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680 N Lake Shore Drive (a.k.a. Lake Shore Place) is a 29-story building located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Originally named the American Furniture Mart, was completed in 1926. The two halves were designed separately: the eastern half by Raeder, George C. Nimmons, and Max Dunning; and the western half by Nimmons and Dunning alone. [1] At 474 ft (144 m) tall and encompassing the entire block between Lake Shore Drive and McClurg Court, it was the largest building in the world when it was completed.
Construction of the American Furniture Mart was undertaken in two phases: the eastern section was completed in 1923, and the western portion (including the tower) in 1926. The eastern half is constructed with reinforced concrete, whereas the western half, as well as the tower, is steel. A 1959 newspaper story, based on reminiscences by the building's president, claimed the building included provisions for mooring airships, [2] but nothing about airships appears in the descriptions of the building when it was being planned or built. [3] [4]
The building was converted by David L. Paul into condominium and office space between 1979 and 1984. Paul hired Lohan Associates, Inc. to be one of two architects. The design concept was Paul's. It is now home to 415 condo units divided amongst the building's three separate condominium associations: the Tower, the Lake, and the South residences. There is also 420,000 sq ft (39,000 m2) of commercial office space, 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) of retail space, and seven levels of indoor parking.
During its early decades as the American Furniture Mart, the building's address was 666 North Lake Shore Drive. In 1984, Chemical Bank filed a foreclosure action against David Paul, which Chemical eventually won. [5] Chemical announced that it would change the building's address from 666 N. Lake Shore Drive to 680 N. Lake Shore Drive effective May 1, 1988, officially as a way of dissociating the building from its past financial problems. [6] There was speculation that the address change was intended to remove the stigma of the building having the number "666", as in the Number of the Beast from the Book of Revelation, or at the insistence of Playboy Enterprises which at the time was considering a move to the building. [6] Representatives of both the building's management agent and Playboy denied that they were concerned about the use of that number in the address. [6] [7]
Later in 1988, a few months after the address change, Playboy Enterprises moved their corporate headquarters from its location in the Palmolive Building to the location at 680 N. Lake Shore Dr. Consequently, 680 became colloquially referred to as the "New Playboy Building". Playboy moved all of their offices out of this building in 2012, [8] and the Playboy sign was taken down from the Erie Street entrance to the building.
Another notable tenant was radio station WCFL (AM). They had their studios here from 1931 until 1964. At that time, they relocated broadcast facilities to Marina City, where they stayed for the next 25 years.
As of 2017 [update] , much of the building's office space is leased to medical tenants. [9] The commercial portion of the building was sold to TopMed Realty in 2017 for $109.5 million. [9]
The Willis Tower, originally and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-story, 1,451-foot (442.3 m) skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building, a title that it held for nearly 25 years. It is the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the 23rd-tallest in the world. Each year, more than 1.7 million people visit the Skydeck observation deck, the highest in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations.
The Merchandise Mart is a commercial building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it opened in 1930, it was the world's largest building, with 4 million square feet (372,000 m2) of floor space. The Art Deco structure is at the junction of the Chicago River's branches. The building is a leading retailing and wholesale location, hosting 20,000 visitors and tenants daily in the late 2000s.
Michigan Avenue is a north-south street in Chicago that runs at 100 east on the Chicago grid. The northern end of the street is at DuSable Lake Shore Drive on the shore of Lake Michigan in the Gold Coast Historic District. The street's southern terminus is at Sibley Boulevard in the southern suburb of Dolton, but like many other Chicago streets, it exists in several disjointed segments.
Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the city of Chicago recognizes only a small portion of this region as Streeterville. Thus, it can be described as the Magnificent Mile plus all land east of it. The tourist attraction of Navy Pier and Ohio Street Beach extend out into the lake from southern Streeterville. To the north, the East Lake Shore Drive District, where the Drive curves around the shoreline, may be considered an extension of the Gold Coast. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimed sandbar.
Water Tower Place is a large urban, mixed-use development comprising a 758,000 sq ft (70,400 m2) shopping mall in a 74-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The mall is located at 835 North Michigan Avenue, along the Magnificent Mile. It is named after the nearby Chicago Water Tower, and is owned by affiliates of Brookfield Property Partners.
The Near North Side is the eighth of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is the northernmost of the three areas that constitute central Chicago, the others being the Loop and the Near South Side. The community area is located north and east of the Chicago River. To its east is Lake Michigan, and its northern boundary is the early 19th-century city limit of Chicago, North Avenue. In 2020 the Near North Side had 105,481 residents, surpassing Lake View as the largest Chicago community area by population. It is also the most densely populated community area and has the second most skyscrapers, after the Loop. With the exception of Goose Island, the Near North Side is known for its extreme affluence, typified by the Gold Coast, Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, and skyscrapers.
