Chicago Spire 2.0

[iloveclassicrock7]

Originally Posted by rgolch

I just wish there was a rendering of the first spire with more realistic looking glass. I posted the west looking night rendering because it looked most reasonable. The other renderings make it look like a wax toy. The last version of the Chicago spire at least had better looking glass.

I know what you mean, the first version's glass would have been the same as the last, there just wasn't any pictures of it that were high quality renders except this one



which still isn't as high quality as renders like this




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See, people think it is a wax building because they see renders like this



when it really has glass like this

[iloveclassicrock7]

I did a little photo editing, and tried to see what a realistic version of the older version would be, and everything came out great, but the spire, I am considering making a version with an antennae on top since it would look more realistic

[iloveclassicrock7]

Here it is with an antennae

[ParadiseLost]

Antenna kind of ruins it. Does Chicago even need another antenna? I mean I would assume there were reasons why the previous renders never had them.

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by iloveclassicrock7

I did a little photo editing, and tried to see what a realistic version of the older version would be, and everything came out great, but the spire, I am considering making a version with an antennae on top since it would look more realistic

Good job on these edits..

[iloveclassicrock7]

Originally Posted by ParadiseLost

Antenna kind of ruins it. Does Chicago even need another antenna? I mean I would assume there were reasons why the previous renders never had them.

I made part of this render, it is a photo edit. There weren't any renders with a good spire, so i had to make do...

[Reinsdorf Sucks]

Originally Posted by ParadiseLost

Antenna kind of ruins it. Does Chicago even need another antenna? I mean I would assume there were reasons why the previous renders never had them.

I'm pretty sure the earliest renders had an antenna, while the most recent renders did NOT have an antenna.

[chicagogeorge]

Originally Posted by iloveclassicrock7

Tone down the pessimism just a bit please...

Why? Is there anything newsworthy that would make me optimistic about the prospects for this now dead project?


This would have been an epic addition to our skyline.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by iloveclassicrock7

I did a little photo editing, and tried to see what a realistic version of the older version would be, and everything came out great, but the spire, I am considering making a version with an antennae on top since it would look more realistic

That's looking good. Looks like this version really fits in with the skyline like it's a real Chicago-esque building.

[rgolch]

Originally Posted by iloveclassicrock7

Here it is with an antennae

Yea, it always did look better with a spire. I also like the more squared base, and fewer twists with the original.

[desertpunk]

Failed ‘Spire’s hole in ground could gain value in time

Time waits for no man, but it might cut a break for somebody who will hold property patiently — even if the property in question poses a difficult case.

Consider, for example, the former Calatrava “spire” site at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive. It’s where celebrated architect Santiago Calatrava, enabled by developer Garrett Kelleher, wanted to build 150 stories for the ultra-rich. His design was a swirling fantasia, and Kelleher marketed it with bluster that blew up in the financial collapse.

Kelleher made some headway in construction. The foundation basically is there, with concrete and steel caissons drilled 120 feet underground, according to Gary DeClark, an appraiser and managing director of Integra Realty Resources Inc. DeClark examined the property for a client — he won’t say who — then posted his thoughts on a blog and elaborated with me. The site, stuck in foreclosure and related litigation, poses a tangle for anyone who wants to take control, he said.

The National Asset Management Agency of Ireland holds the mortgage. DeClark said it has little incentive to sell the property, as its value is liable to increase with a recovering market. “The site will be held for a period of time, if for no other reason than resolving legal issues,” DeClark wrote. He guessed later it will take about five years.

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Failed ‘Spire’s hole in ground could gain value in time

Interesting to hear an investor sniffing around.

[iloveclassicrock7]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Interesting to hear an investor sniffing around.

For sure. I have a feeling that something is going to be built there within the next decade, and it will be tall, especially considering that their are already completed foundations for a massive building there. I also mentioned in another part of the forum that someone had asked about building on the site.

there are rumblings of a serious 600m proposal in Chicago, on the spire site.

