[Chicago_Forever]

^
I don't want to take this thread too off topic but there's more to the Union Station redevelopment and how we ended with the current design. I believe Amtrak was looking to cash in on the land surrounding US and Rahm got behind the idea early on and pushed it through.

Around this time Sterling Bey came out with their vision (cheese grader tower) to replace the huge Amtrak garage. Soon after, an RFP went out for a team (architect/developer/equity) to lead the redevelopment of the Union Station. IIRC, one team included Jeanne Gang (don't recall the developer she partnered with), Sterling Bey/Skidmore, and Riverside Investment & Development partnering with Goettsch as they always do.

I remember reading Riverside won the competition due to their track record and equity partners which would guarantee the protect came to fruition which Rahm really wanted. Unfortunately, I believe Sterling Bey was just starting to become a big deal but wasn't there yet. Otherwise they might have won the competition and we could have ended up with the cheese grader Supertall. Btw, there was a similar (but smaller) cheese grader proposal for one of the parking lots on west Monroe which I liked even better design wise.

As for This proposal (1000M) I didn't care much for the original design either. Although it was taller, the base really bugged me, even more so than the base of the current tower. I'm still sad about Park Michigan though and think that was another great signature tower lost to the Great Recession.