Water Tower Place
Encyclopedia
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
, mixed-use development comprising a 758000 sq ft (70,420.5 m²) shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
and 74 story skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois, United States. The complex is located at 835 North Michigan Avenue, along the Magnificent Mile
Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, that runs along a portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side community area. The district is located adjacent to downtown; it is also one block...
. It is named after the nearby Chicago Water Tower
Chicago Water Tower
The Chicago Water Tower is a contributing property in the Old Chicago Water Tower District landmark district. It is located at 806 North Michigan Avenue along the Magnificent Mile shopping district in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois...
. It is owned by General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust in the United States. It is based in Chicago, Illinois at 110 North Wacker Drive, a historic building designed by architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White...
.
History
Originally conceived in the late 1960s by the Mafco Company (the former shopping center development division of Marshall Field & Co.), the skyscraper was eventually built in 1975 by Urban Retail Properties, a company led by Philip Morris KlutznickPhilip Morris Klutznick
Philip Morris Klutznick was a U.S. administrator who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from January 9, 1980 to January 19, 1981 under President Jimmy Carter....
and his son Thomas J. Klutznick. The project received a J.C. Nichols Prize from the Urban Land Institute
Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a non-profit research and education organization with offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London...
in 1986.
The tower section is a 74-story 859-foot (262 m) reinforced concrete slab, faced with gray marble, and is the eighth tallest building in Chicago and the twenty-sixth tallest in the United States. When built, it was the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world. It contains an award-winning Ritz-Carlton
Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz-Carlton is a brand of luxury hotels and resorts with 75 properties located in major cities and resorts in 24 countries worldwide...
hotel, luxury condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s, and office space and sits atop a block-long base containing an atrium-style retail mall that fronts on the Magnificent Mile
Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, that runs along a portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side community area. The district is located adjacent to downtown; it is also one block...
.
Water Tower Place's opening changed the economic dynamics of the Magnificent Mile by bringing middle-class shops to what had been a street dominated by luxury retailers, tony hotels, and expensive apartments. It shifted downtown Chicago's retail center of gravity north from State Street to North Michigan Avenue. Decades after its construction, its residences and hotel remain sought after addresses, and the mall is typically fully leased, drawing large enough crowds that some retailers operate outlets both inside the mall and outside it along Michigan Avenue.
The 360 condo units in the tower were designed in 1973. Richard A. Meyers Realty, Inc., was the contracted sales and marketing consultant. In a recessionary market, the company was given the challenge of demonstrating the product and obtaining hard contracts before construction began. This was a challenging assignment in the recessionary climate of 1974–1976.
A detailed product research study was conducted by Gary S. Meyers http://garymeyersrealty.com/Board_20_of_20_Directors4.html, which included examining on a room-by-room basis over luxury 100 high-rise condominiums in the Chicago metropolitan area and a like number around the nation. The product analysis was then compared with sales velocities of other projects to determine buyer needs and wants and their respective acceptable price points. The net result was a mathematically designed housing product that allowed for specific space allocation for each room in each unit. The results were efficient units, where each room had a competitive advantage. Because of this unique design methodology, the condominium units are still considered well designed, even decades after their construction.
After the product was designed, Richard A. Meyers Realty, Inc. and Urban Investment and Development took an entire floor in the Blair Building, 645 N. Michigan Avenue, and built several full-scale condominium units, several blocks away from the site. This combined marketing approach produced sales of over 100 units before the building was ready for occupancy, a pace that surpassed units ready for occupancy in competing buildings during the same period.
In 2001, a program of refurbishments was begun, including enclosing the exterior arcade along Michigan and adding a loading dock in the middle of the block for additional retail space. Also included were updates to the escalators and fountains leading into the mall from North Michigan Avenue lobby, as well as enhancements to the sidewalk areas, the mall's exterior facades, and department store entrances. Some of the changes included the addition of exterior glass walls and display areas for the department stores, some small specialty retail space in the renovated lobby area, and large exterior rounded, corner glass bay windows and lighted "fins" on the North Michigan Avenue and side street exterior walls of the mall. These last additions broke up the boxy nature of the original architecture and added some dimension and scale to the monolithic marble walls. The interior fountain between the escalators leading from the North Michigan Avenue lobby were also updated with a tiered "pop jet" fountain with cascading waterfalls and balls of water, controlled by computer-based choreography.
The Rouse Company
The Rouse Company
The Rouse Company, founded by James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties Inc...
acquired the center in 2002 during the breakup of the then Dutch-owned Urban Shopping Centers, Inc. It was subsequently acquired by General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties
General Growth Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust in the United States. It is based in Chicago, Illinois at 110 North Wacker Drive, a historic building designed by architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White...
.
The building's most famous full-time resident is Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/redeye/red-092706-myth-main,1,199123.story?coll=chi-news-hed. Having bought a $6,000,000 condo on November 28, 2006, Oprah says she is planning to eventually sell her residence in Water Tower Place, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
Shopping center
Water Tower Place continues to be a shopping destination due to its size and its wide variety of shops, despite only having one anchor. The stores include Crane & Co Paper Makers, three of Abercrombie & FitchAbercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
's stores (Hollister Co.
Hollister Co.
Hollister Co., sometimes advertised as Hollister or HCo., is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. The concept was originally designed to attract consumers aged 14–18 through its SoCal-inspired image and casual wear. Goods are available in-store and through the company's online store...
, abercrombie Kids
Abercrombie Kids
Abercrombie kids is an American lifestyle brand by Abercrombie & Fitch. Targeting consumers aged 7–14, the concept is designed as the children's version of A&F and is marketed as "Classic Cool"...
, and Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is an American retailer that focuses on casual wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. It has over 300 locations in the United States, and is expanding internationally....
