Chicago’s future third tallest building hit an important milestone today as VIPs from both the Windy City and China celebrated the official ground-breaking for the 1,186-foot Vista Tower. The mixed-use combination hotel and residential project — designed by Chicago’s Studio Gang and bKL Architecture — is expected to not only create scores of temporary construction positions, but hundreds of permanent local jobs, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In addition to creating a new building, the Vista project will also create a new connection between Wacker Drive, Chicago Riverwalk, lakefront, and the greater Lakeshore East community.
Vista is a joint venture between Magellan Development and Chinese partner Dalian Wanda Group. While the latter may not necessarily be a household name in the United States, the firm is China’s biggest real estate company and the world’s largest operator of five-star hotels. Valued at $1 billion, Vista Tower not only represents the single largest Chinese real estate investment in Chicago, but in the entire United States. Mr. Chen Guocai, Vice President of the Dalian Wanda Group, along with China General Chamber of Commerce Chairman Chen Xu and Chicago Chinese Consul General Hong Lei were on hand to praise their country’s investment in the Windy City.
Though public ground-breaking events often don’t directly correlate with construction concurrently taking place on-site, today’s ceremony was a notable exception as crews dug-in just north of the stage. The ceremony also saw the usual collection of Chicago-based TV crews joined by a number of Chinese language news outlets — a further clue to the project’s Global reach. The outdoor gathering concluded with a reception inside the Vista Residences sales center and featured a rather impressive towering cake carefully modeled on the upcoming super-tall frustum form.
- Supertall Vista Tower gets first permit for caisson drilling [Curbed Chicago]
- Vista Tower Approaches Ground Breaking as Neighbors are Shown Construction Plans [Curbed Chicago]
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