The 400 Lake Shore Drive development is underway with construction on the former Chicago Spire site starting in December 2023. The build will consist of towers which will form a gateway to offer stunning views along the area’s lakefront.
First approved in the summer of 2020, work has now begun, with LR Contracting and BOWA Construction first working on the northern tower which is set to be completed in late 2027.
The 72-story skyscraper will house 635 rent apartments which overlook Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago with 300 underground parking spaces serving residents. The 400 N. Lake Shore Drive condos have been designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and will stand at 858 feet tall. It will be clad in a glass and aluminum window wall featuring metal accent panels.
Schedule for Build
The initial work below-grade after clearing the site and mobilization begins the Q1 of 2024 and runs through to Q2 in 2025. Crews will later continue the vertical construction which includes concrete pours and interiors. The above-grade work will then take place in 2025 and continue until Q2 2027 before landscaping and the final completion is expected in Q3 2027.
Ideas Behind the Design
The towers will vary in height and be set at different angles to each other in order to create an epic setting on the lake. The building will give a nod to the famous ‘Chicago window’, an iconic hallmark of the city’s architecture through the years, with a shallow bay of floor-to-ceiling glass.
Not only will the builds create affordable luxury housing along the lakefront but there will also be 4.5 acres of open green space added to Streeterville. Here a plaza boasting retail space, amenities and public art will sit between the towers.
Part of the space will be a 3.3-acre site which will be open to residents and the public via Founders Way. The Chicago Park District, together with Related Midwest, is revamping the site of DuSable Park, named after Chicago’s founder Jean Baptiste Point DuSable to make it happen.
How the Build can Help Low-Renters
Twenty per cent of the building’s 635 units will be set aside specifically for low-renters. That’s 127 apartments. This comes after Andrew Field, spokesman for Illinois Housing Development Authority , said the 400 Lake Shore Drive would be financed as part of the push for affordable housing. The IHDA is finalizing a $510 million package, made of tax-free and taxable bonds for the project.
