I was driving down Lake Shore Drive the other drive and workers are busy preparing the ground for the most significant development in the world! The Chicago Spire! The presentation at their site is AMAZING! The Chicago Spire is a supertall skyscraper that will stand taller than Chicago's Sears Tower and New York's upcoming Freedom Tower, as well as Toronto's CN Tower, to become North America's tallest free-standing structure and the world's tallest all-residential building.


Inspired by nature - Imagined by Calatrava! The building was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and is being developed by Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development Group, Inc. The Chicago Spire is scheduled to be completed in 2010/2011  with 150 floors - a unique collection of 1200 residences overlooking Lake Michigan. No two residences  the same!

Originally announced in July of 2005 by Christopher T. Carley of the Fordham Company, the project was supported by many Chicagoans and city officials. After several months of development, Carley failed to acquire necessary financing and the project was taken over by Garrett Kelleher of the Shelbourne Development Group. Since that time, three major revisions were made to the design.

 
Cool Facts!

Chicago Spire will be the tallest building in the United States and the Western Hemisphere. 

- According to the architect, the tower's shape was derived by imagining the plume of smoke from a campfire lit centuries ago by Native Americans at the mouth of the Chicago River. 

- Each floor is rotated about two degrees from the one below, forming a tapered tower which twists 270° from the base to the roof. 

- Chicago Spire's lot is situated by the mouth of the Chicago River, and also guards the entrance to Ogden Slip, a short branch of the river to the north.  
 
- This building will have the longest elevator run in the world!