) occupying the mall. American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear...
opened in fall 2007. Chocolatier Godiva
Godiva (chocolatier)
Godiva Chocolatier is a manufacturer of premium chocolates and related products. Godiva, founded in Belgium in 1926, was purchased by Turkish Yıldız Holding, owner of the Ülker Group, on Nov 20th, 2007...
has a location in the mall. Other retailers include bebe
Bebe stores
bebe stores are an American clothing retailer founded in 1976. The name was inspired by, and is pronounced as in, the phrase "to be or not to be" from the play Hamlet. Manny Mashouf, who emigrated to the United States in the early 1970s, opened the first bebe store in San Francisco during a time...
, bebe sport
Bebe stores
bebe stores are an American clothing retailer founded in 1976. The name was inspired by, and is pronounced as in, the phrase "to be or not to be" from the play Hamlet. Manny Mashouf, who emigrated to the United States in the early 1970s, opened the first bebe store in San Francisco during a time...
, Banana Republic, Florsheim
Florsheim Shoe
-History:It was founded in 1892 by Milton S. Florsheim and his father Sigmund.Until the mid-1990s, almost every mall in the United States had a Florsheim store. However, with the rise of such shoe stores as Journeys and Finish Line, and the de-emphasis of shoe stores in American malls, most...
, Lacoste, Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
, Movado
Movado
Movado is a Swiss luxury watch company whose name is Esperanto for "continuous movement". Movado was founded in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Achilles Ditesheim....
, I Medici Firenze, Sephora
Sephora
Sephora is a chain of cosmetics stores founded in France in 1970 and acquired by Paris-based conglomerate LVMH in 1997. The Sephora chain includes more than 750 stores in 17 countries...
, Betsy Johnson, CUSP
Cusp
Cusp may refer to:*Beach cusps, a pointed and regular arc pattern of the shoreline at the beach*Behavioral cusp an important behavior change with far reaching consequences*Cusp catastrophe...
, Chico's
Chico's (retail chain)
Chico's is a retail women's clothing chain founded in 1983 on Sanibel Island, Florida.The Company currently operates 1,084 women's clothing stores, including stores in 48 states, Washington D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico operating under the Chico's, White House | Black Market and...
, Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor (retail chain)
ANN INC. is an American group of specialty apparel retail chain stores for women, headquartered in New York City, . The stores offer classic styled suits, separates, dresses, shoes and accessories...
, White House Black Market
White House Black Market
White House | Black Market is an American fashion store targeting women 25 years of age and older. White House | Black Market is known for its sleek lines, and its focus on white, black, and other variants of the two colors...
, J. Jill, Oakley
Oakley, Inc.
Oakley, Inc., based in Foothill Ranch, California, makes sport equipment including sunglasses, sports visors, and ski goggles, as well as watches, clothing, bags, backpacks, shoes, prescription glasses, football and hockey eyewear, Golf gear and other accessories...
, Crabtree & Evelyn
Crabtree & Evelyn
Crabtree & Evelyn is an American retailer of body and home products with stores globally. According to its website, Crabtree & Evelyn uses over 160 “natural botanical ingredients” in its skin care products. It is wholly owned by KLK, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad., a Malaysian company that also owns...
, The Limited, Finish Line, Lids, Aldo
Aldo Groupe
The ALDO Group is a Canadian corporation that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessory stores. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972 where its corporate headquarters remain today...
, Coach, Forever 21
Forever 21
Forever 21 is an American chain of clothing retailers with branches in major cities in The United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that offers fashion and accessories for young women and men....
, Wet Seal
Wet Seal
Wet Seal is a young women's clothing retailer headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California. It carries moderately priced brand name and company-designed apparel and accessories...
and the official Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
Clubhouse Shop.
Instead of a classic style food court, Water Tower Place offers multiple restaurant and cafeteria style eateries in the atrium of the center (Mity Nice Grill and Foodlife, both owned by Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants) as well as Wow Bao in the entrance area and Auntie Anne's Pretzels on the 7th Floor.
The eight-level mall has over 100 shops, including Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
(formerly a branch of the renowned Marshall Field's
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company was a department store in Chicago, Illinois that grew to become a major chain before being acquired by Macy's Inc...
), the flagship American Girl
American Girl
American Girl is a line of dolls, books, and accessories.American Girl may also refer to:* American Girl , a magazine published by the American Girl company* American Girl , a 2002 American film...
store (occupying the former Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor
Lord & Taylor, colloquially known as L&T, or LT, based in New York City, is the oldest upscale, specialty-retail department store chain in the United States. Concentrated in the eastern U.S., the retailer operated independently for nearly a century prior to joining American Dry Goods...
which closed in March 2007), a live theatre, and several restaurants, arranged around a chrome-and-glass atrium with glass elevators. It was one of the first vertical malls in the world, although along North Michigan Avenue it has been joined by The Shops at North Bridge and the Avenue Atrium (better known as 900 North Michigan
900 North Michigan
900 North Michigan in Chicago is a skyscraper completed in 1989. At 871 feet tall, it is currently the seventh tallest building in Chicago and the 25th tallest in the United States...
), both of which contain higher end retail mixes. The building's design successfully addresses the challenge of providing separate entries and vertical circulation for, what amounts to a regional mall-scaled retail center, one department store, the theater, offices, hotel, and residences.
Education
Residents of Water Tower Place are zoned to schools in the Chicago Public SchoolsChicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...
.
- Ogden School
- Wells Community Academy High SchoolWells Community Academy High SchoolWells Community Academy High School is a 4-year public high school located in the West Town neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Wells serves grades 9 through 12, and is a part of the Chicago Public Schools District 299...
See also
- List of skyscrapers
- List of tallest buildings in Chicago
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
- World's tallest structures