One of the prominent users on SSP, Mr Downtown, stated, "I talked yesterday with someone in real estate marketing who had been contacted about possibly doing work on a 2000-foot project on the site of the Spire. No further info at this time."

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...59437&page=439

Nothing to get excited about, but it's still an interesting development...

[desertpunk]

Broker seeks buyer for Chicago Spire debt


Free swimming pool included!

The primary lender on the failed Chicago Spire development has hired a broker to sell nearly $93 million of debt on the high-profile site, a step to revive activity where a deep hole along Lake Shore Drive and the Chicago River has sat untouched for five years.

Ireland's National Asset Management Agency hired Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to seek buyers for the loan on the parcel, three years after now-defunct Anglo Irish Bank Corp. filed a $77 million foreclosure suit on the site, where Irish developer Garrett Kelleher planned a 150-story condominium tower.

Spectacular plans for the Spire called for a 2,000-foot skyscraper — the tallest in the Western Hemisphere and about 500 feet higher than Willis Tower — with nearly 1,200 units, including a penthouse listed for $40 million. The corkscrew-shaped high-rise was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava.

But Mr. Kelleher, who bought the parcel near Lake Michigan for $64 million in 2006, never got beyond digging a large hole before the real estate market soured and construction halted in 2008.

NAMA, which has assumed the debt from Anglo Irish, sought out a brokerage to recoup as much value as it can from the loan. A NAMA representative confirmed hiring Jones Lang but declined further comment.

The buyer of the debt, likely a developer interested in putting condos, apartments or both on the 2.2-acre site, would need to settle the foreclosure case before beginning work on what could be a multitower project built in phases. The bank note has grown to about $92.8 million, including taxes, penalties, interest and other fees, sources said.

Residential and hotel developers have been circling the site the past few years, but none could come up with a deal before NAMA hired Jones Lang.

[...]
Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...#ixzz2Nb7NPdn5
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Just $93 million buys this hole out of hock. Then you can build it out to your heart's content. Even as high as 2,000 ft, if you like...

[desertpunk]

WSJ

Spire Site Up For Bid; Related Interested



Breaking News

From WSJ.com's
Developments Blog
Hole-Sale Real Estate
Up for grabs: a 76-foot deep cylindrical hole in the heart of Chicago.

First-round bids are due April 23 on a soured loan backed by the site of what was once to be the country's tallest skyscraper. About five years after construction stopped on the planned 150-story Chicago Spire luxury residential tower, an Irish government agency has put the note formerly held by the defunct Anglo Irish Bank Corp. on the block.

Jones Lang LaSalle JLL +0.68%is marketing the 2.2-acre site—including a large circular foundation near Lake Michigan—for Ireland's National Asset Management Agency. The agency wants to recoup $93 million from the sale, say people familiar with the matter. Any note buyer will need to consider the added cost of gaining title to the site. The property is still owned by developer Garrett Kelleher's firm. A foreclosure proceeding has been tied up in court for years.

"There's clearly been a rapid appreciation in residential land values, but at the same time you've got to keep reminding yourself that you're buying a nonperforming loan," says Curt Bailey, president of Related Midwest, a unit of Stephen Ross's Related Cos. that has expressed interest in the site.

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Related has been doing a lot of rentals lately...but they're also doing the $13.5 billion Hudson Yards in NYC. ANYTHING is possible.

[cmrhm]

I will try to develop a scheme incorporting wind power and solar plant with some useful space like office, indoor sports facilities etc.

[CHI-SKY21]

By MAURA WEBBER SADOVI WSJ

As the housing market recovers, bidders are emerging for the note on the stalled Chicago Spire condominium property, once slated to be North America's tallest building.

Ireland's National Asset Management Agency, or NAMA, a so-called bad bank that is charged with managing that country's distressed real-estate assets, has received at least a half-dozen offers in the initial round of bidding for about $93 million in soured debt it holds on the property, according to people familiar with the bidding.

