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@A_Legal_Immigrant_1776

11 ай бұрын

Shit-cago

I lived in Chicago for many years and worked for the architect of record for ‘The Spire’. Santiago Calatrava designed it but computer wind load testing showed it could be pushed over at even mild to medium gusts. They added a more aggressive twist rate and tapered the top slightly to reduce flat surfaces in any direction to help deflect wind loads and structural engineers increased the number and depth of the piles needed in the foundation of such an ambitious design in a very hostile location. I remember having scale models in plexiglass cases and the beautiful floor plan drawings displayed around our Chicago office and we could see the project site from the East windows, (at least until the, then under construction Trump Tower, eclipsed our floor and blocked most of our view of the Chicago river and Navy Pier). What you would see today, if were not flooded, is the underground parking structure and the tops of the 65 or so huge piles that were to hold the building above. The site was deep below Lake Michigan and required constant pumping to keep from flooding, as it is now and the construction managers complained about how hard the site was to work in due to its tiny footprint and lack of access for equipment. It was a huge project that spanned over a year at my firm and my team assisted with some of the interactive floor plan maps for the different levels that were displayed in the leasing office on touch screens. They had even constructed mock up units in the Trump Tower once it had opened a few months later and the ‘views’ were images taken from a helicopter (way before drones!) that were printed full size to showcase your view of the city or the lake from your unit. It was all really over the top and once they stopped paying their bills around town and the lawsuits started flying (including ours), the project ‘who’s name shall never be spoken’ became a huge dirty word around the office. I witnessed mass layoffs and many good people lost their jobs because this project and, though never completed, it will always be etched into my memory as an example of how much work went into a big, ugly hole in the ground.

@awaiting...His...return

10 ай бұрын

@rickybobby5950. Thank you for sharing your insights on this. I find it amazing how the engineers can factor so many hidden, yet important, scenarios into the design, such as the wind that you mentioned. If you were to guesstimate the life of the existing foundation, do you feel it has a likelihood of still being viable for construction of the original building if construction were to resume ?

@LZGARAGE.

10 ай бұрын

You wouldnt of happened to have performed design work on the shanghai tower would you?

@Matt.P.

10 ай бұрын

Liar.

@Thornbloom

10 ай бұрын

Frigging Trump.

@sammycampbell1654

10 ай бұрын

You gave more information on this topic than the creator did in 8+minutes

I'm baffled by the footprint of this thing. It was going to be nearly the tallest building in the world, but yet the lot is smaller than the hotel I stayed in last night.

@unregisteredcoward

11 ай бұрын

so was I, but some further reading leads me to believe that was the foundation structure for the central core of the building

@marscaleb

11 ай бұрын

@@unregisteredcoward Ohhhh, so its not the whole footprint! That makes a LOT more sense!

@ntatenarin

11 ай бұрын

Now with all the super-skinny skyscrapers in NYC, this doesn't seem so weird.

@PrebleStreetRecords

10 ай бұрын

It's wild to think that skyscrapers are built on such tiny plots of land. The Sears Tower has a smaller footprint than my yard.

@tweezerjam

10 ай бұрын

@@PrebleStreetRecordssweet yard

How deep is the pit and how many bodies have been dumped in it?

@karyng5587

11 ай бұрын

That’s a Morbid, but Honest question… I wonder myself 🤔

@FekDindad-xy9vz

11 ай бұрын

6 and 11

@joedirt3449

11 ай бұрын

25:or 6 to 4

@reesbritton6623

11 ай бұрын

7

@1984Phalanx

11 ай бұрын

All the bodies

To put into perspective just how much money they owed to everything you mentioned at 5:03: Architect Santiago Calatrava placed an $11.34 million lien on the construction site, then the Anglo Irish Bank made them pay back the 69.5 million dollars (nice) they borrowed (which ended up becoming a 77 million foreclosure lawsuit), the owner of the NBC Tower sued to evict them from their sales office within the tower because they were behind 316K in their payments (and they ended up getting ejected), and then Bank of America filed a lawsuit for 4.92 million to get back the sum of two unpaid loans for the initial construction! Oh yeah, and they faced eviction from ANOTHER building called 111 South Walker Drive which they moved to after the NBC Tower! They tried working with AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) in late 2009 for a potential land loan of 170 million dollars that would've retired the developer's loan from Anglo Irish Bank, pay off the outstanding liens, and restart work in exchange for making the construction a complete union job as the union workers were desperate for work and the construction would've provided 900 full-time jobs, however, when the developer was looking for union bailouts, four major labor union investment funds said no.

