The Legacy at Millennium Park, a $225 million project in Chicago, will combine luxury condominiums with retail and academic spaces. General contractor Walsh Construction is building the 72-story tower, which is scheduled to be completed in summer 2010. The first residents will take occupancy in September 2009.

Located in the city’s Jewelers Row district, the facades of three existing buildings will be preserved. The site – which faces Wabash Street, one block west of Michigan Avenue – presents some challenges, says Senior Project Manager Jay Butler. Immediately to the south is the School of the Art Institute and immediately to the north is a landmark building designed by Louis Sullivan. To the east is a small alley, which also serves office buildings on Michigan Avenue, and to the west are the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) elevated train tracks, as well as the existing building facades, which are being retained in place by means of a temporary support structure located outside the footprint.

“That is the main challenge to this building - constructing the building inside of that small area surrounded by the existing buildings,” Butler says. This has required extensive planning, he says.

“We have to make sure our tower crane doesn’t go over the CTA tracks and doesn’t interfere with other buildings,” he explains.

“We’ve planned carefully to take as much material as possible in on Wabash Street through the first level of the existing façade. We relocated a column on that façade to give us more room. Concrete will be delivered to a concrete pump placed behind that opening. Almost all other materials will enter the project through a second opening farther south on the same existing façade. The personnel hoist will be located there”

Butler says the company has worked with the city of Chicago to get the proper lane and sidewalk closures to allow for these deliveries. It is also working with neighboring buildings to use the alley as much as possible without blocking access to businesses.

Walsh Construction is also coordinating with its neighbor to the south, the School of the Art Institute, which was the previous owner of the property and will be a tenant on the new tower’s second and third floors, which will connect to the school. The main entrance lobby of The Legacy will actually be constructed within the first level of the School of the Art Institute building. “This work must be completed with minimal interference to the operations of the school,” Butler says.

The building also includes a skybridge at the 13th floor, providing a direct connection to The University Club of Chicago. This structure will be installed over the existing alley.

With 20 office and 75 field employees currently dedicated to the project, Walsh Construction is serving as the general contractor and self-performing the concrete for the project. There will also be approximately 40 subcontractors on site.

Green Elements
According to Butler, the Legacy at Millennium Park is one of the first high-rise condominium buildings to be permitted under the current city energy code. The building uses a curtain wall structure to provide a higher insulation value than a typical exposed concrete building. “This is the way high-rise residential buildings will be built in the future,” he says.

The building also features green design elements, such as exterior garden terraces on the 15th, 42nd, and 60th floors, and solar generating panels near the top of the tower. The solar panels will feed electricity into the city’s electrical grid, and the building will receive an energy credit.

The solar energy credit is expected to offset the energy cost of the building’s exterior lighting. The building also contains a storm water retention system to regulate the release of rainwater into the city sewer system.If the project had started today, Butler says, it would be LEED qualified. “We have most of required features in place,” he explains.

Room with a View
The Legacy at Millennium Park will offer luxury condominiums on floors 15 to 72. There will be a total of 355 units in a variety of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans.
Several large penthouse units are located on levels 70, 71, and 72.

The triangular floor plan offers a very narrow face to the east, and larger faces to the northeast and south east, allowing almost all the residential units views of Lake Michigan, Millennium Park and the surrounding downtown area.

Butler recently began working on preconstruction for a residential portion of Block 37, a high-profile development in Chicago’s Loop business district. It will be a residential property built on top of the retail podium.

In addition, Block 37 will be home to television studios and a new station for the Chicago Transit Authority.