By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor<\/p>\n
Chicago<\/strong>\u2014The Howard Hughes Corp. has received approval from the Chicago Plan Commission for a 51-story, 1.4 million-square-foot trophy office building to be built at 110 N. Wacker Drive in the city\u2019s CBD. Along with Hughes, the development team comprises Chicago-based developer Riverside Investment & Development, local architecture and interior design firm Goettsch Partners, and leasing agent CBRE.<\/p>\n Hughes and Goettsch highlighted the prominent riverfront location in the West Loop, directly across the Chicago River from Boeing\u2019s striking headquarters building and immediately north of the Lyric Opera building.<\/p>\n \u201cThe site\u2019s trapezoidal shape allows us to provide a series of stepped projections on the western fa\u00e7ade, enhancing views up and down the river, emphasizing the building\u2019s verticality and providing the building with a distinct identity,\u201d James Goettsch, chairman & CEO of Goettsch Partners, said in a prepared statement. \u201cAt street level, almost half of the site is publicly accessible and features a soaring covered riverwalk, supported by a distinctive structural design.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about the project\u2019s financing, a Hughes spokesperson noted that the corporation is a $7 billion enterprise value company with low leverage and $665.5 million of cash on hand as of the end of 2016. Further, she told Commercial Property Executive<\/em>, Hughes has over the last six years closed more than $3 billion of financings to fund development and other corporate purposes.<\/p>\n In addition, the entire property already is wholly owned by a Hughes affiliate. The 0.98-acre site is occupied by a 1956-vintage, 6-story Class B building that serves as the headquarters for General Growth Properties. A GGP spokesperson told CPE <\/em>that the company has not yet finalized its relocation plans.<\/p>\n The tower will be wrapped in a high-performance, aluminum-and-glass curtain wall and will feature such first-class amenities as retail and dining options, a conference center, a fitness facility, state-of-the-art building systems and telecommunications infrastructure, a 40-foot-high lobby, a 45-foot-wide riverwalk, and floor plates varying from 26,000 to 30,000 rentable square feet.<\/p>\n The new 110 N. Wacker Drive reportedly will take about two and a half years to build. A construction start date has not been finalized.<\/p>\n Images courtesy of Howard Hughes Corp.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 51-story trophy office building will be located across the river from Boeing’s headquarters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":882,"featured_media":1004169836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1491,21782,21808,13,21742,21747],"tags":[34487,34488,33156],"class_list":["post-1004169834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago","category-development","category-featured","category-midwest","category-latest","category-office","tag-110-n-wacker-drive","tag-goettsch-partners","tag-the-howard-hughes-corporation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n