16-Jun-18 – The ground has been broken for at least a year, and the bank collective trust investing the pension plans of union workers into the project took a moment last week to celebrate Wolf Point East now at a height about even with Orleans Street.

AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust assembled for a groundbreaking ceremony labor leaders who included Chicago Federation of Labor president Robert Reiter; Ralph Affrunti, president of Chicago & Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council; Eric Dean, general president of International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers; and Jethro Head, vice president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union.

(Left) Wolf Point East construction site as seen from Orleans Street.

Wolf Point East will be the second of three towers built on the 3.85-acre property located near the confluence of the Chicago River’s three branches and owned by the Kennedy family since 1945. It will be a 60-story 698-unit luxury apartment building with retail space on the ground floor. Though slightly smaller than originally designed, Wolf Point East will be taller and contain more units than Wolf Point West, the 48-story 509-unit $160 million apartment building that has been open for two years.

Houston-based Hines says there is “intense demand” for high-end residential units along the Chicago River. When construction is finished in late 2019, Wolf Point East, says the developer, will offer renters of those units “permanent, protected views” down the main and south branches of the river.

(Right) 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly (at right in photo) speaks with a guest after the Wolf Point East groundbreaking ceremony.

Christopher Kennedy, chairman of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc., says construction projects like Wolf Point East – that are built by union workers – are a response to an economy that keeps poor people poor and wealthy people wealthy.

“What they’ve done here needs to be the future of our country,” said Kennedy. “This building, it’s not owned by the Kennedy family or the Hines family. It’s owned by everybody who works on that job. And when you work for yourself, the fruit of your labor is your own. You work better, you work faster, and you create perfection. And that’s what we’re getting in that building.”

(Left) Christopher Kennedy speaks with union leaders and members following the groundbreaking ceremony for Wolf Point East.

Eventually, the Wolf Point development will include a 950-foot south tower with a mix of office, retail, and residential space. (Right) Rendering from September 2016 of Wolf Point East (center) by architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli. Franklin Street Bridge at lower right.