Nine Creative Uses For The Chicago Spire's Abyss
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Mar 28, 2016 8:29PM
The hole in the ground that is the Chicago Spire site, seen in April 2010 during the collapse of the commercial real estate market. (Scott Olson/Getty Images photo)
The Chicago Spire was supposed to be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Instead, it is the emptiest 67-foot-deep pit in Chicago.
The developers who own the [not-so-]bottomless abyss left behind by the failed Chicago Spire Project have announced plans to surround it with dirt until a better idea comes along. Well, we have nine better ideas right here for how Chicago can fill, redevelop, or otherwise make use of the Chicago Inverted Spire—all about as likely as the city's chances of filling its budget hole anytime soon.
We asked readers and Chicagoist contributors what they would fill the Spire hole with:
*Piranhas. City officials convicted of corruption will be sentenced to spend five minutes in the pond. —Rob Christopher
*As @BeachwoodReport said: Rejected Freedom of Information Act Requests. —Aaron Cynic
*Re-home all the Asian carp and zebra mussels, and allow scuba enthusiasts to deep dive. —Marielle Shaw
*Ball pit. —Jim Kopeny/Tankboy
*Paczki filling. —Michelle Kopeny
*The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. —commenter cmeszt
*A scale replica of the Bane prison from The Dark Knight Rises. —cmeszt
We all know Chicago is the true Gotham City.
*The city's next cat café. —Jim Kopeny/Tankboy
*All the leftover primary campaign signs and mailers. And we mean all of them. —Joel Wicklund