The New 150 North Riverside Continues to Climb Skyward

By Curbed Staff Oct 21, 2015, 11:01am CDT

Dramatic changes are taking shape at the confluences of the Chicago River as one of the last gaps of open space on the main branch transitions into vertical real estate. Chicago's next two large office towers are now becoming very noticeable from multiple vantage points as iron workers have hit their stride and are piecing the frame work together quickly. At River Point, steel erection is now within 10 floors of topping out, and as our most recent batch of photos show, the 53-story, 732 foot tall skyscraper is doing its part in pulling the skyline westward. As work wraps up on this project though, the real focus moves south of Lake Street to 150 North Riverside. Already a showstopper for pedestrians and passengers on passing architectural tour boats, the Goettsch Partners-designed 150 North Riverside is showing off the unconventional tower form with a grand display of structural acrobatics.

The cantilevering steel, on which the office floors are rising from, was the result of designing the building on a tight worksite. Sandwiched between active railroad tracks feeding into Union Station and the Chicago River's South Branch, there was little room for the structure to reach the ground and the foundation made up of surgically drilled caissons.

According to Magnusson Klemencic Associates, the project's structural engineers, 150 North Riverside is using the largest steel sections in the world. Unfortunately, this true expression of Chicago design ingenuity will be largely hidden from view when the facade cladding is applied — until then enjoy the show with all of the beefy steel on display for everyone to see as this tower rises 54 floors. When topped out, 150 North Riverside will likely rise slightly higher than River Point and will be the tallest building west of the river.