CHICAGO | 500 N Lake Shore Drive | 497 FT / 151 M | 47 FLOORS | COM

[Alliance]

Height: 497 ft / 151 m
Floor count: 47
Location: 500 North Lake Shore Drive
Neighborhood: Steeterville
Architect: Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Developer: Related Midwest
Anticipated Completion: September 2013



Previous design:







~Image originally from Curbed Chicago

500 N LSD is a redesign by SCB of Related Midwest's tower, The Peshtigo, first proposed in 2007 and designed by Perkins + Will. According to the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents website, the new building 465 feet high and 45 floors (down from 645 feet in the original 58-story proposal). The new tower/redesign was unveiled in February 2011.

"The original design was to be called The Peshtigo because of the street on which it was to be built, block-long Peshtigo Court, home for decades to Mundie, Jensen's 1937 streamlined Kraft Cheese Company building. After the corporation fled to the suburbs, the structure was purchased by the Chicago Police Department, and in 2003 it was demolished. It was intended to have 358 condominium units near the top of luxury pricing. The units were larger than usual, the smallest being 882 square feet. The redesigned 500 N LSD will instead have about 500 luxury rental apartments, the smallest being 600 square feet. The new tower, designed for a Chicago market post-2008, is 120 feet shorter, a half million square feet smaller, with as many as 150 more units."

The Chicago Plan Commission signed off on the redesigned 500 North Lake Shore Drive proposal on June 16th, 2011, after SOAR (Streeterville Organization of Active Residents) signed off on a redesign of the buildings' 400 car parking garage that added a year-round living green wall. The building was accepted with criticism, with Gail Spreen, chairwoman of the real estate division of SOAR stating “This is the second best site in Streeterville,” she said, the first in her estimation being the forlorn Chicago Spire hole at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive. “Whatever gets built there will be seen forever. It’s disappointing that the design is so average.” There were also complaints about the building's large parking garage being both unsightly and a potential cause of increased vehicular congestion.

Site prep began in August 2011 and caissons were being drilled as of September 7th, 2011. Official groundbreaking is set for August 14th, 2011. It is expected to be completed in September 2013.

Sources: Lynn Becker, Curbed Chicago, Curbed Chicago, Curbed Chicago, Curbed Chicago, SSP