John Buck is planning a two-tower office development on one of the few remaining full-block surface parking lots in the West Loop. It will be located at 655 W. Madison St. along the Kennedy Expressway.
The project has been reviewed by the Committee on Design and is a collaboration between JGMA and HOK and will consist of:
- 1.5 million square feet of office space
- Two towers rising 39 and 29 stories
- Retail and restaurant space on the ground floor
- Parking will occupy three floors of the podium
- 13,000 square foot conference center
- One acre rooftop park designed by Site Design Group with multiple amenity offerings connected to the park on that floor
Urbanize Chicago reports that the towers have been developed with distinctive floor plates that measure 30,000 square feet on the low-rise portions and 27,000 square feet on the high-rise levels. Balconies will be included on the west elevation on every third floor. Each office floor will have its own isolated exhaust and intake air for the HVAC system, never mixing air between floors inside the building. The spandrels on the tower act as functional gills to provide the fresh air for each floor.
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At the ground floor, the site design will shift as Phase 1 and Phase 2 are built over time. The lobby for the northern tower will face the intersection of W. Madison St. and North Desplaines St., pulled back from the property line to increase sidewalk space.
A retail space will occupy the northwest corner of the floor plate and a large restaurant space will face onto N. Desplaines St. with a wide sidewalk space for outdoor dining.
When Phase 1 is complete, an entry plaza will occupy the footprint of Phase 2 while it is awaiting construction. Once construction on Phase 2 is complete, the southern tower's lobby will occupy its respective corner, continuing the building setback to create a generous outdoor space.
According to Chicago Yimby, now that the Committee on Design has completed its review, the development team and DPD will take the time to review to determine if the project will move forward. It is unclear at this time as to the number of approvals the plan will require.