The Chicago Spire: It's All Over But The Screaming Lawsuits
By Karl Klockars in News on Oct 11, 2010 7:20PM
It was supposed to be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, but now it's just an expensive hole in the ground. Crains is reporting that foreclosure lawsuits have been filed by the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation against Garrett Kelleher and Shelbourne Development, builder of the Chicago Spire, alleging that loans made a year ago are in default. The AIBC is likely to overtake the money pit, according to the AP.
I think we all (except for Ty Warner) saw this coming. After the jump, we'll set the Wayback Machine to peer through the Chicagoist archives at the Spire through the years. Following that, let the final round of dildo jokes begin.
Our Future Skyline: "Chicagoist reader Frank emailled us with this site that has 3-D renderings of Chicago with all the proposed and under construction buildings shown. Pretty cool."
Using a Spire To Kill Rabbits: In comes Dublin-based...developer Garret Kelleher and architect Santiago Calatrava with their Chicago Spire. They envision [DuSable] park as only a part of the grand scheme of North American height domination, which will only be surpassed on the global scale by Burj Dubai."
Spire One Step Closer To Phallic Glory: "Thursday, the controversial Chicago Spire received approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, bringing it one step closer to a reality on the Chicago skyline."
Chicago Spire Spots For Sale: "Shelbourne Development has officially open a sales office for the 1,194 residences in the Spire, the upcoming architectural marvel and source of an absolutely endless number of wiener jokes...The building is supposed to be live-in-able in 2011."
Construction on Spire Halted: "Officials blame the slowing economy for the halt but say condo sales continue and that the building will still be completed by 2012 as scheduled."
More Problems For The Spire: "No, we're not a broken record: the Chicago Spire project has once again run into problems."
A Spire Revival?: "The infamously embattled Chicago Spire may have found new life in its battle to simply get built."