RIVER WEST — While Mayor Rahm Emanuel touted the 150 N. Riverside Place construction project's $500 million, 53-story skyscraper as the new home of the William Blair & Co. finance firm, he and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) both took pride in drawing attention to a 1.5-acre public park and green space that is part of the project Thursday.
"I've been clear that I want to make the river the next recreational frontier of the City of Chicago," Emanuel said at a ground-breaking event. "It used to be the industrial highway. It's now gonna be part of the city's life and recreation."
John O'Donnell, whose O'Donnell Investment Co. is involved in the financing, cheered the building's "coolness factor," as it flares out from a small footprint nestled between the South Branch of the Chicago River and Metra tracks to the west.
