THE LOOP — An "origami"-esque office tower proposed for a long-vacant Loop parcel would rise 53 stories and include a fifth-floor "skygarden," a New York developer told neighbors Monday.
The faceted tower at 130 N. Franklin St. would be slightly taller than a previously reported 51 stories, developer Tishman Speyer said at a community meeting hosted by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) at the nearby Franklin, 227 W. Monroe St.
If built, the tower would inhabit a prime site that once was the home of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Henry Crown & Co., but has sat vacant since 2003. Tishman Speyer, which built NBC Tower here and the new Yankee Stadium in New York, among other projects, wants to start construction of the building next year despite not yet lining up any tenants in advance.
The rectangular parcel on the west side of Franklin stretches a whole city block from Randolph to Washington streets.
"It's been a parking lot for a long time," said architect Mark Sexton of Chicago-based Krueck + Sexton. "We think there's a higher and better use."
Tishman's plan also calls for an approximately 20,000-square-foot plaza along Franklin, retail space, and a fifth-floor "skygarden" stacked on top of a 190-car garage. Despite the tower's glassy facade, Sexton said its constant sharp angles will create enough "distortion" to mitigate bird collisions.
"The glass is always angled down, up, or sideways," said Sexton, who described the tower's design as "almost origami."
If approved (and fully leased), the high-rise would host 3,600 full-time jobs and join a small but slowly growing crowd of post-recession Downtown office towers. Two similar-sized buildings along the Chicago River are under construction at 444 W. Lake St. and 150 N. Riverside Plaza, and a 36-story tower is in the works at 151 N. Franklin, across the street from Tishman's site.
Community input Monday was mostly favorable, with some residents expressing concern about the project's traffic impact. Reilly pointed out that the development's proposed 190-car garage would reduce the number of cars on the property, a parking lot that fits 290 cars.
Sexton said Tishman hopes to open the 130 N. Franklin tower in 2019. Patrick Kearney, a Chicago-based managing director at Tishman, declined to disclose the project's cost.
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