New mega tower planned for Chicago riverfront
By Susan Diesenhouse
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 19, 2007, 4:52 PM CDT
Rendering of a 50-story, $400 million office building proposed for 200 Riverside Plaza.
June 19, 2007
Chicago has about 5 million square feet of new offices under construction ... and it soon may have 6 million square feet.
A new 1-million-square-foot, $400 million office tower that will overlook the Chicago River at 200 N. Riverside Plaza is in the works -- if Houston-based Hines Interests LP can find the anchor tenant it is seeking.
"I'm confident the tower will attract a great company looking for a headquarters with a corporate campus because it's a unique design at a large riverfront location near public transportation," said Gregory Van Schaack, Hines' senior vice president in charge of development in Chicago.
"We believe that the Chicago River corridor is the prime spot for corporate Chicago because it has permanent water views, natural light and is now a 24/7 neighborhood with other offices, hotels, restaurants and housing," he added. "Clearly, there's demand for a new generation of office towers since most of the 5 million square feet under construction is leased."
Hines hopes to develop the 50-story tower in a partnership with Chicago food service entrepreneur Larry Levy.
The curved-glass and metal-clad tower designed by Pickard Chilton Architects Inc. of New Haven, Conn., will have an adjoining 200-room hotel.
The complex will occupy an unusually large 111,205-square-foot triangular site bordered by Canal and Lake Streets and the river. It will feature a 51,000-square-foot landscaped plaza that will cover Metra train tracks, as well as a winter garden and stairs to a river walkway.
If Hines can lease 350,000 square feet for rent in the $45- to $50-square-foot a year range, it plans to start construction early in 2009 and complete it in mid-2011. Likely tenants would include law, accounting and investment banking firms, Van Schaack said.
Problems roiling the nation's tightening debt market are not expected to impede the project since Hines has pension-fund-backed partners able to finance projects with little or no debt.
"Our development funds have a lot of flexibility," he explained.
Currently, Hines is building another office tower at 300 N. LaSalle St. that is about 75 percent leased. Last year, it sold a tower it developed at One South Dearborn St. for $422 square foot, a record price for the city.
sdiesenhouse@tribune.com
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