The words "Anglo-Irish Bank" and "NAMA" (National Assests Management Agency) send shivers down the spine of any Irish person, and it is no surprise there is a large hole in the ground in Chicago with their names on it...

I looked it up... 76 feet deep. You're welcome.

It is pretty much impossible to construct a super tall skyscraper that tall without government subsidies. The economics of building that tall just don't pencil out. Every tower taller than the Sears Tower has been built with government funding as part of a national prestige project. The Burj Khalifa is the perfect example of that. Burj Khalifa was not built by any private company but was the personal project of Sheikh Khalifa who was the King of Dubai. He basically had unlimited funding to do with what he wanted so the project would still get built no matter how impractical and unprofitable it was. The goal of the project wasn't to make money but to satisfy the ego of the Sheikh.

@zentran2690

10 ай бұрын

Yeah pretty much every mega construct that's been made have all been funded by the government. Its why China has so many. Because the government of China says we want to have the widest highway because we want to be the coolest.

@TheSpecialJ11

10 ай бұрын

And the Sears Tower only made sense due to some ingenious design that efficiently utilized floor space relative to costs, at least reasonably so. These vanity towers do not do the same.

@NathanTarantlawriter

10 ай бұрын

Spot on!

@stickynorth

10 ай бұрын

It actually was designed to increase the value of the real estate around it and put Dubai on the map globally, not to be profitable itself... It did its job and then some... Also most tall buildings make their majority of cash from tourists and observation decks not the office and hotel rentals people think they do. Those are usually money losers for years in most towers... Empire State Building makes $90M/year from people going to the top floors but only $10M/year from all its other real estate assets...

My dad worked for the architect at the time all this was happening, it was absolute chaos

I'm kinda surprised the original project was approved, as I can envision its height interferring with the ILS approach to runway 22L at MDW, just as the Sears/Willis Tower did.

@Bbbuddy

10 ай бұрын

Ha! It’s Chicago. Approval is no problem if you have money.

It’s sad that it’s nothing, but isn’t it good that a giant engorged twizzler isn’t threatening to take out 30 blocks? That concept photo of the skyline was a nightmare.

@TheInsultInvestor

11 ай бұрын

engorged twizzler LOLOL imma use that

Aside from the notion that visiting farmers would get a chuckle because it resembled the rudest part of a hog, it's an impressive formal design. But that foundation has got to be very, very deep, given that the Streeterville neighborhood is all sandbar and it's right up against water. Also, for the height of this thing, the footprint is surprisingly small. As a Chicagoan, I'm glad this oversized sore thumb didn't happen. But it makes for a hell of a wishing well.

@dx1450

10 ай бұрын

If Sigmund Freud were alive today, he'd have a thing or two to say about all these tall skyscrapers.

@Kodakcompactdisc

10 ай бұрын

That foundation was just for the core.

Interesting thanks. The pit looks kind of small to me to be the foundation for the continents tallest building but Im not a skyscraper architect

@user-vf6ru8gm9p

11 ай бұрын

I was thinking the same thing.

@joshheselton633

11 ай бұрын

He did say that it was supposed to be the foundation, so maybe it was just gonna be part of the foundation.

@Rosarium2007

10 ай бұрын

Elsewhere in the comments someone said the pit was the foundation of the central core of the Spire tower.

Very interesting, I never knew about this one. Sad it never got built. Some are saying the recession marked the end of the skyscraper era.

@petercarioscia9189

11 ай бұрын

Which recession? There's a recession every decade, sometimes two.

@EvanG529

11 ай бұрын

@@petercarioscia9189 The big one

@arandomcommenter412

11 ай бұрын

@@EvanG529which one

@BrianEvans766

10 ай бұрын

@@arandomcommenter412 the big big one

@unoriginalname4321

10 ай бұрын

​@@BrianEvans766which which one?

Hustler should take over the project. Can you imagine a building shaped like that called "Hustler Tower"?

