Plan for former Spire site closer to groundbreaking
Cityscapes
A developer’s plan for two skyline-altering residential skyscrapers at the former Chicago Spire site cleared a key political hurdle Thursday.
But to avoid the fate of the unbuilt Spire, a proposed 2,000-foot tower that captured the imagination of Chicago, the project will have to overcome the financial hurdle of a sharp, pandemic-induced economic downturn.
The Chicago Plan Commission approved developer Related Midwest’s plan for the showcase site at 400 North Lake Shore Drive. The plan calls for towers rising 875 and 765 feet, with 1,100 combined apartments as well as the completion of a riverwalk along the Chicago River’s north banks and funding for the long-delayed DuSable Park.
“We’re looking at two very elegant towers that, I think, will be iconic on the lakefront skyline,” Chicago planning commissioner Maurice Cox said before the vote.
In March, before the pandemic forced businesses nationwide to shut down and tipped the economy into what’s being called the coronavirus recession, Related Midwest executives expressed hope they could begin the $1 billion project in early 2021.
Tricia Van Horn, a spokeswoman for Related Midwest, emailed Wednesday that the developer intends to start construction next year.
The developers also have committed to contribute $10 million to the future construction of DuSable Park, which would be built on a 3.3-acre peninsula east of Lake Shore Drive that’s adjacent to their site.
In response to a question from Cox, Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said Thursday that he will ensure the city would contribute $5 million to the planned $15 million park. It was envisioned during the 1980s administration of former Mayor Harold Washington to honor Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Chicago’s first non-Native American settler.
Since 2008, when plans for the Spire collapsed during the Great Recession, the 2.2-acre site has contained only a 76-foot-deep, circular foundation hole that was dug for the twisting, Santiago Calatravadesigned tower.
Related Midwest’s plan is downsized from its initial proposal for the site, which included towers of 1,100 and 850 feet.
After neighbors complained that the project would worsen traffic flow in the already-congested Streeterville neighborhood, the developer made other changes, including eliminating a hotel from one of the towers and a four-story podium that would have connected the skyscrapers.
Responding to neighbors’ concerns about unruly behavior by pedestrians in Streeterville, Related also cut a previously planned walkway that would have created an east-west route along the Ogden Slip to still-to-becompleted DuSable Park.
At Thursday’s meeting, which was conducted online, activist Butler Adams criticized that change.
“I don’t think this should be negotiated away just because wealthy residents who live along Ogden Slip hounded the alderman,” Adams said, referring to Reilly. “That’s not fair for the pedestrian access.”
Curt Bailey, Related Midwest’s president, said
Thursday that there would be two entrances to DuSable Park — one from the planned riverwalk, the other from the Navy Pier Flyover bike trail.
Reilly reiterated his support for the project, saying it includes important public benefits and would be “a fantastic addition to our city skyline.”
The developer also has committed to complete the last leg of a riverwalk on the north bank of the Chicago River. The new stretch will extend to DuSable Park, and other landscaped areas of the site will include extensive security cameras and light fixtures — a response to neighbors’ concerns that large crowds on the riverwalk could create security problems. .
Reilly also said he would require a new traffic study after the first tower is completed and before the city issues a construction permit for the second one.
The project’s towers are designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the architect of One World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
The approximately 3½-year first phase would be completed by 2024, followed by 500 apartments, or possibly condominiums, depending on demand, in the south tower, Bailey said.
The project still needs approval from the City Council’s zoning committee and the full council.