything is on the grand scale,” Proctor said.
Sales at Trump Tower, which had reached 80 percent in the residential tower and 78 percent in the hotel at press time, have been driven by the luxury-seeking Baby Boomer contingent, Proctor says. “They can afford any place. They can live anywhere they want. Why do they spend anywhere from $1,000 to $1,600 a square foot in this building?” she asks. “Because they want the best.”
While Trump Tower won’t have the famous observation decks enjoyed by the Sears Tower and Hancock Center, the monumental structure will still have plenty to offer everyone who can’t afford an address there. “Unlike many other new towers that shoot up out of the concrete with neighboring towers, we’ve created an environment at the base of this building that I think will be a tremendous addition to the city,” Proctor says. “I see it as a destination.”
Situated a block off of Michigan Avenue and a bridge away from the Loop, Trump Tower sits on a 1.2-acre stretch of park space created on the bank of the river, and 90,000 square feet of retail space, with high-end shops and restaurants, will front the water. The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed building, sheathed in tinted glass that reflects the neighboring architecture, is also a new visual asset for Chicago, Proctor says. Sandwiched between Mies van der Rohe‘s modernist black box at 330 N. Wabash Ave. and the classical terra cotta of the Wrigley Building, Trump Tower continues the evolving architectural dialogue along Chicago’s riverfront. “I think it’s becoming a part of the city,” says Proctor.
Condos at Trump Tower range from studios to five-bedroom units, and prices range from the $580s to $9.6 million. Construction had reached the 26th floor in the second week of March, and the hotel portion of the building was scheduled to open in December 2007. First residential deliveries are planned for April 2008.