In 2005, Chicago-based developer Teng & Associates released plans for a tower to be built at 111 West Wacker Drive, situated on a highly visible stretch of the Chicago River lined with architecturally notable buildings, with landmarks such as 333 West Wacker, the Merchandise Mart, and Marina City counted among its immediate neighbors. Citizens and visitors alike place high regard on the architecture of Chicago, as is evidenced by the many Architecture-themed boat tours which ply the waters of the city throughout the day.

The Teng’s and Associates plans called for a new 92-story tower for this highly visible riverfront site, a building which would house a Shangri-La Hotel and Residential condominiums, along with retail and parking at its lowest levels.

By the time the 2008 financial crisis hit, the building concrete superstructure had reached the 25^th floor. When attempts by the developer to secure bank financing failed, work stopped, and the building at 111 West Wacker sat as a highly-visible half-built concrete eyesore in the heart of the city.

In 2011, the developer Related Midwest purchased the site with the intent of converting the incomplete structure into a residential tower that would fit within the context of world-class architecture along the River. The challenges were many: addressing nearly 4 years of inactivity at the site through several freeze and thaw seasons; shifting project goals from hotel to residential use; and modifying the structure to support a new 60-story design. All of this had to be done in a way that wouldn’t compromise the marketability of the new building.

The project is situated on a half-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Wacker Drive and Clark Street, in the heart of Chicago’s central business district and directly overlooking the iconic main branch of the Chicago River. The site consisted of an existing 25 story concrete shell with 4 levels of below grade structure. With the earlier program, the ground floor served as the hotel and residential lobby, with some associated retail spaces. The 2^nd through 11^th floor were dedicated to above grade parking, with the 12^th through 24^th encompassing the hotel program. The 25^th floor was slated to become the amenity level for the hotel, with infrastructure such as a swimming pool shell already in place. The 1^st and 2^nd lower level floors were dedicated to hotel function space. A grand two-story connection between lobby and lower level 1 served to tie a future ballroom with the ground floor. LL3 and LL4 were designed as parking, with access from LL1 off of Lower West Wacker Drive.

The structure already in place was designed for a very specific approach to the overall tower design. Large, robust columns measuring 5’-3” by 10’ ran along the river frontage of the site, following a slight curve imposed on the structure to satisfy the original design. Springing from this robust base, a triangular tower was planned, which transferred a great deal of its shear load down through these West Wacker-fronting piers. Ironically, given the fact that another 67 floors of tower were meant to land atop the already extant structure, given its triangular footprint, not all columns were designed and built to take a superimposed tower load. This deficit would have needed to be addressed by the structural engineering team once a final tower footprint was established. All told, nearly 40,000 cubic yards of concrete was already in place. The amount of resources, in material, embodied energy, and shear dollars, meant a hard look at issues and opportunities to reuse this shell was warranted.

A team from Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates was engaged by the owner to evaluate the existing conditions of the work already in place. The entire structure was exposed to the elements for nearly 4 years. Some components of the structure would have to be replaced. Most components would need some level of remediation but could still be used as part of a repurposed building. Elements of the exterior cladding, including unitized curtainwall, unitized stone, and unitized metal panels were housed off site at outdoor storage yards. Most of these materials had suffered from prolonged exposure and could not be reused as fabricated. Components were broken down and recycled for their scrap material to be reconstituted as other products or building materials.

A key component of early research on the structure was understanding what was in place, not just from the overall design aspect, but also in relation to the ways and means components of the construction process. Leave outs for cranes and material lifts, never documented on design drawings, represented potential opportunities to rework floors and create new connections without the added cost of cutting and framing out new holes in slabs. Though all openings were considered, a few proved useful to help the design team rethink programmatic possibilities.

The core structure of the project, comprised of shear walls girding elevators, stairs, service and support spaces, measured nearly 58’ x 71’. This proved to be exceedingly large, with many spaces left unused from the original design. In addition, large 3-story voids were created along the south/west corner where useable hotel program could not be realistically located (this portion of the site was buried by the adjacent Lasalle Wacker building to the west and the 203 North Lasalle Building to the south). The project team reviewed these spaces with careful consideration of potential uses compared with selective, and costly, demolition. Core spaces in the podium were characterized and tracked based on size and location.

