Lakeshore East towers would bring more than 2,000 residences, 500 hotel rooms

Lakeshore East towers would bring more than 2,000 residences, 500 hotel rooms

The owner of the 28-acre Lakeshore East mixed-use development in downtown Chicago plans to build four new towers with more than 2,000 residential units and 569 hotel rooms combined. Magellan Development Group unveiled plans to the new development phase in a meeting July 10, 2017, by 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly and the New Eastside Association of Residents.

Ryan OriContact Reporter

Chicago Tribune

ven as it builds what will become the city's third-tallest skyscraper, a Chicago real estate developer is pushing ahead on a new wave of towers in its 28-acre Lakeshore East project near the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.

Magellan Development Group on Monday night unveiled plans to construct four new buildings with 2,040 apartments and condominiums and 569 hotel rooms.

The proposed next phase of construction is ambitious enough to turn heads on its own, with the bKL Architecture-designed structures reaching as high as approximately 80 stories.

The plans are more remarkable considering Magellan and Chinese partner Wanda Group are already building the 94-story Vista Tower condominium and hotel tower, which will be the city's third-tallest building when completed in 2020, on a nearby parcel in Lakeshore East.

Now Magellan and different development partners, Australia's Lendlease and South Korea's Hanwha Engineering & Construction, are seeking city approval to move forward on a new wave of building that would include two skyscrapers along Lake Shore Drive near the lake. The developers' plans were discussed in a meeting Monday night by 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly and the New Eastside Association of Residents.

Magellan and Lendlease plan towers of about 80 and 50 stories along Lake Shore just south of the river, and an approximately 40-story tower just to the west of the larger towers. The three towers would have 1,400 condos and apartments combined. The tallest building would rise about 875 feet.

West of there, along Columbus Drive near Aqua Tower, Magellan and Hanwha seek to build an approximately 60-story tower with 640 apartments and 569 hotel rooms — a full-service hotel with 247 rooms and another brand with 322 "micro" rooms — atop a retail and parking podium. Magellan and Hanwha have been partners on three previous buildings in the complex.

Many questions at Monday's meeting centered around traffic and concerns that views from existing towers nearby will be blocked, particularly by the tallest tower. Residents of the Chandler, a 40-story condo tower along the west side of the proposed 80-story building, would have their views impeded the most.

Yet Reilly warned neighbors to be careful what they ask for, emphasizing that the current planned development would allow Magellan to build four wider towers next to one another, which would cut off virtually all views of the lake for residents to the west.

The desired zoning change would lead to three significantly taller buildings, but also would create more open space and fewer obstructed views, Reilly noted. The revised plan proposes 1,000 fewer residences than the currently approved 2,400 on the sites near the lake.

The change to fewer but taller towers would require city approval. More public meetings are expected before Reilly weighs in on whether the project should move forward, a key step toward eventually gaining City Council approval.

Architect Tom Kerwin, founding principal of bKL, argued that the tallest tower would be an iconic addition to the neighborhood's skyline, with its rounded design offsetting the angular Vista Tower. The 80-story tower's floors are designed to gradually widen on upper floors.

The new development phase, which could begin as soon as early 2018, would create new access points to the lakefront and the riverwalk.

Magellan already has completed eight high-rise buildings in the 15-year-old development, as well as a 6-acre park and shorter structures with uses such as town homes, a school and retail.

The entire development is expected to cost more than $4 billion and take well over two decades to complete. An estimated cost of the new four-tower phase was not disclosed at the meeting.

If this four-tower phase happens as planned, there would be just two land sites remaining in Lakeshore East, which runs along stretches of Lake Shore, Wacker and Columbus drives and Randolph Street east of Michigan Avenue. Reilly said he wants the developer to set aside a site for a potential public school in the future, as the neighborhood's population increases.

Magellan's new plans come amid concerns that too many apartments and hotel rooms are under construction or recently completed in Chicago. But Magellan and other developers have been emboldened by a downtown real estate market that has been on a roll for years, leading them to draw up some of the biggest and boldest developments seen in decades.

There are at least 10 megadevelopments of $1 billion or more underway or in advanced planning stages in Chicago, including the $1 billion Vista Tower. Earlier this year, Magellan and Wanda took out a Chicago-record $700 million construction loan from China's Ping An Bank, saying at the time that they'd pre-sold more than one-third of the condos.

rori@chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-lakeshore-east-new-buildings-ryan-ori-0712-biz-20170710-column.html