This weekend we made our third and likely final visit to Optima Center Chicago, Part I, now a virtually complete 325-unit Streeterville apartment tower. The design, by developer/architect David Hovey is clean and classic but punchy enough to stand out amid the nabe's forest of lackluster high-rises (one Curbed commenter felt a "Darth Vader" resonance in the darkly-tinted parking podium levels). It helps that there's a significant clearing to the South affording head-on sight lines. Forty-two stories of glassy high-rise would be a lot just a mile north in the Gold Coast, or in Lincoln Park or West Loop, but when that's all you build in Streeterville some people ask why it it can't be taller. Not to fear— as all good Curbed readers will recall Hovey purchased the neighboring parcel in April and plans a taller sister tower of some 60 stories, 400 units, and 200 hotel rooms. That has a targeted 2017 completion so be on the lookout for another round of check-ins.
·A Second 60-Story Optima Tower May Buddy Up To First [Curbed Chicago]
·Optima Center Chicago Approaching the Halfway Point [Curbed Chicago]
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