Word of Fifield Cos' return to frozen plans for twin towers at 601 and 625 W. Monroe came in Crain's commercial real estate roundup this morning. The renewed push, unlikely to break ground until next year, has reconsidered a few site specifics. Earlier renderings, still active on Fifield's website, showed 26 and 29-story buildings with a lot of differentiation. The larger contained roughly 720,000 square feet and the smaller, 470,000. Another iteration was for a 26-story building and a much smaller data center. And at one point, a single 600' 42-story tower was meant for the site. Compared with this tangle of earlier plans, the last of which stalled in 2009, the new office buildings will be twin 500,000-square-foot structures of about 25 stories. Ah, much simpler. The rendering before you today comes via Crain's but was first called to our attention by Spyguy at Skyscraper Page. It depicts the tower at 601 W. Monroe.
There's been a lot of banter in the press about if and when this project will return. Steve Fifield has said in the past that modest-sized office towers are easier to pull off because they can financed with a single large tenant. That, plus the fact that Fifield Cos. is hedging its bets by being aggressive in the multi-family sector (see K2, 'Tower of Jewel'), can lead one to think they're uniquely positioned for an office start. Steve Fifield wants to be the first to snap the drought in downtown office development, telling Crain's that "by 2015 the environment here ought to be healthy and tenants will be hungry for new office space options." Coincidentally, that's when this project hopes to wrap. Fifield had worked with architects DeStefano & Partners on earlier renderings. Local firm SMDP Studios is behind the new one.
·Chicago's commercial real estate business shows signs of improvement [Crain's]
·New office tower downtown unlikely in 2012 [Trib]
·Official Site: Fifield Companies
Loading comments...