This one is a bit of a heartbreaker along with the unbuilt MB Skyneedle and 7 South Dearborn... With these 3 towers, the skyline would totally look like Chicago in I, Robot...

We had something similar happen in Nashville at 16th and Broadway back during the recession. Only the hole in the ground was WAY WAY WAY bigger, think like the size of four NYC sized blocks, about 75 feet deep. And it all had to be drilled/blasted out cause Nashville=limestone rocks. Developer was way over-leveraged, banks wanted their money back, bam had a hole full of water for the next 12 years or so. It finally was built/completed about 1-2 years ago, two 21 story towers. One is a hotel and condos, the other is office space. I'm sure the developer is still losing their ass on this project because of the pandemic/work from home movement. Nobody wants office space anymore, half the space in this development is office space.

@Dave-bj3pq

10 ай бұрын

😂😂😂 4 NYC blocks..... not even close

@perryrush6563

10 ай бұрын

​@@Dave-bj3pqyeah I agree. I lived in Nashville and it is NOT 4 new york sized blocks. It was a neat hole though....but not that big.

Pool...city pool. Wonder what Freud's thoughts would have been about the proposed building, or resulting hole?

@andersenpeters

11 ай бұрын

This actually happened in Moscow. Stalin had a massive cathedral torn down to make way for a massive replacement building celebrating communism but after his death the project stalled and ended up in limbo. There was a massive foundation already in place that instead of being used as a foundation was turned into a giant public swimming pool. Eventually after the collapse of the Soviet Union the pool was closed and the cathedral was rebuilt.

@markgarin6355

11 ай бұрын

@@andersenpeters life imitates art...ha

@MicahThomason

11 ай бұрын

Sometimes a spire is just a spire.

@peacefulpossum2438

11 ай бұрын

@@MicahThomasonand a hole is just a hole

Nice presentation! Thanks for keeping it interesting!

A stagnant pit of water right by a major body of water, there must be a horrible mosquito epidemic there

@billygribble9939

10 ай бұрын

Ha there's an epidemic in Chicago but it ain't mosquitos

Man I'm so excited for when u get a good mic and outdoor cam, it's always at that point where a mil comes out of nowhere...

@zacharyswassing6741

10 ай бұрын

also why did KZread just do 2 updates at once, @username and bitrate speed becoming a revenue stream man not cool

There's something else going on with that site. Valuable property in Chicago, rarely stays vacant. The city usually will make sure it happens, one way or another. The fact everything keeps falling through, is a big red flag. Even the fact they said buildings will be built by 2024, yet, they didn't even pump the pit out, bring any equipment to the site, or even cut down any of the trees, that is all mighty odd.

@sharkheadism

10 ай бұрын

If others are correct, it has tens of millions of dollars worth of liens on the property.

cool vid I remember walking past this excavation when it was fresh on a trip to Chicago as a kid.

@joedirt3449

11 ай бұрын

cool story, bro

The spire was going to be a masterpiece, way better than the current proposal.

When you shoot in log format, you need to remember to color grade the video afterwards. That's why your video color is so flat in so many shots

@maxi-me

11 ай бұрын

Disagree. The color was _very_ hilly & voluminous and had grading out the ying-yang throughout the video

@hadlock

10 ай бұрын

@@maxi-me uh sure. Have you shot f-log before? Because it sounds like you haven't

@maxi-me

10 ай бұрын

@@hadlock It would seem that way, huh? But after a brief peruse of a vague _Reddit_ thread on the subject just now, I'm a veritable EXPERT! XD

That pretty cool. Were always looking for interesting places to explore

Great vid Carter, well done.

I remember reading about this place 20 years ago and always thought it looked cool. Kept wondering when I'd hear about it opening. This answers my question but now I'm depressed 😞

@ryanshannon6963

10 ай бұрын

Depressed? Over a tower not being built and clearly having no association to it?

Imagine being a stoned metalhead and clicking this video only to think “oh they mean that kind of pit nvm” It’s me. You’re imagining you’re me rn.

Your voice over work is very good, and natural.

Holy shit you're not a disembodied voice!

I worked for their digital marketing agency in 2006 launching & running their initial Google search ads & their SEO. Never expected this to happen.

