The greater West Loop area has been booming with development over the last couple of years, and the neighborhood will likely change even more in the coming years. Proposals for everything from apartment towers, to boutique hotels, to office conversions of industrial buildings, to a children's theater have been presented just this year alone. Heck, even MTV is getting in on the action. However, one of the more exciting prospects for the area was a possible supertall near 625 West Monroe Street. Developer Fifield Companies had first presented a plan to build a 26 story office tower at the site during the midst of the recession in 2008, and after several years of silence, Fifield reintroduced a new design for a taller, 75 story tower on the property. Again, months went by with no signs of life and then earlier this year mysterious renderings of a supertall near the location popped up on the SkyscraperPage Forums, leading us to scratch our heads and wonder if this was yet another redesign for the proposed tower.
There's certainly a chance (actually, it's probably the case) that the renderings are quite old, but had only been made public recently. As a commenter pointed out in an older post, the renderings don't include the Trump Tower, 300 N. LaSalle, the Legacy Tower, 191 N. Wacker, among others, potentially dating these renderings back to 2006. Either way, there's been a lot of ideas for the site over the years, but nothing has moved forward.
More recently, a website has surfaced, indicating that the 1.41 acre property is for sale - or rather, an interest in the site at 601-625 W Monroe is available. A brochure from CBRE suggests that the site has all kinds of potential for an office, hotel, retail or multifamily development. A rendering of a tower does appear in the brochure, suggesting that, hey, the site is partially (or maybe entirely) for sale, but there could still be a really sweet tower here. The brochure does specifically state that there is already "concept design plans already drawn for an office building", and that the location is "one of the last opportunities to develop a true live-work-play site in the heart of downtown Chicago."
At the rate movement has been happening, or rather not happening at 625 W Monroe, it could be a while until anything is announced. However, again, the West Loop has been transforming before our eyes, and a new plan, or even the previous office tower plan could make a comeback. How about a supertall tower? It's a long shot, but we'll have to wait and see.
·601-625 W Monroe [CBRE]
·New Renderings For Long Planned West Loop Tower Surface [Curbed Chicago]
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