Quote:
Originally Posted by Zapatan
But if it was so economically unfeasable, why did they start building it in the first place?
Regardless, I just hope the current design is changed before any construction goes underway, I have to disagree and say the old design was not only taller, but much more attractive, but different strokes for different folks.
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It was a huge gamble by a company (firm was, or is, really an engineering/architecture/and perhaps construction firm really - not even principally a developer/real estate investor/owner, as they just into development seemingly on the side) that was demonstrably inexperienced in such a large project (again, as a developer), and they lost big time. I believe this is probably the primary reason they couldn't land a full package of construction loans (despite anything else that was represented as the case at the time or in retrospect). This is a common theme as you're in market cycle peaks - and particularly market bubble peaks - as we were in the downtown condo market, in which not only to the development proposals get increasingly ambitious, but you get increasingly involvement from development players that are very much out of their element and of course project failure rates surge.
Very unusual for a high-rise in Chicago to begin true construction (even during the boom) without full financing secured. I'm sure there are probably a couple others in the last 8-10 years, but the only two that immediately jump to mind are, surprise, surprise - Waterview and the Spire. Very ambitious bubble-peak projects (granted one more so than the other) by development firms wildly out of their element in multiple, and different ways....