$400 Million Mesirow Tower to Break Ground

Chicago firms Jenner & Block and Mesirow Financial have announced they have signed leases to co-anchor a $400 million office tower to be built at 351 N. Clark Street.

Together, they will lease more than 700,000 sq. ft. in the 1.1-million-sq.-ft. building designed by Dirk Lohan of Chicago-based Lohan Anderson LLC and Chicago-based A. Epstein & Sons International Inc.

The 45-story structure will be built between Clark and Dearborn streets on the south side of Kinzie Street and will contain 25,000 sq. ft. of retail space fronting Clark, Kinzie and Dearborn streets, underground parking and amenities for the building's tenants including a health club and dining facilities.

It will feature the latest evolving technology for employee safety, comfort and security.

Occupancy for the new structure will be third quarter of 2009.

Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm, will occupy approximately 345,000 sq. ft. on floors 4 through 16.

The building will be developed by a partnership led by Mesirow Financial Real Estate Inc., a division of Mesirow Financial. Richard Stein and Mike Szkatulski head the real estate division.

Mesirow Financial Real Estate Inc. has been responsible for some noteworthy buildings in Chicago, including the AT&T Corporate Center, The USG Building and the Metcalfe Federal Building.

Jenner & Block LLP is a law firm headquartered in Chicago with more than 400 lawyers.

Groundbreaking Held for Sherman's Replacement Hospital

Groundbreaking for Sherman Health System's $310 million replacement hospital was held recently in northwest suburban Elgin.

The project will encompass the 645,000-sq.-ft. replacement hospital with 255 beds is being constructed on 154 acres at the northwest corner of Randall and Big Timber streets. The facility will feature a six-floor, in-patient bed tower, cancer care center, modern emergency room and attached, four-story medical office building.

A 15-acre lake at the site will be used to reduce the costs of traditional heating and cooling through geothermal technology. Estimates indicate up to 40 percent-or $1 million a year-could be saved.

The technology will be a first for an Illinois hospital and one of the largest in the world. Sherman was recently awarded a $400,000 grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation for Environmental Leadership.

The existing hospital on Center Street will be demolished, and remaining structures will be converted for out-patient and immediate care services.\

The project is expected to be complete in summer 2009.

The construction manager is the IHC Construction Cos./Barton Malow Co. Joint Venture. Boston-based Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott and Chicago-based Loebl Schlossman & Hackl are the architects of record.

Groundbreaking Held for Clarian's Fairbanks Hall

Ground was recently broken for the $44 million Fairbanks Hall in Indianapolis, a joint development of Indianapolis-based Clarian Health Partners Inc. and the Indiana University schools of medicine and nursing.

The new center will include a 30,000-sq.-ft., high fidelity simulation center.

Other educational space and some administrative offices of the IU School of Medicine and Clarian also will be housed in the center.

The project is the final piece of the life sciences corridor at head of Central Canal downtown.

The building, which is formally known as IU/Fairbanks Hall - The Clarian Education and Resource Center, will be a 182,000-sq.-ft., six-story building.

The center will serve as a strategic component in the continued development of the life sciences initiative in Indiana and strengthen the ability of the city and state to retain and recruit talented and skilled companies and employees to Indianapolis.

According to Indianapolis Downtown Inc., Fairbanks Hall represents one of 12 life sciences projects scheduled to be completed in the next four years in the city.

The center is largely financed by Clarian, along with the IU and a contribution of $6 million from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation Inc. The partners expect to open the building in summer 2008.

The simulation center will offer clinical training for IU nursing, medical and allied health students, clinical orientation of Clarian nurses, simulation training for staff physicians and residents, as well Advanced Cardiac Life Support training of students and employees. It is expected that thousands of students and professionals will be trained annually.

A skills learning area and simulation areas including an operating room, emergency room, patient care room, obstetrical rooms, intensive care unit rooms and debriefing rooms, and other training and classrooms will be included in the center to provide real-time virtual training for clinicians.

Nicky Hilton to Build Nicky O Hotel in Chicago

Heiress Nicky Hilton has announced Nicky O venture, a premier luxury hotel brand that will launch later this year in Miami followed shortly after by Chicago.

In tandem with designer Roberto Cavalli, who will design a luxurious 5,000 square foot penthouse suite at Nicky O South Beach, Nicky O will marry the look and feel of a French Regency destination with modern Hollywood.

Nicky O Chicago will be a 162-room stylish boutique hotel located on Printer's Row in the historic Morton Salt Building.

MoDot to Test Hybrid Trucks

The Missouri Department of Transportation is reportedly the first government agency in the nation to test a new energy saving, environmentally friendly, diesel-electric bucket truck.

MoDOT expects the Utility Hybrid Truck Pilot Program to demonstrate the vehicle's ability to cut fuel costs and smog-producing emissions in half, while also reducing maintenance costs, reducing noise and providing an alternative power source in emergencies.

A bucket is used to lift maintenance workers in the air to install signs, fix traffic signals or replace streetlights. A conventional truck must remain running at a work site to operate the hydraulic arm that moves the bucket.

New technology enables the hybrid truck's engine to be shut off at the work site, which significantly reduces emissions and saves fuel. Tests show hybrids use about 50 percent less fuel and reduce smog-forming emissions by almost half.

On average, a conventional bucket truck in MoDOT's fleet consumes 2,176 gallons of diesel fuel per year. Applying the fuel savings realized in earlier tests, a hybrid truck would only consume an estimated 1,088 gallons of fuel per year. With diesel fuel currently costing an average of $2.88 per gallon in Missouri, MoDOT could potentially save approximately $3,134 a year per vehicle by replacing conventional trucks with hybrid trucks in its fleet.

Statewide, there are 106 conventional bucket trucks in MoDOT's fleet.

The hybrid truck is manufactured by Warrenville, Ill.-based International and Cleveland, Ohio-based Eaton Corp., a manufacturer of electrical systems and components.

The Boldt Company Opens Chicago Office

Appleton-based The Boldt Co. has opened an office in Oak Brook where it will provide construction management, general contracting and other construction related services.

Brian Lubnow was named the general manager.

Boldt provides construction management, general contracting, sustainable consulting, master planning, design management and construction solution services in a variety of health care, institutional, commercial and industrial markets.

55 E. Monroe Building Partly Converting to Condos

The 50-story 55 E. Monroe St. building in Chicago is converting floors 42 and above to 162 residences, and a second phase of conversion is expected to add an additional 185 residences.

The project is known as the Park Monroe, and it will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom residences from 900 sq. ft. to 3,500 sq. ft. Prices start in the low $300,000s for one-bedrooms and reach the upper bracket.

Building amenities include a fitness center, club and screening rooms, rooftop deck with a swimming pool, enclosed private parking, gourmet coffee shop and lower-level dining pavilion as well as a 24-hour doorman.

A Chicago-based team of architects is overseeing the redevelopment's design, with Pappageorge/Haymes Ltd. and Goettsch Partners responsible for the new façade. Completion is slated for early 2008.

Mixed Uses Planned for Indianapolis' Crown Hill Area

Clarification

Clay Township in Indiana provided the funding through a $55 million bond issue for Carmel-Clay Central Park, a project profiled in the July issue of Midwest Construction.