The deepest construction foundation ever dug in Chicago just got a little bit shallower, as developer Related Midwest kicks off construction of the first of two skyscrapers planned on the high-profile site where the 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire was once planned.
A 12-hour-long parade of trucks recently poured 470,000 gallons of concrete into the existing, 76-foot-deep foundation hole at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, the Chicago developer said.
That is an important step in putting a 72-story, 635-unit apartment tower along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.
It is the first of two towers planned on the site where Irish developer Garrett Kelleher dug the seven-story-deep hole, or cofferdam, more than a decade and a half ago before construction equipment abruptly shut down on the site because of the onset of the Great Recession.
Related Midwest’s long-awaited 400 N. Lake Shore project will begin with an 858-foot tower that can utilize much of the ultradeep foundation. But in replacing one circular, 150-story tower with two lower, rectangular ones, the developer must add a few new construction caissons and create a new foundation, which began by pouring 6 feet of concrete into the cofferdam.
To do that, Related Midwest said in a statement, it brought 250 truckloads of concrete into the site over 12 consecutive hours, pouring a volume equivalent to an Olympic-size swimming pool.
That nearly 9 million pounds of concrete will support the first of two towers designed by David Childs — the architect known for One World Trade Center in New York — and the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. A 765-foot-tall tower will come in a second phase.
The two construction phases are expected to bring about 1,100 residential units combined to the site, as well as creating 3.3-acre DuSable Park nearby.
Workers recently brought 622,000 pounds of reinforcing steel onto the site in preparation for the foundation pour, according to Related Midwest.
Kelleher’s firm, Shelbourne Development Group, sold more than 30% of the planned 1,194 condominium units in the Chicago Spire project in just a few months, including one deal with Beanie Babies tycoon Ty Warner for a penthouse listed at $40 million.
But Kelleher hadn’t yet secured an expected $1.5 billion in long-term financing before the Lehman Brothers collapse that helped spark a global financial crisis, freezing financial markets and making it impossible to proceed with what would have been the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Related Midwest gained control of the site in 2014.
The resumption of construction activity is a hopeful sign after a slowdown in major projects since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, which has been followed by rising interest rates and other real estate challenges.
Related Midwest, part of New York-based Related Companies, has remained active in Chicago, including recently completing the tallest tower in the city’s former meatpacking district. That 495-foot-tall, 300-unit tower is called The Row Fulton Market.
The developer also is in the process of trying to land a new Chicago White Sox ballpark at The 78, a planned mixed-use development along the river between the South Loop and Chinatown.