Among the bidders, according to these people, is DeBartolo Development of Tampa, Fla., and Stephen Ross's Related Cos. of New York. Both bidders are already active developers in downtown Chicago.

Enlarge Image

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The hole where the Chicago Spire condominium project, stalled since 2008, would be built.

DeBartolo is building a 42-story apartment tower known as Optima Center Chicago near tony Michigan Avenue. The company specializes in distressed real estate and development of all types, according to the firm's website. DeBartolo didn't return calls for comment.

Related Midwest, a unit of Related of New York, is also developing rental towers in Chicago. This month, it began renting luxury apartments at the 47-story 500 Lake Shore Dr. Last year, a Related venture also resumed construction on a stalled Chicago skyscraper at 111 West Wacker Dr. that it is converting into a rental-apartment tower.

Although all of the bids were lower than the debt on the property, that the note received serious bids at all is the latest sign that competition for prime land parcels in downtown Chicago is gaining momentum, brokers said.

"The buzz is out and people want to explore the condominium potential of various sites," said Gail Lissner, vice president of Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago real-estate research firm.

The Chicago Spire has also received interest from its original developer, Garrett Kelleher, who still holds title to the property but lost day-to-day control of it to a receiver in 2010.

The Irish developer bought the raw land for $64 million in 2006 and tapped Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to design a 2,000-foot-tall, drill-bit-shaped condo tower on the site. Proposed prices for the condos ranged from about $750,000 to $2 million and higher.

Mr. Kelleher initially took out a $54 million mortgage to buy the property, but construction stopped in 2008 as the recession hit. The debt tally has since risen with added debt, interest and penalties.

The developer also is considering a bid to take back control of the property, according to people familiar with the matter. Last month, Mr. Kelleher met with NAMA and proposed paying off the loan in a bid to take back control of the property, which is now overseen by a receiver, according to people familiar with the matter. This month, Mr. Kelleher visited the site in Chicago with a potential investor.

A NAMA spokesman said the agency couldn't comment on specific properties but noted that it can only sell an asset to a defaulted debtor if the borrower can fully repay its debt.

Mr. Kelleher couldn't be reached for comment. He still owns the two-acre site that has been entangled for years in a foreclosure suit initially brought by Lorig Construction Co., which built ramps to the site.

The only visible evidence of the ambitious tower he had planned is a cylindrical 76-foot-deep foundation hole and a ramp access to nearby Lake Shore Drive. Any potential buyer of the note or investor who partnered with Mr. Kelleher could have to consider the risk and cost associated with resolving the foreclosure case.

The prime downtown parcel near the city's popular Navy Pier offers views of Lake Michigan and has long tantalized investors. It is approved for a 150-story tower with 2.3 million square feet and is being marketed as a site that offers "the opportunity to build a new landmark as iconic as the John Hancock Building or the Willis Tower," according to marketing materials being circulated by real-estate-services firm Jones Lang LaSalle JLL -0.13% .

Ultimately, any new owner of the property is likely to scale it down from the original plan for about 1,200 condo units.

Chicago is one of a number of cities experiencing a resurgence in the condo market as supply of unsold condos dwindles. In Miami's South Beach, Starwood Capital Group plans to convert the former Gansevoort hotel into a hotel-condo that would include 163 condos. Home builder Toll Brothers Inc. TOL -0.24% is building numerous condo projects in New York City.

Chicago land prices for the best downtown residential sites are recovering, though rental developers have replaced condo developers as buyers, said Ron DeVries of Appraisal Research Counselors. Prime land for residential development in downtown Chicago is trading for as much as $80,000 for each developable unit the parcels yield, he said. That is still below the $100,000 level touched near the peak of the condo boom in 2006 but well above the $20,000 level touched in about 2008. "It's a good time to sell," Mr. DeVries said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...131055620.html