Results tagged “trumptower”

Things are getting rough for Donald Trump as the lead lender on his tower going up downtown has filed suit, seeking to collect $40 million in guarantees Trump made about the building. The suit was filed Friday by Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, claiming Trump has defaulted on the $640 million loan when he didn't pay off the remaining $334.2 million to the bank and other lenders by November 7. Trump has previously filed suit against the lenders in which he "asked a judge to uphold a so-called force majeure clause in the loan agreement, which permits an extension due to an extraordinary event — in this case, the global financial crisis, according to the complaint."

It's always a busy day in the world of Donald Trump, but it's a little bit busier around our very own Trump Tower as of late. First, Crain's Chicago has scoured the real-estate listings to find that the Editor-In-Chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, Michael Cooke, flipped his condo for a tidy profit recently. Hey, good for him - at least the newspaper industry is on a paying basis for somebody.* Maybe he can get a show on A&E now.

It seems there's trouble brewing for Mr. Trump's new hotel, the supposed new "jewel" of the Chicago skyline. According to the Wall Street Journal:

So far, Mr. Trump has lined up buyers for a bit less than $600 million of condo units and condo-hotel units in a residential market that has virtually seized up. Yet he owes lenders as much as $1 billion when the loans are due, according to public records and several people familiar with the project. He has closed around $200 million in sales so far, with roughly $380 million still in contract. The retail portion of the giant building is for sale, at a time of rising vacancies for retail space in Chicago and one of the worst eras for retailers in years.

My favorite part is at 1:29. From our pals Mark Bazer and Steve Delahoyde, with the vocal stylings of Kate James.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower is now open for guests. The hotel portion of the project, originally slated to open last December, occupies floors 14 through 27, and features 339 luxury guestrooms, including one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites. In addition to top-of-the-line appointments (sub-zero fridge for a minibar and in-mirror TV portals in the bathroom), the hotel promises service that will be unrivaled. The hotel website brags:

One of the things that we like the most about the city is the fact that even though high-rises and condo towers are being developed everywhere you look, parts of the past are always visible.

There's about to be some empty spaces on North Michigan Avenue, the likes of which haven't been seen on the Magnificent Mile for 15 years. Lord & Taylor will soon shutter the doors at its Water Tower Place location, and it will be 2008 before American Girl Place moves from its current spot on Chicago to take over a portion of the space. With CompUSA closing up shop on Chicago as well, retail vacancy for...

Thursday, the controversial Chicago Spire received approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, bringing it one step closer to a reality on the Chicago skyline. The design has continued to change from the original Fordham Spire's pyramid like shape topped with a TV tower, to a flat top twizzler, and finally onto its current rounded top incarnation. The design shown to the Plan Commission was slightly different than the one shown last month to Streeterville residents....

Ever walk by the slowly-but-surely growing Trump Tower construction site or read about the proposed Fordham Spire and wonder what it's all going to look like when it's finished? We still can't offer any photographic evidence, but a user named STR at the Skyscraper City forums has posted a bunch of Sim City-esque models of what Chicago should look like in 2010 including the new high-profile skyscraper projects. If the models hold true, the...

"puppies" via thelou137

Prime Group Realty, the owners of the IBM Building, just lost their 2 largest tenants and with the office market in a big slump, they're considering converting part or all of their building to residential condos. Prime Group would start by making the lower floors condos then would consider converting the rest of the tower later on.

Wabash Avenue north of Wacker and the Wabash Avenue bridge over the Chicago River are now open again, as of last Friday. The section of the street next to the Trump Tower project was closed while crews ripped down the Sun-Times Building and rebuilt the viaduct.

Next March, Bill Rancic's contract to over see construction of the Trump Tower is done and the Apprentice winner says he'll finally stop pretending like he's actually doing some work over there. He's leaving before the project is done, but really.. who honestly believes he's overseeing the Trump Tower construction anyway?

Chicagoist's best friend in New York used to room with Alex Michael from the first season of The Bachelor. Aside from being really arrogant and self-centered, Alex spent every waking moment riding out his 15 minutes of reality TV fame. Calling girls on their birthday, making special appearances, etc. And since we like never hear of Bill Rancic actually working on the Trump Tower, but always hear about him doing promos and charity events, we're guessing that's what his deal is too.

1st sign something is amiss at the Trump Tower construction site - double the number of people looking at the site than usual. 2nd sign - news media. 3rd - NO activity on the ground. And finally - ambulances and fire trucks in the pit. It took Chicagoist a while, but we finally realized what all the hubub was. There's a guy climbing on one of the freaking gillion feet tall cranes!

Among the 12 designs are two Chicago landmarks -- the John Hancock Center and Mies van der Rohe's minimalist apartment buildings at 860-880 N. Lake Shore Dr. Trib architecture critic Blair Kamin, however, takes exception to the small number of Chicago landmarks included in the set -- and he's absolutely right. If there's one this this city knows -- other than hot dogs and pizza -- it's revolutionary architecture. Blair mentions Marina City and the Farnsworth House as among those which should have been included, and Chicagoist agrees.

The old Sun Times building, which is currently being demolished to make way for Trump Tower, started on fire this morning. Chicagoist totally walked down Grand this morning on our way to work and thought, "Man, it sure is hazy today," while looking up Wabash. What idiots we are! We could have been on the spot with photos and live coverage. Instead we lazied our way into Nordstrom's for a grande skim latte and then strolled over to work where we got an email from Rod at photovox giving us the heads up. The photo above is the view of the commotion from our office. NBC 5 has more photos.

Kevin Allen, a University of Chicago law student, has been chosen for the second season of The Apprentice, along with 17 others. We're hoping that Chicago will sweep the show and that Kev will be the next Bill Rancic... even though it doesn't seem like Bill is really actually doing much on Trump Tower.

Chicagoan Jen Schefft has been selected to be the star of ABC's The Bachelorette 3. Jen was the winner of season 3 of The Bachelor when Andrew Firestone proposed to her. Not surprisingly the couple broke up. An interesting side note is that Chicagoan and Trump Apprentice Bill Rancic had been under consideration for Andrew's roll on The Bachelor 3. Also, Bill and Jen dated after Jen and Andrew broke off their engagement. Whether you've...

No, we're not talking about the Trump Tower. Just across the river at 111 W. Wacker, in a spot that currently is a parking lot, the Waterview Tower will be built. This 82-story condo and office skyscraper, designed by Teng and Associates, Inc., will become the city's 3rd tallest residential building, behind the Hancock and Trump's Tower. The location of the Waterview drew some controversy because it is to be built right next door to the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, a Gothic revival church that was built in 1914.