^ That "spine" is required for trucks at ground level to access the loading dock for the 3 new buildings off of Lower Wacker. Residents will get to the parking garage from Harbor Drive or Westshore Drive, but you don't want trucks coming that way.
Not sure why the upper levels of the "spine" are getting glass, there are cheaper ways to do temporary walls (steel frame + densglass, or masonry). Maybe those spaces will be used as model units for the sales team until Parcel I is built, and then they will be incorporated into that building's parking podium. That little side structure definitely appears to be a "balcony"...
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
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