Multiple New High-Rise Projects Win Approval in Chicago

Multiple new high rises up to 950 ft. tall were approved by the Chicago Plan Commission during a daylong meeting in October, indicating the city’s skyscraper boom will not cease anytime soon, Curbed Chicago reported. The projects, which all come with plenty of parking, infrastructure improvements and green space, are:

• Phase one of The River District: the largest project on the drawing boards at 30 acres, the US$2.5- billion megadevelopment will be composed of 14 mixed-use buildings in River West from Chicago to Grand avenues containing 4,100 apartments. With work set to begin in 2020, phase one consists of four 500-, 300-, 150- and 120-ft. tall buildings with 1,500 residences. The developer is Tribune Media, and the architect is Solomon Cordwell Buenz.
• Lakeshore East parcels I,J,K/L and O, which include four tall buildings: a 600-ft.-tall blocky tower by Magellan Development and bKL Architecture containing two hotels and 640 apartments between the Aqua Tower and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield building, and a trio of residential towers by Magellan Development with Lendlease, also designed by bKL — a 430-ft.-tall, 600-unit tower; a 550-ft.-tall, 500-unit tower; and a 950-ft.-tall, 600-unit skyscraper sharing a 53-ft.-tall parking podium. The development will rise in phases over five to seven years.
• Union Station redevelopment: Riverside Development and Convexity Properties will oversee the addition of a one-story penthouse to the Beaux Arts landmark and transformation of the vacant upper floors into a 400-room hotel. The design is by Solomon Cordwell Buenz. The plan also includes a 715-ft.-tall office tower designed by Goettsch Partners just south of the station.
• 440 North Dearborn Street, where a public-private partnership is replacing an aging firehouse with a 455-ft.-tall office building designed by Goettsch Partners
• 353 Grand Avenue, where Omni Development will build a 452-ft.-tall apartment tower designed by Brininstool + Lynch on the site of an old hardware store