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Uhlir points out that the building’s glass curtain wall reflects some of the nearby architectural icons, such as the Chicago Theatre marquee and Marshall Field’s clock. The horizontally woven steel panels reference the Millennium Park amphitheater, which architect Frank Gehry crowned with metal curls.

For multiple reasons, the structural engineering was intensely complicated, says Joseph Burns, managing principal of Thornton Tomasetti.

The office building has one subterranean level and the retail center has four. In addition, the train tunnel bisects the block diagonally.

The office building followed the traditional construction method, with a concrete core rising several stories ahead of the steel floor framing. But the retail building took 50 ft of excavation.

One big time-saver was the “up-down” construction method, which allows simultaneous building of substructure and superstructure. In up-down construction, the deep foundation elements go in first. Then steel can go up at the same time the excavation goes down—one level at a time.

“It’s like deep mining,” says Uhlir.

Thornton Tomasetti’s Burns explains that all that excavation called for serious reinforcement to keep the holes from caving in. Mostly that meant slurry walls, but a more costly secant pile wall was placed along the division between the office tower and the deep basement of the retail center.

“That’s where the subway is, so we needed something much stiffer there,” he says.

Working on one of the world’s busiest streets left little space for staging. Not only did building materials need to come in, but four stories of excavated earth also had to go out. To get rid of it, and quickly, the construction team devised a maneuver that coordinated with city traffic signals. Every 3.5 minutes, which is how often the lights changed, a trailer-truck pulled into place, was loaded, and took off. Then another one pulled in.

Working with a local developer was helpful, says Uhlir.

“Decisions were made quickly,” he says. “You weren’t waiting for a phone call or an overnight package.”

“We are very excited to finish construction on Phase 1 of Block 37 and to be able to turn our attention to a new chapter in this project,” says Freed, who declined to discuss cost. “Block 37 will be a major source of new tax revenue to the city and has been the source of over 2,000 jobs during Phase 1 construction. We are proud to be the firm that has finally developed Block 37.”

Golub’s project, named 22 West Washington, is on the southwest corner of the block. Designed by Ralph Johnson of Chicago’s Perkins + Will, it is a 16-story glass-and-steel tower with a large video marquee over the entrance. The façade reflects another beloved Chicago icon, the Picasso sculpture, across the street. The building measures 440,000 sq ft and is about 90% leased. Anchor tenants are CBS Broadcasting Inc. and mutual fund ratings company Morningstar Inc.

“As a Chicago-based company for nearly 50 years, Golub is proud to have contributed to the new Block 37 and be a part of the future of downtown Chicago,” says Golub President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Newman.

Despite the monumental progress that has been made, a few challenges remain.

In September, the Lowes hotel chain withdrew its plans to build above the four-story base at the block’s northwest corner. The transit center also is on hold. CTA decided last year to seek a private-sector partner to develop and operate the express airport service before finalizing the build-out. The agency is working with city officials to develop the request for proposal. When the project was conceived in 2003, its cost was estimated at $213 million.

In June, 2007, Midwest Construction reported the estimated cost of the entire development as $450 million. Developer Joseph Freed & Associates LLC declines to comment about cost.

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