Why There's a Huge Pit in the Middle of Downtown Chicago...

Music -

[rickybobby]

I lived in Chicago for many years and worked for the architect of record for ‘The Spire’. Santiago Calatrava designed it but computer wind load testing showed it could be pushed over at even mild to medium gusts. They added a more aggressive twist rate and tapered the top slightly to reduce flat surfaces in any direction to help deflect wind loads and structural engineers increased the number and depth of the piles needed in the foundation of such an ambitious design in a very hostile location. I remember having scale models in plexiglass cases and the beautiful floor plan drawings displayed around our Chicago office and we could see the project site from the East windows, (at least until the, then under construction Trump Tower, eclipsed our floor and blocked most of our view of the Chicago river and Navy Pier).

What you would see today, if were not flooded, is the underground parking structure and the tops of the 65 or so huge piles that were to hold the building above. The site was deep below Lake Michigan and required constant pumping to keep from flooding, as it is now and the construction managers complained about how hard the site was to work in due to its tiny footprint and lack of access for equipment. It was a huge project that spanned over a year at my firm and my team assisted with some of the interactive floor plan maps for the different levels that were displayed in the leasing office on touch screens. They had even constructed mock up units in the Trump Tower once it had opened a few months later and the ‘views’ were images taken from a helicopter (way before drones!) that were printed full size to showcase your view of the city or the lake from your unit. It was all really over the top and once they stopped paying their bills around town and the lawsuits started flying (including ours), the project ‘who’s name shall never be spoken’ became a huge dirty word around the office. I witnessed mass layoffs and many good people lost their jobs because this project and, though never completed, it will always be etched into my memory as an example of how much work went into a big, ugly hole in the ground.

[marscaleb]

I'm baffled by the footprint of this thing. It was going to be nearly the tallest building in the world, but yet the lot is smaller than the hotel I stayed in last night.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

To put into perspective just how much money they owed to everything you mentioned at 5:03: Architect Santiago Calatrava placed an $11.34 million lien on the construction site, then the Anglo Irish Bank made them pay back the 69.5 million dollars (nice) they borrowed (which ended up becoming a 77 million foreclosure lawsuit), the owner of the NBC Tower sued to evict them from their sales office within the tower because they were behind 316K in their payments (and they ended up getting ejected), and then Bank of America filed a lawsuit for 4.92 million to get back the sum of two unpaid loans for the initial construction! Oh yeah, and they faced eviction from ANOTHER building called 111 South Walker Drive which they moved to after the NBC Tower!

They tried working with AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) in late 2009 for a potential land loan of 170 million dollars that would've retired the developer's loan from Anglo Irish Bank, pay off the outstanding liens, and restart work in exchange for making the construction a complete union job as the union workers were desperate for work and the construction would've provided 900 full-time jobs, however, when the developer was looking for union bailouts, four major labor union investment funds said no.

[YoungGandalf]

How deep is the pit and how many bodies have been dumped in it?

[Novusod]

It is pretty much impossible to construct a super tall skyscraper that tall without government subsidies. The economics of building that tall just don't pencil out. Every tower taller than the Sears Tower has been built with government funding as part of a national prestige project. The Burj Khalifa is the perfect example of that. Burj Khalifa was not built by any private company but was the personal project of Sheikh Khalifa who was the King of Dubai. He basically had unlimited funding to do with what he wanted so the project would still get built no matter how impractical and unprofitable it was. The goal of the project wasn't to make money but to satisfy the ego of the Sheikh.

[MicahThomason]

I looked it up... 76 feet deep. You're welcome.

[TheMarschmallow]

My dad worked for the architect at the time all this was happening, it was absolute chaos

[markmonse]

I'm kinda surprised the original project was approved, as I can envision its height interferring with the ILS approach to runway 22L at MDW, just as the Sears/Willis Tower did.

[SquibzVids]

They recently started construction back up on this project. Not the tall spire but the two skyscrapers. Project should be complete in 2027

[drummerlinn]

It’s sad that it’s nothing,

but isn’t it good that a giant engorged twizzler isn’t threatening to take out 30 blocks?
That concept photo of the skyline was a nightmare.

[alzo]

Aside from the notion that visiting farmers would get a chuckle because it resembled the rudest part of a hog, it's an impressive formal design. But that foundation has got to be very, very deep, given that the Streeterville neighborhood is all sandbar and it's right up against water. Also, for the height of this thing, the footprint is surprisingly small. As a Chicagoan, I'm glad this oversized sore thumb didn't happen. But it makes for a hell of a wishing well.

[scottabc]

Interesting thanks. The pit looks kind of small to me to be the foundation for the continents tallest building but Im not a skyscraper architect

[Stacy_Smith]

Hustler should take over the project. Can you imagine a building shaped like that called "Hustler Tower"?

[Kire]

As an Illinoisan, the failure of this project is disappointing.

[EvanG]

Very interesting, I never knew about this one. Sad it never got built. Some are saying the recession marked the end of the skyscraper era.

[rurirotaru]

So chicago missed out on having a giant dilo of a building sticking uphigh into the sky for all to see.

[stickynorth]

This one is a bit of a heartbreaker along with the unbuilt MB Skyneedle and 7 South Dearborn... With these 3 towers, the skyline would totally look like Chicago in I, Robot...

[zacharyswassing]

Man I'm so excited for when u get a good mic and outdoor cam, it's always at that point where a mil comes out of nowhere...

[AaronSmith-kryf]

We had something similar happen in Nashville at 16th and Broadway back during the recession. Only the hole in the ground was WAY WAY WAY bigger, think like the size of four NYC sized blocks, about 75 feet deep. And it all had to be drilled/blasted out cause Nashville=limestone rocks. Developer was way over-leveraged, banks wanted their money back, bam had a hole full of water for the next 12 years or so. It finally was built/completed about 1-2 years ago, two 21 story towers. One is a hotel and condos, the other is office space. I'm sure the developer is still losing their ass on this project because of the pandemic/work from home movement. Nobody wants office space anymore, half the space in this development is office space.

[dlfoster]

GG Carter, I know it's not easy to show your face on yt looking young. I love the format being on location!