Soloman Cordwell Buenz Chairman "Bullish on the South Loop"

John Lahey - Chairman & Principal Design at SCB

If real estate and architecture is your thing, we highly highly highly suggest a click over to the Chicago Architecture Blog to read an interview with John Lahey at Soloman Cordwell Buenz (one of the larger architecture firms in Chicago).

While they touch on a wide range of topics locally and nationally, they spend a good amount of space on the Sloop (specifically talking about their designs for 1326 S. Michigan and 1001 S. State).

The most interesting exchange in our opinion is the discussion about Lahey discussing his predictions on which "super tall" proposals in Chicago will actually get built (via Chicago Architecture Blog):

Editor: Chicago has several skyscraper proposals pushing 900 or 1,000 feet. Do you ever end up wishing for just a few more feet and asking a developer for just a little more money to reach a certain height? 

Lahey: Numbers are not important. A tall, slender building is usually a very good looking building. It’s neat to do tall, slender buildings, and the opportunity doesn’t come around all the time. But they’re hard to get built. They’re fun to draw, and they’re really good looking, and in some ways they’re easier to design because you’d really have to blow it to make them not good good. Technically, they’re not simple, but if you know what you’re doing, you can do one. But they’re hard to get built because they’re expensive. And how much of a premium do you pay to live on the 34th floor of that building versus another building? But it costs more to build the tall one. 

Editor: The three biggest towers on the drawing boards these days are Jeanne Gang’s Wanda Vista Tower (1,144 feet), the Raphael Viñoly towers at 113 East Roosevelt Road (829 feet), and Helmut Jahn’s 1000 South Michigan Avenue (1,030 feet). Those are some pretty big names for some big buildings. 

Lahey: One of those three will get built. I don’t know if two will. I would be shocked if all three get built. 

Editor: Because of the economics? 

Lahey: Yes. If I had to handicap it, I’d say that Wanda has a team that’s more experienced, and has a better track record of getting things done; which would be the Magellan group. The others just haven’t pulled it off as many times. But Crescent Heights is a big company, and very successful. They’re good businessmen.

It’s very neat, and it’s very exciting.

So there you have it, maybe those big buildings that have been proposed for the neighborhood won't get built.