As an Illinoisan, the failure of this project is disappointing.

@billygribble9939

10 ай бұрын

The whole state is a failure

That spot would be awesome as an Artistic/Historic/ Museum space❤

Chicago looks like the lazily built backdrop to a monster movie that eventually gets flattened and no one misses it

GG Carter, I know it's not easy to show your face on yt looking young. I love the format being on location!

Is this one of the many cases of borrowers who were current on their loans when the GFC hit but had lenders come after them anyway because of fear around what might happen in the future or did the people behind this project actually miss payments on those loans? (plenty of banks that were in trouble called in otherwise OK loans because it was the only way to prevent total collapse)

@jeffreyyoung4104

11 ай бұрын

It was because the Irish bank that loaned the original amount was failing, and calling back the money they had loaned to others. If they had not done that, construction would have started, and the bank would have made more money, but the owners were scared of losing their shirts, which they did because of their bad decisions over the years!

I had high hopes for the Spire. I had come to the realization the United States didn't do big, bold skyscrapers anymore, while other countries were surpassing anything we ever did (e.g., the Burj Khalifa, with many more on the way). Ouch, my pride was hurting and the Spire would assuage it. Seems a shame two stepped glass towers were proposed ... yawn ... but I guess they're not happening either.

@SheriLynNut

11 ай бұрын

‘High hopes”…. I see what you did there 😏😆

@denali9449

10 ай бұрын

Tall buildings are all about ego; the owner's and the designer's. After a certain point they lose the financial advantage that the height gives them; cost to build vs the lease income. I worked for SOM when Sears was designed, It was never intended to be so tall. Bruce Graham played the owners egos perfectly and we ended up designing and building the tallest building in the world. Great place to work and a great experience for a young engineer 'on loan' from another company.

@JDoors

10 ай бұрын

@@denali9449 A lot of civilization's accomplishments, and failures, are due to ego.

@TheSpecialJ11

10 ай бұрын

Do the math though and most skyscrapers are a waste of resources unfortunately. A vanity project here and there is okay, but part of this country's success has been its focus on practicality. We've just lost our way in how we go about that, acting as if big number go bigger is the ultimate measure of practicality.

@JDoors

10 ай бұрын

@@TheSpecialJ11 Most skyscrapers make at least a small return on investment (

That space doesn't look like it's even big enough for a 500 ft tall tower.

Wow, and here I thought the new buildings were half up already! Good vid, thanks!

Riverside bandshell with weekly shows, swimming in the summer and skating in the winter.

F-Log is meant to be graded.

There is a shit ton of empty buildings in Chicago. I can’t tell you how many I had a hand in building including trump towers. Over 25 yrs hvac… but haven’t worked in downtown Chicago since 2018. My company wants nothing to do with downtown I guess. I personally want nothing to do with Chicago. I’ve worked right next to this hole. I heard there was issues with the ground along with money issues.

That was interesting. Thanks.

I remember hearing about this, so long ago. Also it’s nice to see a face!

Chicago downtown real estate is cheap!.... but the taxes and HOA fees make it a very poor investment indeed.

The Burj was never completed either. The top 1/3 has no water. Not for drinking or flushing. None. No water and therefore no tenants.

So chicago missed out on having a giant dilo of a building sticking uphigh into the sky for all to see.

Plans for the building fell through, when it was realized that after it was built, it would be located in Chicago.

@maxi-me

11 ай бұрын

This comment needs more thumbs 😂

@coachhannah2403

10 ай бұрын

This comment needs more dumbs.

Great video.

Remember to add a LUT to convert your Log footage to Rec709. Otherwise great video.

Someone wanted to turn the Earth into a unicorn...

Chicagoans should be thankful that phallic spiral rocket ship was not built.

Its still the sears tower to me. Just saying from Chicago.

@ghost307

11 ай бұрын

Agreed; the tourists just don't get it. It's spelled "W I L L I S" and it's pronounced "Sears".

They recently started construction back up on this project. Not the tall spire but the two skyscrapers. Project should be complete in 2027

400 Lake Shore is a different parcel. A simple google map search shows that. The aerial view also shows an active construction site at 400.