Lakeshore East is a master-planned mixed use urban development being built by the Magellan Development Group in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located in the northeastern part of the Loop, which, along with Illinois Center, is called the New Eastside. The development is bordered by Wacker Drive to the north, Columbus Drive to the west, Lake Shore Drive to the east, and East Randolph Street to the south. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill created the master plan for the area. The development, which had been scheduled for completion in 2011, was set for completion in 2013 by 2008. Development continued with revised plans for more buildings in 2018 and continuing construction of the Vista Tower in 2019.
The Chicago Spire was a skyscraper project in Chicago that was partially built between 2007 and 2008 before being cancelled. Located at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, it would have stood 2,000 feet (610 m) high with 150 floors and been the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. When originally proposed as the Fordham Spire in July 2005, the design had 116 stories, included a hotel and condominiums, and was topped with a broadcast antenna mast. The building was designed and spearheaded by Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava and Chicago developer Christopher T. Carley of the Fordham Company. On March 16, 2006, the Chicago Plan Commission unanimously approved the initial design of the building. On November 4, 2016, a court ruling brought the original development plan and the extended litigation over the nine-year-old project to a close. Developer Garrett Kelleher signed over the property location to the project's biggest creditor, Related Midwest, who announced that they would not build the Spire and released plans for a different project.
Lake Point Tower is a residential skyscraper located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago, just north of the Chicago River at 505 North Lake Shore Drive. Completed in 1968, it is in the Streeterville neighborhood on the Near North Side. Located adjacent to Navy Pier, the building is the only skyscraper in the city east of Lake Shore Drive.
860–880 Lake Shore Drive is a twin pair of glass-and-steel apartment towers on N. Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Construction began in 1949 and the project was completed in 1951. The towers were added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1980, and were designated as Chicago Landmarks on June 10, 1996. The 26-floor, 254-ft tall towers were designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and dubbed the "Glass House" apartments. Construction was by the Chicago real estate developer Herbert Greenwald, and the Sumner S. Sollitt Company. The design principles were copied extensively and are now considered characteristic of the modern International Style as well as essential for the development of modern high-tech architecture.
Alfred Samuel Alschuler was a Chicago architect.
The Palmolive Building, formerly the Playboy Building, is a 37-story Art Deco building at 919 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
One Magnificent Mile is a mixed-use high-rise tower completed in 1983 at the northern end of Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago containing upscale retailers on the ground floor, followed by office space above that and luxury condominium apartments on top. The 57-storey building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and at the time of construction was the tenth-tallest building in Chicago.
The Hampton House is a residential condominium located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois on the property that once housed the Hyde Park House, a hotel built by Hyde Park founder Paul Cornell in the 1850s. The property was originally named the Sisson Hotel when constructed in 1918.
77 West Wacker Drive, previously the United Building, is an American office building in the Loop, Chicago. Finished in 1992, the building rises to a height of 668 ft with around 944,000 square feet (87,700 m2) of interior space. The building, with 50 floors, was designed by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. It was formerly known as the RR Donnelley Building when RR Donnelley was the primary tenant. RR Donnelley moved its corporate headquarters to a different location in May 2005, and in 2007 the building became the corporate headquarters of United Airlines. The deal included naming rights to the building.
Sheridan Road is a major north-south street that leads from Diversey Parkway in Chicago, Illinois, north to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and beyond to Racine. Throughout most of its run, it is the easternmost north-south through street, closest to Lake Michigan. From Chicago, it passes through Chicago's wealthy lakeside North Shore suburbs, and then Waukegan and Zion, until it reaches the Illinois-Wisconsin state line in Winthrop Harbor. In Wisconsin, the road leads north through Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha, until it ends on the south side of Racine, in Mount Pleasant.
George Croll Nimmons was an American architect. Nimmons was best known for his commercial work, which was primarily for Sears, Roebuck and Company, but he also designed several houses, including a Kenwood mansion for Sears' President, Julius Rosenwald.
The Metropolitan Tower is a skyscraper located at 310 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Historic Michigan Boulevard District in the Loop community area in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Developed by Metropolitan Properties of Chicago, it has been renovated as a condominium complex with 242 units. Residences range in size from 1,200 square feet (110 m2) to 4,000 square feet (370 m2). Penthouses feature 360 degree city views and private elevators. Prices run from $300,000 for a 762 square feet (70.8 m2) one-bedroom unit to $1.365 million for a 1,932 square feet (179.5 m2) three-bedroom. The Metropolitan Tower was also for a time home to a branch of Chase Bank. The space now houses a branch of CVS.
350 North Orleans is the official name of the 24-floor multipurpose building located in the River North community area of Chicago, at the intersection of the North Branch and the Main Branch of the Chicago River. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 1988, Helmut Jahn designed an enclosed pedestrian walking bridge over Orleans Street connecting the building to Merchandise Mart. Originally built to serve as the world's largest wholesale buying center for the clothing industry, the building has more commonly known by several other names including River North Point, TheApparel Mart, and the Chicago Apparel Center. The building opened on November 6, 1976.