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trump tower

Home Tag trump tower
Chicago Spire not spared.

Chicago Spire not spared.

Oct 22, 2008

Another USA financial crisis casualty. This bit of news not about Joe the plumber. On the contrary, it’s an example of the very wealthy feeling it. Make you feel better? Probably not.

Architect Santiago Calatrava is in the news suing the developer of the Chicago Spire.

Mary Ellen Podmolik and Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune reporters spell it out.

“The Chicago Spire’s penthouse may be sold but there is growing doubt whether the project will rise out of the hole that’s been created at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive.

Consultants on the project are starting to line up seeking payment for their work on the development, designed to become the tallest skyscraper in the United States and one of the tallest in the world. The most well-known of the consultants, architect Santiago Calatrava, filed a lien on Oct. 8 through his Lente Festina Ltd., seeking more than $11.3 million in payment from Spire developer Shelbourne Development Group Inc.

Separately, Chicago-based architectural design firm Perkins+Will Inc. filed a lien against Shelbourne for almost $4.85 million in payment. The two liens were filed with the Cook County recorder of deeds.

The liens suggest the project’s financing, as well as its feasibility, is shaky.”

Recently, Donald Trump was in town to top off his 92-story Trump Tower. Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune

DA editor’s note: Struggles of this scale and stature have not happened very often in the U.S. In other parts of the world it may be more commonplace. One enjoyable and very enlightening exhibition I attended at the Art Institute of Chicago was on Russian architecture. All the buildings on display were never built! Things were ( are? ) so bad in Russia at the time that the frustrated architects, who never could get funding, had competitions of concepts only. The guest architects laughed about the great deal of vodka drinking and story-telling taking place at these competitions. Creative therapy in action.

Let’s hope everything works out in the end. From a design perspective, Chicago would like to see a Calatrava somewhere in town – his work, inspirational. If it has to be utilitarian in this economic environment the city has many needy bridges. Until then, the Milwaukee Art Museum, an hour away, will not disappoint, especially at sunset when the “wings” unfurl.


( above ) Image found one week after original post: dynamic architecture next big thing! Inspiration strikes in the most unlikely places.

more information via chicago tribune wikipedia chicago spire

Want a free Smart car?

Oct 1, 2008



Chicago developer hits design button to bolster condo sales. The contemporary condos are in not-yet-arrived Edgewater. Units range from 1200 to 1538 square feet priced at $350K to $452K.

Yes, this is a design blog but we have a national election coming up in a few days featuring an economy button. Let’s continue.

Recently, Donald Trump was in town to top off his 92-story Trump Tower. Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune:

…Throughout the nine-county Chicago area, sales of existing homes plunged 30 percent in August from the same month a year ago. And home prices—a critical component of any housing sector recovery—continued to fall in August, down 5.7 percent from a year ago.

“There are no buyers and that’s the problem,” said Liz Sidorowicz, an agent at Re/Max Signature in Chicago. “Buyers are scared or they just can’t get the financing. [The bailout] does not change one thing. The banks may be a little better off, but on Main Street, how is that going to help my guy with a condo appraised at $240,000 that he cannot even sell for $200,000?”

Typically, the highest end of the market is the last affected in a slowdown and the first to recover, but recovery appears far off. In the second quarter, there were more than 5,800 condominium units for sale within Chicago priced at $800,000 or more, enough to satisfy demand for 70 months, according to research firm, Metrostudy.

Developers find themselves in the untenable situation of trying to woo enough buyers to get their projects financed, and then trying to find a lender willing to take a chance. The projects’ futures rest in the hands of consumers and lenders, and both are strapped right now.

Design button or wallet button? What’s it like out there in your city?

Speaking of design: the Smart car.






via smart car and chicago tribune

BTW: if an incentive is necessary we applaud this developer for thinking out of the box.

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