CHICAGO | 300 North LaSalle | 785 FT / 239 M | 60 FLOORS

[Norsider]

Originally Posted by Fabb

Based on what ?
Location ? Reputation of the developer ?

There are a number of reasons I think it will be successful. Location on the river will result in guaranteed views for at least one elevation. West location is near to el and metra. Most of all though, K & E took a long term lease on the BOTTOM floors. Leasing those floors is the real challenge in any building these days. The fact that the leasing team will only have to market the best space in the building will be a huge advantage. It looks pretty cool too.

[Tom In Chicago]

^Yeah. . . there's no reason to think that this building won't get built. . .

[Fabb]

Prior to founding Pickard Chilton, Jon Pickard was Senior Associate with Cesar Pelli & Associates and collaborated with Mr. Pelli on landmark projects including the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

No wonder this building looks like 181 W Madison.

[Grumpy]

I would like to see how the top floors are going to get built ,more detailed.
The setbacks do give the design a more slender concept imo

[EDDYC]

Excellent building. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely from reading the Hines website description that there will be much of a possibility that this tower will be redesigned taller before construction starts, as leasing details for most of the building seem to be set in stone, and construction is said to be starting in the spring. Anyway, Chicago needs more buildings in the 700-800 foot range, and this will be a good one.

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by Fabb

Based on what ?
Location ? Reputation of the developer ?

They've signed one of the city's largest and most prominent law firms to lease a whole bunch of space on the lower and middle levels, and the market is very good for high level space, so they'll be able to lease that easily (the vacancy rate may be high overall, but that doesn't mean it's easy to find space on floor 50 or above, which a lot of companies will jump at given the chance).

[Fabb]

Originally Posted by Chi-town

but that doesn't mean it's easy to find space on floor 50 or above, which a lot of companies will jump at given the chance).

I wish that was true.
I'm glad 300 N La Salle announces 60 floors, but most office buildings barely reach 50. Is there really a high demand for the floors above that ?

[Norsider]

Fabb,

You are correct that not many towers reach 50 or 60 floors. However, that is not because those floors are not wildly coveted by just about any top firm (or a firm wishing to project themselves as one). The reason there is a shortage of 60th floors in this world is because there must be 59 floors underneath each one of them. Every bank would finance the top floors of a building, but only if the deal is airtight will they finance the bottom. Sounds almost too obvious, but the fact is that putting the deal together for a 60 story building is very very hard work. Everyone would do it if they could, but unfortunately for us gratte-ciel enthusiasts, only very few people/organizations can pull it off. Thus the low vacancy rate of high-rise floors. Hign demand, low supply. Everyone wants them, but to be available at all, someone else had to want the floors under it first.

[BVictor1]

Kirkland & Ellis’ 600,000-SF Deal Anchors Hines Building

By Mark Ruda
Last updated: August 29, 2005 07:35am


300 N. LaSalle

CHICAGO-A 1.3-million-sf office building at 300 N. LaSalle St. has become significantly less speculative. Kirkland & Ellis has signed a 600,000-sf lease, making the law firm the anchor tenant of Houston-based Hines’ building, which is scheduled to open in 2009.

Kirkland & Ellis occupies 360,000 sf at Aon Center, having expanded by 65,000 sf in a 2003 deal with Atlanta-based Wells Real Estate Funds. The law firm will move all 1,400 of its employees from 200 E. Randolph St. to 24 floors in the 60-story building that will rise on the north bank of the Chicago River. Kirkland & Ellis’ deal is for at least 20 years, according to Staubach Co. local president Steve Stratton.

Hines is proving among the most adept of signing law firms to anchor new office buildings. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood is anchoring the 820,000-sf 1 S. Dearborn building, scheduled to open in November.

Kirkland & Ellis is taking space in the low-rise and mid-rise portions of 300 N. LaSalle St., which bodes well for the leasing effort there, Hines vice president John McDermott suggests. “Since the vacancy rate for high-rise space is about 2%, we feel confident that we can attract other premier users to the building,” he says. About 400,000 sf of high-rise space remains available.

Although terms were not disclosed, Hines is asking net lease rates of $24.50 per sf at 1 S. Dearborn St., the company’s most recent Downtown development.

Vacancy in the 28.2-million-sf East Loop submarket already is 17.9%, highest Downtown, while the 11.9-million-sf River North submarket had a 14% vacancy rate this summer, according to Delta Associates.

Jock Howland joined Stratton in representing Kirkland & Ellis. The law firm’s space committee also got help from architects from Skidmore Owings & Merrill. David Crowell of the Rise Group will be Kirkland & Ellis’ project manager.

[trvlr70]

I love the new building. I wonder if Aon is going to have a hard time leasing out all that space. The East Loop is not popular anymore with businesses because it is perceived to be far from transportation. Who knows? Maybe the Aon building will go residential?

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by trvlr70

I love the new building. I wonder if Aon is going to have a hard time leasing out all that space. The East Loop is not popular anymore with businesses because it is perceived to be far from transportation. Who knows? Maybe the Aon building will go residential?

Floor plates are to big for that.

[BANKofMANHATTAN]

Should look great when 300 N Lasalle & the Waterview goes up (& the rest too...)

[oshkeoto]

A residential Aon--new premier address in the city. Not only are you living 1,000 feet above the ground, you have a permanent view of one half or another of the skyline and the lake.

[HK Chicago]

Aon shouldn't have too much trouble - it's got great connections to LSD and residential in the area (not all workers are from the burbs). The large floorplates are a plus in most companies' books too. They've only got 11 or 12 floors to occupy and they're all a good height.

The only irritating thing about Aon is the stacked elevator setup, very annoying.

[Chi-town]

Originally Posted by Fabb

I wish that was true.
I'm glad 300 N La Salle announces 60 floors, but most office buildings barely reach 50. Is there really a high demand for the floors above that ?

Of course... people like views.

The problem is that to offer space on floors 50 and above, you've got to build and lease floors 1-49 (or at least 2-49 or 6-49, depending how much lobby/parking there is).

My point is that if you build a tall tower and the lower and middle levels are filled, it will be comparatively easy to lease the remainder.

[Steely Dan]

budman, i'm bumping this 300 n lasalle thread back to the top for you to get all the info you need about it. it won't be ground breaking, but as a stainlesss steel and glass reinterpretation of deco forums, this will be one very sleek building.

[BVictor1]

This building comes before the plan commission on Thursday.

[Chicago103]

I walk by this site almost everyday on the way to work, I will be glad to see that ugly parking garage go.

[CGII]

Once again, I don't think the renderings do justice. In the renderings it looks like a big fat intrusive building. With a little imagination and placing it more into the urban context or Chicago I think it'll be great. Chicago, unlike NY, still has a LOT of empty space in the dowtown area to build up in-I'm surprised this hasn't been built earlier.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

here are some of the designs that ricardo bofill drew up for this piece of land at some point in the past. all i can say is THANK FUCKING CHRIST none of these things got built. one bofill marring the river is way more than enough. the pickard chilton design we're getting at this site may not be ground breaking, but it's thousands of times better than any of these things.

Did he design those before or after his other building?
If it was after, then I would be concerned for his lack of creativity.

But the tower that he actually got built on the river is a beautiful one-seeing it glinting off the early morning sun from the windowpanes makes it look like it came out of a sketch-

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Chicago103

I walk by this site almost everyday on the way to work, I will be glad to see that ugly parking garage go.

I walk on that stretch often too, it is a eyesore.