200 North Riverside Plaza is a fifty story, 1.2 million gross square foot project comprising office, retail, restaurants, a boat house and public spaces; a 1.5 acre public plaza; and three levels of below-grade parking. Located on a triangular site bordered by West Lake Street, Canal Street and the broad confluence of the branching North and South Chicago Rivers, 200 North Riverside enhances the character of this prominent river frontage while concealing the existing railroad tracks below. It is Pickard Chilton’s second major project in Chicago for Hines.

The tower’s unique sculptural form creates a striking silhouette from multiple vantage points throughout the city and responds to the wonderful qualities of its important waterfront site. The tower’s sweeping curves capture natural light within the building as well as provide panoramic views outward. A sky terrace perched six hundred feet above the river accentuates the distinct image of the tower’s crown and offers dramatic views of the river, the Loop and Lake Michigan on the horizon.

The riverfront plaza, a welcome public amenity for the West Loop neighborhood, is designed to reshape the urban fabric by creating a lively civic space that encourages pedestrian activity along the waterfront. The open public plaza cascades down to the river walk and the water’s edge through a series of landscaped terraces, water features, seating areas, and arcing pathways. The space enjoys abundant sunlight throughout the day and provides a pleasant respite along on the course of the river.

The public boat house, operated by the Park District of the City of Chicago, accommodates kayaks, canoes, and crew boats. The boat house also provides boat storage, locker rooms, a multipurpose gathering space, staff offices and an elevated, covered observation terrace. The building’s streamlined, sweeping roof design draws its inspiration from the highly refined form of competition oar blades.

As a Class-A office building, 200 North Riverside’s state-of-the-art design will serve as the headquarters for major international corporations. The grand and welcoming lobby features a sixty five foot high expanse of glass that acts as a proscenium arch framing views of the plaza, the river and cityscape beyond. Located above the lobby is a 50,000 square foot double-height conference center with a crescent-shaped exterior terrace that overlooks the river. The tower’s floor plates are configured to accommodate flexibility and efficiency in interior planning. The building’s richly articulated glass and silver metallic curtain wall, a key component in achieving a LEED Silver pre-certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, will minimize solar heat gain, maximize interior day lighting and enable expansive views.

Could be good, but that's a tight fit. And what happens to the Amtrak line that runs through there now? Is the building going to be suspended above it?

The fact that they're going to squeeze a 50-story building into that small site says something about the demand for space in the Loop these days. There's another building going up a couple of blocks away on Wacker, isn't there? I remember seeing demolition crews taking out an older building recently to make way for it.

That second picture makes it look like the trains will go under the park, like over at Millennium Park.

It looks like that one building in Suadi Arabia.

I like were they put it its filling in the gap.

I bet it scares the pants off the Riverbend people. If this goes up, there will be only two chunks of land left along the main branch of the Chicago River. And one of them is Wolf Point, which will totally block their view.



In dozens of movies we've seen that view from Riverbend down the river across the bridges (Most recently in The Weatherman). If Wolf Point (the green bit with the parking lot in front of it) is developed, they're toast.

But at least their property taxes will go down.

Sounds like NYC.

This bldg looks interesting & certainly is better looking than most recent office/mixed-use bldgs.

As for the Riverbend bldg ... It was just written up in the Chicago Sun-Times that the Kennedy family is finally looking to develop the Wolf Point property they own, which will hopefully block Riverbend & its ugly neon light trim. 89-story Ceasar Pelli tower planned as part of the development

You don't like the neon? I was against it when it first went on a couple of years ago, but I've grown used to it. I think the blue is nice and subdued, especailly compared to the Merchandise Mart next door which is often the brightest thing in the sky most nights.

That said, I'd like the blue neon more if they kept up with the maintenance more. At one point it was so bad and spotty that one of the papers did an article about how crappy it looks. That got the managers to fix it real quick.

I wonder if the people who live there got to choose the color.