Nation's Tallest Building?
Proposed Fordham Spire Turns on Many Twists
by Craig Barner
A 115-story building
with twisting design is an audacious proposal, and the similes are flying.
The
Santiago Calatrava-designed Fordham Spire tower recently proposed for Chicago's
lakefront has been compared to a swirling cloak, tree trunk, corkscrew, plume
of smoke, drill bit and sculpture.
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However it's described, if the $500 million, 2,000-ft.-tall
skyscraper is built as proposed, it would allow Chicago to retain bragging rights
as being the city with the nation's tallest building. The structure would eclipse
by about 220 ft. New York's planned 1,776-ft.-tall Freedom Tower, which itself
is expected to overshadow Chicago's 1,450-ft.-tall Sears Tower by about 325 ft.
The
Fordham's swirling appearance would be achieved structurally: Each floor unit
would be built out from the core, like a box, but with curving, concave sides.
The boxes would be stacked, and each rotated about 2 degrees from the one below.
The result is that the floors would turn 270 degrees around the core as they rise,
giving the facade the impression of a spiral.
Fordham Spire's principals
are already speaking in superlatives about the potential project, including Calatrava
himself, founder and principal of the Zurich, Switzerland, firm bearing the name
of the Spanish-born architect.
"It is part of the tradition of Chicago
to have among the world's most beautiful structures," he said at a news conference.
"The city in the 21st Century is not only a place to work, it's a place to
live."
The tower derives its name from The Fordham Co., the Chicago-based
developer proposing the project.
Dealing with Doubts But
doubts shadow the condominium and hotel project, especially the concern that the
nation's tallest tower would attract the malevolent attention of terrorists in
the post-Sept. 11 world.
Indeed, those fears prompted flamboyant developer
Donald Trump to scale back plans for the Trump International Hotel & Tower
under construction on the former site of the Chicago Sun-Times in the Loop. Originally,
Trump had wanted to have the nation's tallest designation for his project, but
final plans call for the building to rise 1,360 ft.
Financing is also a
question mark for the Fordham.
Christopher Carley, founder and chairman
of The Fordham Co., is betting that the nation's tallest designation, design from
"one of the world's greatest architects" and the lakeshore site immediately
north of the Chicago River on East North Water Street would draw buyers and investors.
The
slender, 14,000-sq.-ft. footprint of the 920,000-sq.-ft. tower on 2.2 acres should
make getting financing easier than structures with a comparable >> scale,
he said.
For example, the tower would hold about 250 condo units compared
with the 2.6-million-sq.-ft. Trump, which will have 472 condo units.
Lenders
would likely require at least 40 percent of the units to be sold before forwarding
funds, Carley said. And because three years would be needed for construction,
about 100 units would have to be sold during that time.
"The size
is not that ambitious beyond what we've already done and as far as the number
of units," Carley said. He cited the more than 10,000 homes - including those
in the 50-story The Fordham and 49-story The Pinnacle condominiums - the firm
has built.
Chicago-based Corus Bank and pension fund National Electrical
Benefit Fund are interested in the project, but "it's very preliminary,"
he said.
Still, like the tall tower itself, there is a steep climb to get
over the financial top.
The majority of Fordham Spire's units would average
2,000 sq. ft., and top-of-the-market condominiums fetch an average of $800 a square
foot. As a result, Carley said units would average between $1 million and $2 million.
The full-floor units would hold up to 7,000 sq. ft. of space.
Aside from
financial issues, history shows that some relatively recent proposals for supertall
buildings in Chicago foundered because of the difficulty of delivering them.
These
include the 125-story Miglin-Beitler Tower for West Madison Street that was ditched
in 1989, and the 112-story 7 S. Dearborn St. project that suffered the same fate
in 1999.
There are doubters about the Fordham project.
"I'd
say there are still many hurdles to this thing getting out of the ground,"
said Gail Lissner, vice president of Chicago-based Appraisal Research Counselors,
a consulting and research firm.
Chicago-based James McHugh Construction
Co. is a general contractor with a focus on high-rise residential construction.
Michael Meagher, senior vice president of the firm, said, "Calatrava is a
wonderful architect, but you still have to be commercially viable."
Cantilevering
Units Financial issues aside, Calatrava released some early details about the
proposed structure's design.
The foundation would consist of piles, and
columns composed of high-strength concrete would form the building's structure.
Concrete shear walls would surround the core, which holds the stairs, elevators
and other services, and be connected to it.
Modular sections like a box
with curving, concave sides would make up the units and be cantilevered from the
core. Twelve radial diaphragms per prefabricated section would attach to the core.
The
curtain wall formed of energy-efficient glass and stainless steel would dress
the building and have a "natural" color, Calatrava said. The tower portion
would rise to about 1,460 ft. and be topped with a spire in excess of 500 ft.
in length.
The architect said he would serve as the engineer of the building
himself and work with an engineer-of-record in Chicago.
About 620,000 sq.
ft. of upper tier would hold the condominiums; 250,000 sq. ft. of the lower tier
would hold the hotel for which an operator has not been named; and 50,000 sq.
ft. at the base would hold retail and restaurants. Parking would be below Lake
Shore Drive.
"Our hope is to break ground next spring - May or June
would be realistic," Carley said.
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