CHICAGO | 150 North Riverside | 752 FT | 54 FLOORS

[SamInTheLoop]

^ I suppose it is indeed agree to disagree. Will it perhaps cost some more money and be more complicated if they need to deliver the building in, say, 26 months? Sure....but saying it's not technically feasible is surely just wrong...

[Ned.B]

Back in October, I heard that the plan was to commence construction in early July and deliver in mid 4th quarter 2016. That's almost exactly 30 months. I would say that they must have found some way to accelerate the construction and/or permitting/bidding if planned delivery has been moved up a few months.

[ardecila]

In all fairness, we don't know what the construction staging will be like. River Point had an oddly-shaped deck that had to negotiate an elevation change, vertical access points, etc. This deck is a plain rectangle that bears none of the tower's loads, closer to the parking lot at the Desplaines St Jewel than River Point's deck.

Also, Hines had to work through a lot of problems with Metra/Amtrak, requiring design changes and causing delays. The second time around, Amtrak officials should have their shit together.

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by ardecila

In all fairness, we don't know what the construction staging will be like. River Point had an oddly-shaped deck that had to negotiate an elevation change, vertical access points, etc. This deck is a plain rectangle that bears none of the tower's loads, closer to the parking lot at the Desplaines St Jewel than River Point's deck.

Also, Hines had to work through a lot of problems with Metra/Amtrak, requiring design changes and causing delays. The second time around, Amtrak officials should have their shit together.

But with River Point, there's access from the west (Canal) and here, you're confined by the river on the east, streets on the north and south, with a building to the west. The 150 N. Riverside site is much more confining that River Point. The deck for River Point won't really be bearing any of the towers loads either, other than some of the common caissons along the western wall.

[r18tdi]

From earlier today.

The Pre-Construction Meeting regarding 150 N. Riverside for tonight has been cancelled.

We have just been contacted and informed that Alderman Brandon Reilly has decided to cancel the meeting citing lack of preparation of the development team (O’Donnell Investment Company) as the reason.
O’Donnell Investments has been instructed to regroup and resubmit their presentation for Alderman Reilly’s review and thereafter to reschedule their presentation.

My BS detector is tingling...

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by r18tdi

From earlier today. My BS detector is tingling...

We have just been contacted and informed that Alderman Brandon Reilly has decided to cancel the meeting citing lack of preparation of the development team (O’Donnell Investment Company) as the reason.
O’Donnell Investments has been instructed to regroup and resubmit their presentation for Alderman Reilly’s review and thereafter to reschedule their presentation.

In other words Reilly isn't getting exactly what he wants so he is going to shit on the developer until they kiss his ass some more. Can we just throw this prick in jail already?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

In other words Reilly isn't getting exactly what he wants so he is going to shit on the developer until they kiss his ass some more. Can we just throw this prick in jail already?

I know, right? It seems like with a few things, he's teetering on borderline corruption.

[Pilton]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

In other words Reilly isn't getting exactly what he wants so he is going to shit on the developer until they kiss his ass some more. Can we just throw this prick in jail already?

Who would benefit from a delay in the start of construction at 150 N. Riverside? Right now it's only a letter of intent. Who's doing the financing? Think about it.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Pilton

Who would benefit from a delay in the start of construction at 150 N. Riverside? Right now it's only a letter of intent. Who's doing the financing? Think about it.

The alderman? He can jack around the developer and delay him until he has been sufficiently greased. That's how it works here. Maybe Hines has it out for the newcomer making a move on their office market and stealing anchor tenants from River Point? Maybe Hines has donated more to Reilly than John O'Donnell did? Maybe Reilly will keep finding "problems" he needs to "fix" ( you know, "for the neighborhood") with 150 N Riverside until O'Donnell has donated as much to Reilly as Hines has?

[Pilton]

Reminds me of the struggle among Christie, the Rockefeller company, Zimmer and Hoboken. Chicago has no patent on muscling developers.

[spyguy]

[jc5680]

edit

[BVictor1]

I like the lobby renderings. They're bringing the outside in.

I hope they don't go to subtle on the wavy fins.

It's going to be fun to see this one rise.

Still need to add a dozen floors.

They also changed the color of the stone in the lobby, it seems darker.

[markh9]

That lobby is very cinematic. I expect this tower to make more than a few cameos in movies/TV shows once it's up and running.

[wrab]

I assume those are the mechanicals on the South face - nicely done.

[Clarkkent2420]

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[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Clarkkent2420

I spoke to someone proximate to this deal a week ago and he had some interesting things to say:
* O'Donnell has his equity in place and is close to selecting a lender for construction loan
* They are intending to start in May, not July
* A tenant is leaving River Point to go to 150 (obv had to be someone with a LOI and not a lease)
* They are building the tower and overbuild in parallel, not in sequence, in order to try to get some late 2016 tenants
* The Blair lease will get done in next 30-45 days
* O'Donnell has awarded about $75million of subcontracts and is close on about another $50million
* Here's the bombshell: Supposedly Hines tried to get their contractor for the overbuild (Clark) - who O'Donnell has a deal with for 150 - to renege on the 150 deal. Clark said no so Hines dropped them for consideration for the tower. I.e. Hines has no contractor and has fired the guy most intimately familiar with the deal/site.

Not sure what to make of the Reilly situation but zoning is done and PD is published...not much that can be done to stop this thing at this point.

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum.

That's interesting news regarding Hines. I wonder if the tenant leaving River Point will affect the height, or will they keep it at 730'? I remember at a 150 meeting, they said a tenant who signed with RP that would have rather signed with 150, and this was about 2 months ago. I wonder if this is the tenant who made the switch?

[Pilton]

^ Sounds like a little friction.

[Chicago_Forever]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Thanks for the info and welcome to the forum.

That's interesting news regarding Hines. I wonder if the tenant leaving River Point will affect the height, or will they keep it at 730'? I remember at a 150 meeting, they said a tenant who signed with RP that would have rather signed with 150, and this was about 2 months ago. I wonder if this is the tenant who made the switch?

Either that or rev up the competition between the two. It would probably reflect badly on Hines if they were to shorten their tower due to a little competition from O'Donnell. I'm really looking forward to seeing these two beauties go up at the same time.

[Clarkkent2420]

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