Students from the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) worked with Adjunct Professor Thomas Roszak, as part of a comprehensive building design studio to study the current market solution for the old Chicago Spire site, at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive. The original project designed by Santiago Calatrava was to be 150 stories and 2000 feet tall, and contain 1200 condos, but was never built due to the real estate crisis. With new input from some key Chicago residential developers including Hines Development, Related Midwest, and Mesa Development, the students studied what is market ready in today’s housing climate.
It was determined that two towers 40-stories tall with approximately 400 rental units each may be feasible today. Construction costs were targeted at $160-180/gsf and land costs of $20 Million for each tower.
The students compared the Chicago Spire, which would have cost well over $1 Billion in construction costs and supported a land cost of an additional $150 Million, to their new projects which would cost approximately $150 Million per tower, including land. “It is amazing what a different world it is today as compared to 2007,” commented 4th year student Denys Petrenko, “and this study really puts into perspective what the future of residential development will look like in the years to come.”
Erik Shultz, another 4th year student noted that "the strong rental market makes this project feasible, and the fact that some banks can provide this level of financing to well established residential developers that can provide at least 25% of the equity needed, which in this case would be approximately $40 Million per tower." Erik and 13 of his fellow classmates, in their 4th and 5th year of their Bachelor of Architecture, analyzed hard and soft costs of similar projects. They also prepared plans, renderings, study models, animation, budgets, proformas, zoning analysis, code analysis, marketing analysis and detailed construction details.
A final architectural crit was done in front of some Chicago area professionals including architects, engineers, and contractors specializing in rental housing, that gave informative real world insight into the design of these residential towers and the future of high-rise housing in Chicago, at least in the short-term.
A learning experience for all...
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