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Photo by spudart
No, we're not a broken record: the Chicago Spire project has once again run into problems. Despite being able to sell the two-story penthouse, money woes have impacted the Spire such that earlier this fall construction on the building was halted. Now comes word that the world's economic crisis may have an even bigger impact than previously thought. The new problem involves the bank crisis in Ireland where Anglo Irish Bank Corp. is about to be nationalized to avoid collapse. Anglo Irish Bank happens to be the main lender for the Spire's developer, Garrett Kelleher, executive chairman of Shelbourne Development Ltd.
[Kelleher] used private funding assurances from Anglo Irish to persuade Mayor Daley's administration to grant zoning approval for the project in 2007. Kelleher had said Anglo Irish's com- mitment was almost open-ended and required no threshold of condominium sales before it would underwrite construction.We wonder if anyone wants to revise the promise the Spire will be finished by 2012 come hell, high water, or economic collapse.Property records show Shelbourne has drawn $69.5 million from Anglo Irish for the early stages of construction at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive. But work has been stopped, and Shelbourne has been hit with several liens from contractors -- including one from his own celebrity architect, Santiago Calatrava. Though the building has been marketed almost as a Calatrava artwork, the architect alleges Kelleher owes him $11.34 million.
Sources said Kelleher has been seeking other investors, either in debt or equity positions, to help get construction restarted. But the world's financial crisis has dried up the supply of money looking for speculative investments.
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Funny watching all these favorite economic 'tigers' that the free market disciples loved to boast about fall apart in our pyramid scheme of a world economy.
Navin - Don't be so naive. No one ever promised Free Market theories are without any pain. It's because of free markets, that the weak die and the frauds exposed.
Socialistic markets prop up theses failures and simply extend the inevitable.
I see somebody's been drinking the laissez faire Kool-Aid.
It was laissez faire-inspired ideology that inspired the reckless, mindless deregulation of the financial industry in the late 90's and early 00's. That, in turn, allowed the formation of an absolutely absurd credit bubble and subsequently turned what would have been a typical downward part of the cycle into a major world-wide catastrophe. It wasn't anything "socialistic", despite what the right wing apologists would try to have us believe.
The short version: Laissez Faire Capitalism and Communism are equally reckless, extremist ideologies. It's just that the latter has been fully undertaken and found to be a complete failure while the former has blown up in our faces in more limited instances in which remarkably foolish and unforgivably reckless people attempted to apply it.
It's because of free markets, that the weak die and the frauds exposed.
In fantasy and theory of course, meanwhile back in reality the SEC/FED/TREASURY/White House are run by "free market" Friedman worshippers who are giving billions (with no transparency) to their friends who also preach about the "free market" until of course-- they lose. Praise the "free market" while you gamble with other people's money.
The short version: Laissez Faire Capitalism and Communism are equally reckless, extremist ideologies.
The funny thing too Rev. is that boosters of both ideologies find themselves often in agreement as they both like to say: The conditions have never been right for true capitalism/communism. Hehe, equally deluded.
To get back to the Spire: It will only go forward if Chicago gets the Olympics!
No games, no Spire!