By using podium level spaces this way, the team began to sort the overall mechanical direction for the tower: the podium, with its opportunities with ready-built space, would contain its own mechanical systems, while the new tower above would tackle its mechanical needs through a core approach that made sense with the new program. The challenge was how to marry this new program laid onto a new tower footprint with its own unique structural needs, superimposed onto a shell with entirely different elements.

After studying the structure, the best solution involved moving the tower out towards the front of the site in order to capitalize on the best river views; keeping those core elements that cannot move (e.g. elevators) and moving those that can (e.g. stairs); laying out a normative column structure that works with residential planning; and creating a transition between the two that works structurally (columns, shear walls, core), mechanically (transformer location, MEP systems), and architecturally (unit planning, cladding, and overall aesthetic consistency). All of this needed to come together at the transition between existing and new. The most complicated elements were the ones that were most unique to the project, and the ones that would be built first, 25 floors in the air.

Elevators and trash chutes could not be moved. However, stairs, electrical closets, low voltage wiring, and mechanical elements would transfer to a new core, one that allows a more efficient footprint, but more importantly, one that would allow pushing the tower, originally kept 8’ back from the street wall by in-place elements, forward to front along West Wacker. This forward push allowed units, especially at the corners, to take full advantage of a site that offers spectacular views east and west along the Chicago River.

The ground floor condition offered another opportunity for means and methods efficiency to be realized. The unusual situation of having a partial shell of a building already in place, especially the very robust columns at the river frontage, meant a new approach to locating a crane would be possible. The previous crane slab leave-outs, on the south east corner of the site, were situated for the triangular tower as originally planned. These previous leave outs would now overlap the newly proposed tower footprint. A new tower crane location needed to be chosen. Given the tight space constraints and barring the possibility of cutting 29 new holes in the existing slabs, careful consideration of precious street frontage needed to be reviewed for a crane located on West Wacker Drive or Clark Street. A novel approach, proposed by the concrete subcontractor, placed the tower crane atop a concrete “diving board” located 30 feet above the Upper West Wacker roadway. Raising the base of the crane allowed utilization of a drive and unloading path under the crane itself, thereby freeing up valuable logistics real estate. In addition, the existing material hoist started at the B1 level, allowing loading from Lower Wacker Drive as well. With these elements in place, construction activities could be fed from two logistics points.

The developer maintains a nationwide presence, and has committed across all markets to green and sustainable building practices. With the careful review of existing as-built conditions and creative design approaches, the vast majority of the 40,000 cubic yards of concrete already in place was utilized and expanded upon for the continuation of the new tower program. Low-e glass with a mix of insulated spandrel panels makes for an efficient building envelope. The entire building, though mainly residential, is designated as a smoke free environment to improve the indoor air quality. As a testament to these efforts, the building has been awarded LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

But perhaps most importantly, the shell of the original construction, having sat prominently on the magnificent frontage of the Chicago river for nearly four years, was in all respects a real manifestation and constant reminder of the recession that began in 2008. The site wasn’t merely an eye sore; it was a daily reminder of the situation played out across the country. Projects stalled, and the economy was lagging. The site could have been demolished and started anew, wiping away its most recent history. But the transformation of this stack of concrete floors meant something different, that something was changing, that the situation was improving, not just for this one project, but perhaps for the entire industry within the city of Chicago. The changes were apparent, and once begun, were quick. Construction began in earnest in December of 2012, with substantial completion in July of 2014. Within one year, new concrete was added and the entirety clad with a new skin, bringing this site back into the fold of the city, making it again a part of the fabric of Chicago’s daily life.

The project was widely accepted by the market, experiencing unprecedented leasing success. As of December 2014, OneEleven was 80 percent leased and 75 percent occupied, averaging more than $3.60 per square feet – 25 percent above original projected rents for the project. This record-breaking pricing and brisk absorption rate was unprecedented in Chicago.

The building went under contract for sale when it was just 70 percent leased. Ultimately, the sale of OneEleven paid all former lienholders of the project, as well as investors. The building was built for $180 million and sold in January 2015 for $328 million, setting a record for the highest price-per-unit paid for an apartment building in Chicago at $651,000 per unit.