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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...30-column.html

Proposed South Michigan Avenue towers appealing but need to strike balance

10/30/15


The Helmut Jahn-designed tower proposed for 1000 South Michigan would be Chicago’s seventh-tallest at 1,001 feet if another planned for East Wacker Drive also is built. (Jahn Architects)

BY: Blair KaminContact Reporter
Cityscapes

After years of milquetoast midrise apartment towers, Chicago is finally seeing skyscraper plans that strive for height and aesthetic distinction. Yet as beguiling as these proposals are, they raise vexing questions about whether new growth is overscaled and infrastructure is becoming overburdened.

The answers will have an enormous impact on one of the nation's most significant urban ensembles, the officially protected stretch of historic skyscrapers along Michigan Avenue.

Two of the skyscraper plans, presented at a packed public meeting Thursday night at 816 S. Michigan, are among a rash of recently proposed high-rises that, if approved and financed, could add thousands of residential units to the southern edge of Grant Park and significantly alter the Chicago skyline.

The concerns transcend ordinary, not-in-my-backyard cries about blocked views. They speak to the wider issue of how Chicago should strike a balance between supercharged economic growth and civilized historic preservation. Residents are right to ask city officials and the local alderman, William Burns, 4th, to assess the cumulative impact of the planned skyscrapers on everything from traffic to shadows. Real estate bromides about building to "the highest and best use" are meaningless.