CHICAGO: closing in on a skyline milestone - one hundred 500+ footers

[Steely Dan]

ever since marshall gerometta posted his "hot 500" list on the early internet, the 500 foot height mark has had somewhat of a special significance among skyscraper fans, even if it is still a rather arbitray cut-off. we humans seem to simply gravitate towards nice round numbers, and the nice symmetry of 500 standing exactly halfway between zero and 1,000 (the skyscraper fan's holy land) also doesn't hurt its supposed signifance as a measure of height in feet.

with all that in mind, according to Emporis (the bible of chicago skyscraper stats), the windy city currently has 87 completed buildings that stand 500 feet or taller. when combined with the 11 buildings over 500 feet that are under construction listed below, the windy city tally for 500+ footers currently stands at 98.



under construction:

1. Trump Tower Chicago                 res./hotel      1,362 ft      1,171 ft       96       2008     website

2. Waterview Tower                     res./hotel      1,047 ft      1,035 ft       89       2009     website

3. 300 North Lasalle                   office            784 ft        ... ..       60       2009     website

4. One Museum Park                     residential       734 ft        ... ..       65       2007     website

5. The Elysian                         res./hotel        700 ft        ... ..       60       2008     website

6. 340 on the Park - TO                residential       672 ft        659 ft       64       2007     website

7. The Clare at Watertower             residential       589 ft        ... ..       50       2007     website

8. The Columbian                       residential       517 ft        ... ..       47       2007     website

9. The Streeter - TO                   residential       514 ft        ... ..       50       2006     website

10. 600 North LSD South Tower           residential       513 ft        ... ..       46       2009     website

11. Parkview West                       residential       507 ft        497 ft       47       2008     

so when we consider the fact that there are 5 other 500+ foot projects in chicago currently in the site prep/demo phase, it becomes quite clear that chicago is about to pass the one hundred 500+ footer mark very soon.



site prep/demo:

1. Legacy at Millennium Park           residential       822 ft        792 ft       73       ____     website

2. Aqua                                res./hotel        815 ft        ... ..       83       2009     website

3. Blue Cross-Blue Shield**            office            743 ft        ... ..       57       ____     

4. 353 North Clark                     office            612 ft        ... ..       46       2009     

5. The Streeter II                     residential       570 ft        ... ..       53       ____     

what does all of this mean? not a great deal, but since so many of us are number lovers along with being skyscraper fans, i thought a thread marking chicago's imminent crossing of this impressive threshold would be interesting.






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[plinko]

Steely, 500' is a magic number for me too.

I seem to recall back in 1988 when I first stumbled upon the listings in the World Almanac that NYC had something like 112 (the listings for NYC only went down to the United Nations at 505'). Wonder how many there are now? I suppose I could go to Emporis and find out...

Are there any other cities in the world that have over 100 500'ers? The only two I can think that's possible for are HK and maybe Shanghai.

Impressive...

Steely, can you post the full Chicago 'built+UC' list over 500' here?

[left of center]

I remember reading in this message board about 3 or 4 years ago about passing the 500 foot mark. Back then, most Chicagoan forumers thought that the current boom would not catapult us past 100 buildings over 500 feet, which did seem like a logical conclusion (at that point, the city had about 76 buildings over 500 feet, and with about 8 to 10 under contruction). But hot damn, its actually gonna happen. Kickass!

[volguus zildrohar]

Chicago hasn't gotten there yet? Get on the good foot, fellas!

[chicubs111]

chicago also has a very large amount of building between 450 and 499 ft, ..just think if those buildings had 1 or 2 more stories added to them how many 500ft + building we would have. Even though i doubt a person can tell the difference between 490 and 500ft.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by plinko

Are there any other cities in the world that have over 100 500'ers? The only two I can think that's possible for are HK and maybe Shanghai.

well, HK is definitely over 100, as is new york, which you mentioned. shanghai i'm not sure about, but it certainly seems likely. and i think dubai will be there soon if it isn't already.

one thing is for sure, other than NYC and chicago, no other north american city is anywhere close to the mark yet.

Originally Posted by plinko

Steely, can you post the full Chicago 'built+UC' list over 500' here?

that would be too much typing, but here's an easy link straight to the list of completed chicago buildings over on emporis: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/s...t=9&ht=3&sro=1

[Tom In Chicago]

Hong Kong has 202 known 500+ footers but I would guess that number is under-counted due to the known unknowns. . . if you know what I mean. . .

Shanghai has 84. . . but no doubt it will surpass Chicago in the coming years. . .

Dubai has 82. . . most of which are under construction. . .

New York City has 192. . .

[Western Spaghetti]

That's very impressive. Congrats Chicago!, Still my favorite skyline.

[brian_b]

What about Brazil? Or are most of their skyscrapers well below 500 feet?

[Steely Dan]

brazil's large cities may contain thousands upon thousands of highrises, but none of them contain a great deal of towers over 500' tall.

[KevinFromTexas]

Awesome. Now what I really want to see is ten 1,000+ footers on the skyline.

[eventhorizon5]

What about the 124-story Fordham Spire (aka 400 N. Lake Shore Drive)? Didn't see that in the lists. Construction is supposed to start early next year.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...chicago-il-usa

-eventhorizon

[Latoso]

It's now called the Chicago Spire.

[Marcu]

Originally Posted by eventhorizon5

What about the 124-story Fordham Spire (aka 400 N. Lake Shore Drive)? Didn't see that in the lists. Construction is supposed to start early next year.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...chicago-il-usa

-eventhorizon

It's been approved but it has not gone into "site-prep" yet, which is what the list focuses on. But hey maybe Chicago Spire will still have a chance of being #100.

[Wheelingman04]

Chicago is my favorite skyline no matter what.

[eventhorizon5]

Originally Posted by Marcu

It's been approved but it has not gone into "site-prep" yet, which is what the list focuses on. But hey maybe Chicago Spire will still have a chance of being #100.

I guess I wasn't reading the original post correctly or something lol.

-eventhorizon

[Steely Dan]

so does anyone one wanna start placing bets on which horse will be the 100th 500+ footer for chicago? Aqua and 535 N Clark clark are both pretty close to construction start. whichever one starts first, becoming the 99th, will leave the 100th position for the other one.

i think 535 will start first leaving the door open for Aqua to become the 100th.

we do have a dark horse with the Streeter II. those rental towers can start right out of the blue without a moment's notice sometimes.

the legacy and BCBS seem further off due to their more complex site prep/demo situations.

[zilfondel]

Awesome!

my city, Portland, only has 3 buildings over 500' - with nothing ever going to come close!

I need to visit Chicago sometime, methinks.

[CGII]

In two hundred years, Milwaukee's two 500 footers will expand to be a billion miles tall to compensate and beat every other city in overall building height. Wallow in your pride while it lasts.

[DePaul Bunyan]

Originally Posted by CGII

In two hundred years, Milwaukee's two 500 footers will expand to be a billion miles tall to compensate and beat every other city in overall building height. Wallow in your pride while it lasts.

Those must be two HUGE cheese wheels!