@nonmatt

11 ай бұрын

If you use Google Maps, it seems more like 599 E. North Water Street gets you to the gates of nowhere which is the location of the project (and the ground level pic of the site). This video was really well done! Like the on-location shots and research. Just great work!

"Let's build an iconic skyscraper. One that everybody will see and instantly think Chicago. And lets get an architect from Baltimore to design it."

Personally I think they should turn the hole into a giant jacuzzi.

Wow, your sound levels vary considerably. This is something that can be corrected / adjusted during editing.

Randall Carlson's "Fire in the Sky" is a good look at the Chicago fire

Yknow, I'm all for less dystopian skyscrapers. Make it into a free park / community center instead

It sounds like the people who ended up in control of the project planned to build just another set of nondescript skyscrapers. I hope their worthless pit collapses at cost high enough to derail their cookie cutter project. The view of the riverfront deserves better than some prefab looking design.

There's usually penalties for leaving buildings unfinished?

good shit dude

Wasn’t there a 9 hole par 3 golf course at that location 30 years ago? If not, it was very close by.

@raydunakin

10 ай бұрын

It's still a golf course, but instead of nine holes there's just one really big one.

I’m not an architect but that foundation looks pretty damn small for a huge tower.

why did you shoot in log if your not gonna colorgrade?

New sub. Looking forward to your content.

Very Interesting

I actually met one of the initial developers for this project before everything went to shit.

Skyscraper started in Edinborough Scotland in the 60 14 or 1500 and they grew from there

I prefer the Gateway tower rather than the Chicago Spire

Good video Thank you Your audio is really really low Keep up the good job

I drove by this site this morning.

I'm surprised this isn't in Jim Butchers "Dresden Files".

Liked & Subbed! awesome channel!

The only magatall skyscraper ever approved for the U.S.

Sources not in description

I meet my boss once 2 months before I got laid off he had a fruit box full of coffee cups for major nuclear and oil/ gas companies projects that got canceled. Another project about 300 million was on just got shut down for 30 million in unpaid bills .

What! You show your face 😮

Makes sure you slap that lut on your footage

I just found your channel. Great content, even though it's mostly US based from what I have noticed. None the less, I still live in North America as well and find all your topics very interesting. I subbed and gave ya a like and look forward to watching many of your previous vids.

Amazing the views you can get with a drone.

Chicago is already a pit!😂😂

Sweet!

What ever happened to the Deep Tunnel? No flooding streets nor basements ever again.....

Looking at the design of the original building...getting screwed comes to mind. ;) I like the original tall screw shape as it seems like a "Wonder of the Modern World" lighthouse , as was the lighthouse of Alexandrea...A beacon to sailors.

that was pretty good.

hard to imagine one building that tall on the lot, let alone 2 buildings, it looks so small. what is the diameter of pit? looking at the scaffolding in there it doesn't seem big enough for the spire building.

@sharkheadism

10 ай бұрын

That's the core of the building. The outside diameter would have been larger.

Honestly I'm glad the stupid drill bit building wasn't happening.

wow, THAT is interesting. that IS interesting… that is INTERESTING! (they all work)

So basically it was a money pit.

For once the channel name is accurate --- that was actually interesting. Also blown away by the on-cam presence/confidence of the very young presenter. Someone's been raised with good quality documentaries & been building on innate talent...

Chicago is a pit period, the whole city.

Peak Content 💯💯💯

As a part-time Chicagoan (half my life in the city, half in the suburbs), I'm so glad this didn't happen. The building was ugly and the last thing Chicago needs is another skyscraper that costs wayyy too much per square foot of usable space.

@LZGARAGE.

10 ай бұрын

Looks like the pearl bangkok tower of london thank god we didnt get a chicago sized version

imagine the bodies that have been dumped in that hole

Chicago Spire was a cool concept, and really suited Chicago. Bummer.

4:25 - - hundreds of units

Given the political and social upheaval in Chicago, no sane business (or bank) would invest in any huge projects in the city. Hundreds of teens are allowed to go on crime sprees throughout the business district and the mayor excuses their behavior. The DA fails to hold even murderers accountable, much less thieves. But even Detroit built the Ren Cen as that city was in rapid decline, so anything is possible.

@carwashadamcooper1538

10 ай бұрын

lol. "Teens" we all know what you really mean..