Photo: Someone Built An Igloo In The Middle Of Downtown Chicago

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 6, 2016 3:23PM

It's no Ice Hotel, but Upper Wacker Drive's latest construction project is a mystery igloo, built from slabs of ice near the intersection of Columbus Drive.

The peculiar ice fort has four walls and a roof, according to a photo posted on Reddit, where a lively debate over the property taxes and maintenance fees on the igloo is taking place. The structure appears to be supported in part by a U-turn sign that stands on the island separating lanes of traffic.

The Reddit user who shared the photo said they saw a man they assume to be homeless collecting slabs of ice to build the fort with, but when a Fox Chicago reporter went to check it out early this morning there was no one to be found. If it turns out the person who built the make-shift igloo doesn't have any other shelter, it's a sobering reminder of how challenging the winter can be for the city's homeless population. A homeless man in suburban Summit became the first Cook County resident to die from the cold this season on Dec. 2.

Updated 3:32 p.m.: The Igloo's creator is not homeless it turns out—just very creative. A man claiming to be the mastermind behind the engineering feat knows as the igloo on Upper Wacker Drive told DNAinfo Monday afternoon that he lives in a nearby high rise and created the igloo as a kind of homage to the area's chronically iced-over sidewalks.

"I'm tired of seeing people do face plants," he said.