CHICAGO | Boom rundown - everything over 12 floors. v5

[Alliance]

I can see BP moving into Smith's Zero-E tower. All the rage these days with energy companies.

[chicubs111]

^^ No....BP would rather have a new building...they have stated this..that is why they are looking at those 3 possible sites....Personally I would rather have them take up some space in a building like 155 north wacker or wolf point...I mean there is plenty of space around chicago,..I would like to see the vacancy rates continue to drop before building more office towers

[honte]

^ I gather that you own a few existing office towers?

[wrab]

MOMO, 10/20/07

[Alliance]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

^^ No....BP would rather have a new building...they have stated this..that is why they are looking at those 3 possible sites....Personally I would rather have them take up some space in a building like 155 north wacker or wolf point...I mean there is plenty of space around chicago,..I would like to see the vacancy rates continue to drop before building more office towers

Are they looking to build just for themselves? Otherwise, whats the difference between being the primary occupant of say Smith's tower vs one of their own?

[wrab]

Kingsbury Plaza, 10/20/07

[wrab]

River North Marriott Suites, from across the river, 10/20/07:

[honte]

Originally Posted by Alliance

Are they looking to build just for themselves? Otherwise, whats the difference between being the primary occupant of say Smith's tower vs one of their own?

The answer to this is partly scattered throughout the articles of the past few days (Crain's, Sun-Times, Tribune). They require a trading floor, and not even the vacated one of the Merc was large enough.

And, of course, there is the same factor that has led to so many new buildings being started across the city: The prestige of being the anchor tenant and getting to call the shots on how the design is tailored. Most of these big firms opt for the low-rise floors, which are cheaper.

Concerning Smith's proposal specifically, I don't know how far along the developer really is - they may not even be aware of it. The Wacker Drive location seems like it would be a more premium spot than their other favored options.

[chicubs111]

Im just thinking about the future of a potential supertall offce tower in chicago...we need to have a lower vacancy rate (after the new wave of tower is complete) to get a shot at a really tall office tower , im tired of the 50 story 650ft to 700ft towers. I mean 155 north wacker only has about 150,000sq ft tenent, that leaves alot of space to fill for that building which translates into higher vacancy rates.

[Alliance]

Thats what I was thinking about the S. Wacker address too.

...but what does BP want a trading floor for?

[wrab]

Allure 10/20/07

[wrab]

SoNo Rising, 10/20/07 (taken through hole in fence - not on site!):

[Vince]

600 N Fairbanks seems like it will be complete by the New Year at the latest.

[sentinel]

*******Well, not sure if this has been brought up before but I have some interesting (and as far as I know, previously unknown) news about Central Station: I was out with a realtor in the city today, looking for a condo (a WHOLE other story), who has his own company and seems to have a pretty good sense of new developments in Chicago and he told, as we passed by OMP and the site for OMPW that the developer for Central Station has ALREADY bought the air-rights for the railroad tracks directly east of the development and west of LSD and is planning a long-term development scheme (10-15 years from now) of filling that whole area up with between 20-25 buildings, ranging from 10-15 story mid-rises to high-rises potentially around 30-40 stories on top of the tracks. The reason this is being kept verrrrryyyyy secretive right now is because of the fact that all of the buyers of units facing the lake/museum campus were promised 'un-obsrtucted' views but if this long-term vision comes to fruition, that could change quite drastically. Use this as you wish..

[spyguy]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

Im just thinking about the future of a potential supertall offce tower in chicago...we need to have a lower vacancy rate (after the new wave of tower is complete) to get a shot at a really tall office tower , im tired of the 50 story 650ft to 700ft towers. I mean 155 north wacker only has about 150,000sq ft tenent, that leaves alot of space to fill for that building which translates into higher vacancy rates.

It's not often that a company relocates downtown and is looking for 300-400k sq. ft. Prestigious firms already in Chicago are always on the lookout for prominent new skyscrapers to anchor, so I don't think this will negatively affect our chances at getting a tall office tower. However, this is a good opportunity for some of these smaller developments like the Monroe or Madison project to finally get off the ground after many idle years and in the process get rid of some ugly vacant spots.

[spyguy]

I think 565 Quincy should at least be moved to site prep.

[Loopy]

Originally Posted by sentinel

*******Well, not sure if this has been brought up before but I have some interesting (and as far as I know, previously unknown) news about Central Station: I was out with a realtor in the city today, looking for a condo (a WHOLE other story), who has his own company and seems to have a pretty good sense of new developments in Chicago and he told, as we passed by OMP and the site for OMPW that the developer for Central Station has ALREADY bought the air-rights for the railroad tracks directly east of the development and west of LSD and is planning a long-term development scheme (10-15 years from now) of filling that whole area up with between 20-25 buildings, ranging from 10-15 story mid-rises to high-rises potentially around 30-40 stories on top of the tracks. The reason this is being kept verrrrryyyyy secretive right now is because of the fact that all of the buyers of units facing the lake/museum campus were promised 'un-obsrtucted' views but if this long-term vision comes to fruition, that could change quite drastically. Use this as you wish..

Yeah, this story has been bouncing around for a while. It's not a secret really.

When Fogelson and Ratner bought the Illinois Central Station and it's railyard, they also purchased air rights to parts of it that were to remain in use: The current Illinois Central ROW that's being used by Metra and South Shore and the St. Charles Airline ROW.

Mr. Fogelson will tell anyone who will listen about his plans to develop these air rights, but you are correct in your depiction of the sales staff remaining willfully ignorant of these matters.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by Loopy

Yeah, this story has been bouncing around for a while. It's not a secret really.

When Fogelson and Ratner bought the Illinois Central Station and it's railyard, they also purchased air rights to parts of it that were to remain in use: The current Illinois Central ROW that's being used by Metra and South Shore and the St. Charles Airline ROW.

Mr. Fogelson will tell anyone who will listen about his plans to develop these air rights, but you are correct in your depiction of the sales staff remaining willfully ignorant of these matters.

I personally figured that something was up with that area to begin with, but this was the first time that I had heard something concrete, from a reputable source; to be honest I cannot recall ever seeing something posted on here regarding the issue of the tracks potentially being covered in the future.

[Dan in Chicago]

There are quite a few updates since the forum went down:

NEWLY COMPLETED BUILDINGS:

Kingsbury Plaza
Prentice Women's Hospital (opened Saturday, October 20)

TOPPED OUT:

1401 South State
Emerald, South Tower

SITE PREP:

Hotel Palomar (Case rigs are on site; BVic says it will start early next week.)
565 Quincy (Thanks spyguy; demolition has begun on rooftop features.)

NEW HEIGHTS:

Lexington Park: 388'-2" (up from 365')
1720 South Michigan: 368'-1" (up from 367')
SoNo (both towers): 305'-10"
The Mondial: 182'-11.5"
Pure: 138'-0"

Only the west tower of SoNo is under construction. No caissons have been drilled yet for the east tower, and the contractor doesn't know when it will start. The east tower might be rental.

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by Alliance

Thats what I was thinking about the S. Wacker address too.

...but what does BP want a trading floor for?

They need to trade energy and oil. They probably do a lot of futures trading there. I know they do all that at the Merc, but Energy giants such as BP are so specialized in energy that they need their own, energy devoted, trading floors.