Living in Austin, TX, we’ve seen the construction of many tall towers in our ever-growing downtown district. The skyline is continually expanding, especially in the past few years. The tallest building we have is the 33-story Frost Bank Tower and from the street it looks enormous. I can’t even imagine how immensely tall the Chicago Spire would look - it’s supposed to be a 150-story tower! Unfortunately, the credit crisis has stalled construction of this incredible “twisting” tower, the tallest in the Western Hemisphere.
They’ve already dug a 76-foot-deep hole and sunk caissons. And why not? Buyers have purchased a third of the 1,124 luxury condos between $750k and $40 million. (Ty Warner, Beanie Baby creator, has the penthouse.) Instead of being a beacon of luxury, the unbuilt sight is starting to become a constant reminder of the economic downturn.
Globally work has been halted on 11% of the world’s skyscraper projects. Dubai, Russia and Chile are some of the countries that have had to stop construction on other “Babel” type projects.
Read the full article on Reuters.
Tags: Chicago Spire, commercial construction industry news, Frost Bank Tower, skyscraper projects stalled, towers Western Hemisphere
