CHICAGO | St. Regis Chicago (Vista) | 1,191 FT | 101 FLOORS

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

The thing that stuck out to me in the Trib article that I wanted to include in my reporting is this:



The press rollout in July was completely bungled. Obviously nobody in town had any idea that Wanda was going to release the story back then, and everybody in town from Gang to Magellan was still under NDA and couldn't say a word about the project. What's even worse than announcing something before all partners are on the same page is announcing something before telling the city and alderman about it. Anybody who's seen how things work in this town should know that (Reilly has demonstrated his willingness to kill a project just for going to the press before coming to him), especially with foreign-money projects.

The way things are rolling out this week (pre-announcement leading up to an official unveiling) is how these things usually work, and in the best case would have been the first time anybody heard anything about the project. Wanda clearly jumped the gun, at the risk of imploding the whole deal. I gotta hope that in the future, the Chicago liaisons for these international projects do a better job of coordinating the release of information, because from a PR perspective this thing has been just shy of catastrophic.

Yeah - I'm never been much for 'I told you so's', but this one was so obvious to me in the day or two after the press release.......I don't know (I mean, unless you KNOW) whether it's right to lay some blame on the pr partners here.....it could very well be the case, but maybe not.........things are different in China (and not too pick specifically on China, because you could also probably insert the names of x, y and z emerging markets too).....they're still very much figuring a lot of things out (logging off and shutting down because of incoming hack!).......

[munchymunch]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

Site O hasn't been officially announced yet. Doesn't look like they're going to get started this year except maybe to clear the site.

Not like Magellan would, it's in the zoning they could literally start tomorrow, unless they have to got to council. Would they?

[SamInTheLoop]

^ my understanding is for O they can prob. get by without..........though there will come a time in the not distant future when Magellan will need zoning changes/amendments at LSE......

[Tom Servo]

Whoa.

I'm not sure how developed this thing is or to what extent it will change or will otherwise be altered, but man, this is pretty sick. I am a big fan of the more avant-garde architecture that you see from firms like OMA, MVRDV, H+DM, MAD... and well, this is almost that. It's so atypical; I am a big fan of the overall form and its proportions. I will say that I hope the tallest portion is oriented to the west as shown and not to the east as was previously shown in the rendering from the summer. The progression of low to high from east to west really plays of the neighboring towers better IMO. Nonetheless, I can't wait to see this evolve!

Incidentally, though I realize it's simply an anomaly of how the reflections rendered out, I really think it'd be cool, and playful in an almost sophisticated way, if the glass were all subtle variations in color!

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

Whoa.

I'm not sure how developed this thing is or to what extent it will change or will otherwise be altered, but man, this is pretty sick. I am a big fan of the more avant-garde architecture that you see from firms like OMA, MVRDV, H+DM, MAD... and well, this is almost that. It's so atypical; I am a big fan of the overall form and its proportions. I will say that I hope the tallest portion is oriented to the west as shown and not to the east as was previously shown in the rendering from the summer. The progression of low to high from east to west really plays of the neighboring towers better IMO. Nonetheless, I can't wait to see this evolve!

Incidentally, though I realize it's simply an anomaly of how the reflections rendered out, I really think it'd be cool, and playful in an almost sophisticated way, if the glass were all subtle variations in color!

I don't mind the reversal of where the taller portion would be, but it was cool the other was as well as it played off the lower height of Phase II for GEMS. That interior rendering is awesome.

[BVictor1]

[munchymunch]

The middle rendering is incorrect, it is from the old version. I still like the changes, they are quite nice.

[the urban politician]

It was never clear to me whether the middle was going to be a giant opening or not, but now it looks like it will be a huge glass enclosed atrium of some sort. I'm assuming that's going to be some kind of quasi-public space (restaurant, lobby, ballroom, bar/lounge?).

[Skyguy_7]

^ Looks to be, and if so, I'd gladly dump my money there! Brilliant design to extend it about 20 feet out to make use of the westward views, which are pretty impressive from that location. I also would love to see them use the grey shades of glass in this latest rendering, although it may just be caused by the tone of the image itself..

Finally, taking a quick stroll through fantasyland; how fantastic would the tower be if it were just that western-most portion dropped on a small plot of land in the loop?

Edit: An additional rendering from Crains. "Groundbreaking expected in 2016"

[BVictor1]

^One sentence that I liked from the Crain's article... "Mayor Rahm Emanuel will preside over the signing of the agreement between Beijing-based Wanda Group and Magellan, according to a statement from the mayor's office."

With the mayor involved I don't see the alderman trying to involve himself if people mumble about height and density. The mayor is looking at the jobs (he should be looking at the tax receipts both property and property transfer with the condos) created.

[Steely Dan]

the newer rendering is superior in every way.

i'm really happy that they decided to flip-flop it east to west. having the tower step back away from the lakefront just makes sense to me.


and with wanda ponying up all the money, this sounds like its really gonna happen. very interesting,

[Ryanrule]

Hopefully I can use my Asia connections to dig my dirty dirty fingers into this pie

[UPChicago]

Although I am still not really a fan of this design. The new render is much better, it seems like the building may be much thinner than it first appeared and the flip is welcomed. The older render made it appear very squatty/bulky. I'm sure it will also look better with real materials than it does in this cheap render and hopefully no ugly trees..... The suspended atrium though! A FUCKING MAZING!

[rlw777]

anyone else get the impression from this riverside render of the base that the glass facade may be stepped like 10 Hudson Yards?



10 HY

[123fakestreet]

...

[wierdaaron]

If they're expecting to fill out all that retail, there's going to need to be serious work to improve the walkability to this location. I imagine the high profile of the project and the mayor's involvement will mean lots of help from the city to make that happen.

[BuildThemTaller]

The more I see this, the more I like it. While I prefer Aqua and was hoping for something that twisted in a geometric fashion, the way this will fit into the city's skyline is darn exciting. It has the massing and traditional boxiness of other skyscrapers but looks completely different.

[jcchii]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I'm particularly excited because presumably this won't need much financing if Wanda is going to put up nearly a $ billion to building this thing. They can probably get rolling as soon as permits are pulled.

Watching this, the GEMS part II, and the N Columbus project all going up at the same time is going to be MUY FUCKING AWESOME, it will be like the eastern counterpart of the Chicago River confluence, where there are also multiple skyscrapers u/c in close proximity.

Having Chicago building another >1000 footer is just what we need. Chicago needs to reclaim its title as a supertall builder. Enough of these 400 foot stumps. Build something real, give us something to be excited about.

Agree on 1000 ft. Hard to believe JHC will soon be #4 here. I wish the main wolf point tower would hit it too

[bcp]

that is pretty SICK at the ground level...will be fun to look up at this thing from there. i still don't love it from a distance...but waiting until 2016 will feel like an eternity.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by wierdaaron

If they're expecting to fill out all that retail,

^ It's only 9000 sq of retail, that's not that much. Certainly not enough to warrant major infrastructure investments by the city