Quote:
Originally Posted by wierdaaron
I don't know who bKL took business from, but they've kind of become the SOM for projects that could never afford SOM.
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Well I think bKL has been taking work from people as much as there was a complete reset in the marketplace after the crash that wiped out a bunch of firms or forced them to lay people off. It seems bKL has just been beating everyone to the punch because their patron, Lowemburg, happened to toally kill it at land his projects all at the right time before the boom. He either got lucky or timed it perfectly depending who you ask, but Aqua's development cycle was right on time. He was closing out Aqua right at the peak and was able to pocket much of that money right as the bottom was falling out. He's been far more active downtown as a developer than most have during this boom. Both of those towers in River North are Magellan and they are also in on the Wolf Point Development.
Everyone wants to be in bed with Magellan because Lake Shore East is one of already one of the most impressive development feats in American history on par with the immense scale of the Rockefeller Plaza. And, like Rockefeller Plaza, both turned out to be immensely successful from an economics standpoint right through the middle of a massive recession. So really what we are seeing is not so much bKL stealing business from everyone as it is Magellan running ramshod over the North half of downtown.
Another interesting implication of all this is what Magellan's presence in the Wolf Point Project means. They are clearly there because they know how to do a massive phased, mixed use, development project in Chicago better than anyone else. This makes me think that we can expect a similarly aggressive, but methodical, patient approach at Wolf Point as we've seen in LSE. You won't see them build all three towers overnight, but you will see them build them in succession one after another.