(Left) Vista Tower imagined by architect Jeanne Gang from Lake Michigan near Navy Pier.

May 3, 2016 – No exact date was given but construction of Chicago’s third-tallest building will start sometime this summer.

The 93-story hotel/residential Vista Tower will be built on East Wacker Drive in the Lakeshore East neighborhood, on the south side of the Chicago River between Columbus Drive and Lake Shore Drive.

Lake Shore East Park will be linked to the Chicago Riverwalk by a pedestrian and automobile route that will pass through the tower at ground level.

(Above) A rendering of the base of the 93-story Vista Tower appears to show a reworking of East Upper Wacker Drive (above) and North Field Boulevard (below), with improved pedestrian access, passing underneath. To the south is the Lakeshore East neighborhood and to the north is the Chicago River.

(Below) Google Street View of this area in November 2015. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

At 1,186 feet in height, only Willis Tower and Trump International Hotel & Tower will be taller.

“The Vista Tower will be more than one of the tallest buildings in Chicago, it will stand tall as a testament to Chicago’s status as a global destination for investment, commerce, and tourism,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday.

Just last week, a joint venture – between Magellan Development Group in Chicago and Dalian Wanda Group in Beijing – finalized purchase of the land where Vista Tower will be built.

The tower will include 406 residential units, with prices starting at $1 million, approximately 200 hotel rooms, and approximately 9,000 square feet of retail space.

(Above) Rendering by Hirsch Bedner Associates of a living room at Vista Tower. (Click on image to view larger version.)

The hotel expects to be the best in Chicago.

“We have been the market leader everywhere we have opened,” says Eddy Tiftik (right), Wanda Hotel’s deputy general manager for overseas development.

The project will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and, when Vista Tower opens in 2020, more than 500 permanent jobs.

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