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

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ If that's the case, the sheer walls will be very visible at times. For example, any time it is not sunny out you will see the looming mass of concrete behind the glass since there won't be much light reflecting off the coating. I don't think that's a bad thing, I would prefer all that beefy concrete expressed rather than hidden.

[Jibba]

Originally Posted by rlw777

The facade panels are clearly indicated and they extend over the holes in the shear wall. Those holes also share the same flooring pattern as the rest of the interior space.

Now notice the terrace in the bottom left corner. The floor pattern is different and the facade panels do not cover the space and a door is clearly indicated.

Yes, that makes sense. And those are going to be some odd, dark bedrooms.

[pilsenarch]

^yes, jail-like bedrooms that were the direct result of form over function and form over constructability...

[gebs]

Originally Posted by pilsenarch

^yes, jail-like bedrooms that were the direct result of form over function and form over constructability...

I'm not a designer or an architect but I work for some, and I keep hearing that Gang-designed buildings don't have the best interior plans. It might be a matter of taste, but this comment keeps coming up.

[vexxed82]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Yes, that makes sense. And those are going to be some odd, dark bedrooms.

Won't lie. I'm a fan of dark, cave-like bedrooms.

[Halsted & Villagio]

Originally Posted by gebs

I'm not a designer or an architect but I work for some, and I keep hearing that Gang-designed buildings don't have the best interior plans. It might be a matter of taste, but this comment keeps coming up.

I wonder if it keeps coming up as cover so other designers/architects can be lazy (continue to build simple glass boxes) and fail to innovate like Gang?

[dropdeaded209]

I think Mies said it best: "I don't want to be interesting; I want to be good."

[Halsted & Villagio]

A skyline filled with an inordinate amount of glass boxes is boring - see Houston as Exhibit A. There is room enough in Chicago's skyline for variation. Besides, Jeanne Gang checks both boxes - good and interesting.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Halsted & Villagio

A skyline filled with an inordinate amount of glass boxes is boring - see Houston as Exhibit A. There is room enough in Chicago's skyline for variation. Besides, Jeanne Gang checks both boxes - good and interesting.

Yeah, the floorplans above are not amazing, but I can't really think of other examples of Gang buildings being inefficient like this. It seems more of a function of the size and massing of the building rather than just the fact than Gang has put out an interesting design.

For example City Hyde Park isn't inefficient like this, nor is Solstice. Aqua is the exact opposite, the main criticism of Gang haters there was that it was too "constructable". There were no thermal breaks and it's got low ceiling heights etc. But Aqua, to me, is a master class in constructability. It's a perfect execution of high design using minimally costly techniques. So I don't really buy that this is some sort of recurring flaw of Studio Gang...

[donnie]

Form and function continues to divide!

[left of center]

Hope this isn't going to affect Vista in any way...

Once China's richest man, Wang Jianlin is selling off his global empire
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/24/inve...d=hp-stack-dom

Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin once boasted about his sprawling global business empire. Now, the country's former richest man is offloading international properties and emphasizing his domestic investments.
The striking U-turn is the result of pressure from the Chinese government and the need to pay off debts amassed during years of overseas expansion.

The latest move came late Tuesday when a unit of Wang's real estate and entertainment conglomerate, Dalian Wanda Group, announced it had agreed to sell off some of its projects in Australia.

...

As well as high-profile real estate projects in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Istanbul, Wang has pumped money into a range of entertainment and sports businesses like top Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid and Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood studio that produced movies like "Jurassic World" and "The Hangover" trilogy.

...

Now, the billionaire -- who says seeking to please the Communist Party has helped his businesses succeed -- is indicating more sales are coming. He mentioned Wanda's "asset-light" strategy more than a dozen times during his annual speech and vowed to "continue to reduce corporate debt."

He specifically addressed troubles at Wanda Commercial Properties, the heart of his real estate business, which was delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange in late 2016. ... In recent months, Moody's, S&P and Fitch have all downgraded Wanda Commercial Properties to junk status.

The Chinese government has been concerned about capital leaving the country due to slowing growth there and better investment opportunity for Chinese billionaires abroad, so if Dalian Wanda has to sell Vista, I hope it goes to a developer that will stick to the original plan and design for the building. The chances are low for anything to go awry with this tower, but still a variable that's within the realm of possibility.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by left of center

Hope this isn't going to affect Vista in any way...

Once China's richest man, Wang Jianlin is selling off his global empire
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/24/inve...d=hp-stack-dom




The Chinese government has been concerned about capital leaving the country due to slowing growth there and better investment opportunity for Chinese billionaires abroad, so if Dalian Wanda has to sell Vista, I hope it goes to a developer that will stick to the original plan and design for the building. The chances are low for anything to go awry with this tower, but still a variable that's within the realm of possibility.

This has been said before, but bears repeating: I think the Vista will be totally fine:
- the tower is nearly 1/3 of the way up, and work will steadily speed up as the gross floorplate is reduced.
- condo pre-sales are still happening (although admittedly, don't know what the current percentage is), as well as already having financing securely in place.
- Worst case scenario, if the building does fall into the hands of a new development partner: Magellan will take the lead (and that's a good thing, because they get shit done), but more importantly, any drastic design modifications will be far too cost-prohibitive (read: many millions of dollars), especially this far along in the process, so I doubt any drastic design changes would even be mentioned, let along seriously considered. The building is moving along pretty quickly, I think the project will be just fine.

[trvlr70]

This might provide an opportunity for another Asian hotel chain to take over, such as Shangri-La or Mandarin Orienter - both missing from the metro.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Guys there is zero chance that this project won't be completed at this point. A bank isn't going to issue a multi hundred million dollar construction loan unless All of the equity is there. The money from likely both the bank and equity is probably in a title company escrow account to be distributed as the project is completed. The Chinese government may be able to nationalize assets in China, but they have zero sovereignty in the US. That's not how things work here and that's exactly why the communist party is so worried about money going overseas, it dilutes their power. As Wang himself said, cooperating with the party is a "live by the party, die by the party" proposition.

That said, I think this is still news because it will be interesting to see if this is one of the assets they make him sell or if he gets to hold onto it because it increases Chinese prestige or something like that. Surely a more Marquee asset like this has some value to the party, not to mention the statement of it facing a similarly grand tower across the river.

[harryc]

Jan 16 -- 2009

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by harryc

Jan 16 -- 2009

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe Teng & Associates had the financing completely lined up when they started. My memory is that they were a highly regarded engineering and design firm, but were not developers and they got burned, due to their inexperience in the finance markets and the collapse of the economy in 2008.

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ Totally unrelated,no financing in place and being developed by an engineering firm, not one of the tow or three biggest and more prolific developers in the city. Same for Chicago Spire, total amateur hour projects, comparing Division III women's softball with MLB...

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

^^^ Totally unrelated,no financing in place and being developed by an engineering firm, not one of the tow or three biggest and more prolific developers in the city. Same for Chicago Spire, total amateur hour projects, comparing Division III women's softball with MLB...

HA! We must have been typing at the same time!

[chicubs111]

yea not sure why this is even brought up again?..construction loan is in place already...pretty much cased closed once that is done.. regardless of them trying to sell it

[marothisu]

It seems like every 3 or 4 months, someone finds some article that's already been shared or the information has already been shared - and there's some sort of amnesia with a few people. It's weird.

Also, Wanda said they weren't going to sell this building I believe (or they said they wouldn't until it was completed).