USInvestment:Chicago is eager to get back on the architectural map with the ambitious Irish-developed 150-storey Spire, writes Property Editor Orna Mulcahy
Apartments in the Chicago Spire, Garrett Kelleher's 150-storey twisting tower on the shores of Lake Michigan, won't go on sale until the new year, but already there's interest from around the world, with the skyscraper's website attracting over 82,000 hits since going live last Friday.
After the splashy launch party in Chicago last week, Mr Kelleher, of Dublin-based Shelbourne Development, will be working hard to get the tower out of the ground and on to the market. Billed as the second tallest building the in the the world (after the Burj Dubai) it will have 1,193 apartments, almost 40 per cent of which are being earmarked for overseas buyers.
International sales agents Savills have been engaged to sell the development worldwide, with a series of launches planned early next year, starting in Dublin and travelling onto London, Moscow, Hong Kong, Shangai and Seoul.
Irish buyers are expected to be among the very first investors in the dramatic scheme where the cheapest unit will start at $750,000 (€529,000). The weak dollar may encourage investors with few growth prospects at home to buy into the glass tower, which will have the longest lift run in the world and dizzying views across the lake, into which the island of Ireland would sink without trace.
So far the website is about all there is to see. The 2.2-acre site on Lakeshore Drive is a hole in the ground and the lavish marketing suite that has been built in the nearby NBC tower will not officially open until January.
There has been plenty of comment on the prices which, rising to $40 million(€28m), make the Spire by far the most expensive buy in Chicago. It's heady stuff for a real estate market that is currently experiencing a downturn but many Chicagoans are ready to believe that anything is possible for the tapering skyscraper.
Billboard advertising throughout the city and a celebratory film aired on TV have added to the excitement in a city that desperately wants the tower to be built.
With Chicago bidding to host the 2016 Olympics, Chicagoans also want to see their city back on the map of architectural wonders. If anyone can do that, Santiago Calatrava can. The inspirational architect and engineer was star of the Chicago launch, charming the media with his softly spoken vision for the Spire.
Calatrava, a dapper Spaniard in an immaculate suit and handmade shoes, is one of the growing band of "starchitects" - international architects including Sir Norman Foster, Daniel Libeskind and Richard Meier - whose name can turn a building into an icon. Geneva-based Calatrava, who is best known for his bridges - Dublin has one and another is under construction - has designed some of Europe's most exciting buildings, including the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Bilbao Airport and the 54-storey Turning Torso apartment block in Malmo Sweden, which has been been a hit with residents and is also a tourist draw.
Unlike many high profile architect, it's not a case of hiring the star and getting someone lower down the chain to actually to do the work. Calatrava has been fully involved with the Spire, sketching out his ideas in hundreds if not thousands of watercolours, showing his design for the 360 degree turning tower evolving from images of shells, snails, eggs and wisps of smoke.
He also designed many of the interior details, right down to doorknobs with the imprint of his hand. He says that living in the Spire will be "like living in a Matisse painting" and certainly residents will have an aesthetic advantage. The spec is high with fine maple herringbone floors, spectacular marble-clad bathrooms and kitchens that manage to be both sleek and warm at the same time.
Buyers can opt for a studio unit where virtually everything has been designed by the architect including a top lit pod-style bedroom, and curved corridor with a kitchen along one side that can been hidden hehind sliding maple doors. Most of the units in the 2,000ft Spire will be priced between $750,000 and $10 million (€529,000-€7.04m), with prices rising after the 50th floor, where the views get really dramatic.
www.TheChicagoSpire.com
