Christopher Carley, a longtime Chicago developer who was thwarted in his efforts to build the nation’s tallest building in the city, has an option on another high-profile downtown site.
Carley, chief executive of Fordham Co., agreed in January to pay $60 million to HBE Corp. of St. Louis for an approximately two-acre parcel at Illinois Street and Columbus Drive. He plans to close on the property, now being used for surface parking, in June.
No longer chasing the cachet that he would get from the 2,000-foot-tall, spire-shaped tower that he hired famed Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava to design on Lake Shore Drive overlooking Lake Michigan, Carley said Monday that he still must determine what kind of tower he will build on his new land.
“I’m not out to set any height records,” he said, “but I do want something tall, slender and spectacular,” such as the spire fashioned for him in 2005 by Calatrava.
Unable to secure financing for that 124-story building, Carley withdrew from the project last summer, and it was taken over by Shelbourne Development Ltd. of Dublin.
The new site, which provides easy access to North Michigan Avenue, the lake and the Chicago River, could accommodate as much as 2 million square feet of buildings. The northern portion might be sold to help finance a major project on the southern side of the site, Carley said.
HBE did not return calls seeking comment.
While still under study, one concept might be to develop an approximately 70-story, $325 million tower, with a hotel of about 250 rooms on the bottom, Carley said. Above it would be perhaps 300 condominiums priced at roughly $750 a square foot, he said.
If this idea gets a green light, the nearly three-year construction project would start in 18 to 24 months. It could be ready for occupancy in 2011, and by then, Carley said, “despite concerns about overbuilding, by the time my project is complete there wouldn’t be a lot of unsold product left.”
Although it is realistic and prudent to worry about the near-term prospects of the downtown property markets, both residential and commercial, Carley’s long-term perspective gives him comfort.
In 1987, when he worked as a partner for the real estate firm Trammell Crow, he said, he tried to buy a 40-acre parcel that encompassed his new site for $50 million. But the owner decided not to sell at that time.
“Now, just two acres has sold for $60 million,” Carley said.
The price appreciation is entirely warranted, he said. In addition to a handful of new offices, an abundance of housing is being developed in the heart of the city.
“The transformation of downtown into a residential location is just beginning,” he said. “The giant Baby Boomer generation is coming downtown in a trickle now, but that will turn into a flood.
“Just wait five years. The number of housing units in development will triple or quadruple.”
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sdiesenhouse@tribune.com
