About • Advertise • Archive • Contact • Search • Subscribe
Serving the Loop and Near North neighborhoods of downtown Chicago
Facebook X Vimeo RSS

(Above) This rendering by Goettsch Partners imagines an aerial view of 110 North Wacker with a small public park on the north side but a wide walkway along the east bank of the Chicago River. Randolph Street is at left. Washington Street is at right. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

By Steven Dahlman

19-Mar-17 – The 52-story office tower that will replace the five-story General Growth building in the Loop will include a new park and pathway along the Chicago River. Connecting Randolph and Washington Streets, the plaza will be 45 feet at its north end.

Goettsch Partners 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly says his office worked with HH Wacker Acquisition Company, LLC, to get the project to include about 21,000 square feet of publicly accessible open space, almost half the size of the entire trapezoidal-shaped lot. Reilly says the space will be one of the project’s “defining features.”

(Left) View of 110 North Wacker looking south across Chicago River. Willis Tower in distance.

Chicago Plan Commission approved the building last Thursday. The land is owned by Howard Hughes Corporation, a company founded in 1913 by Howard Hughes Sr., who was arguably eclipsed in fame by his son, billionaire Howard Hughes, Jr. In 2004, the company was purchased by General Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that owns and manages shopping malls throughout the United States.

Also working on the project is the architectural firm Goettsch Partners, construction company Riverside Investment & Development Company, and real estate company CBRE, all based in Chicago.

The $600 million project will create 1,500 construction jobs and 6,000 office jobs.

Goettsch Partners

(Above) Imagined view from Wacker Drive & Randolph Street looking southwest. The 800-foot-tall building will include retail space on the ground floor.