[chicubs111]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it's important to remember that there are only 7 office towers in the US (outside of NYC) that have occupied space above 900'.

1. sears tower - chicago
2. aon center - chicago
3. US bank tower - LA
4. chase tower - houston
5. wells fargo - houston
6. salesforce - san francisco
7. columbia center - seattle

that's it outside of NYC. every other office tower in the nation that stretches above 900' uses spires or other rooftop embellishments to get there.

my point? 900+ vertical feet of occupied office levels is extremely rare in this country.

back in the late '80s boom, we saw 3 big office towers go up in chicago that ranged from 961' - 1,007' (franklin center, 2 pru, 311 S wacker), but all of them achieved their great height with spires and other roof top ornamentation. all 3 of them have occupied heights of just 820' - 843'.

these days in chicago, developers are not too keen on spending money on those kinds of height-boosting roof-top embellishments for bragging rights, so we end up with flat-roofed stuff like river point, 150 N riverside, 110 N wacker, BMO, and salesforce which really aren't a great deal lower than those late '80s office towers from an occupied height perspective.

in the entire history of chicago, only sears and aon truly stand out from the crowd of office towers for their incredible heights of occupied office space. office towers above ~850' just don't seem to pencil out in chicago, unless you stick a big giant pole on top of it.

A few roof-top embellishments here and there wouldn't hurt..just saying..lol..