MarketWatch: Banking crisis in Dublin threatens a trophy tower in Chicago

.....and that's a good thing, as you'll see when you click the link and see the artist's rendering of this monstrosity. - OP's special comment.



Dublin bank's woes hit Chicago skyline
Planned 150-story lakefront tower encounters latest roadblock

By Tim Rostan, MarketWatch


CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Anglo Irish Bank Corp. is headquartered in Dublin, trades in London, and looks, at least for now, to have cost Chicago's skyline a 150-story trophy.

Construction work has been halted on the 2,000-foot-tall Chicago Spire, designed by the celebrity architect Santiago Calatrava, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report tying the stoppage to a deepening crisis facing Anglo Irish Bank, whose shares have been in a virtual free fall since mid-2007, accelerating in recent weeks -- even after the Irish government stepped in to backstop the country's banks. See related story on the Irish government's bank-rescue plan.

The Chicago Spire's developer, Dublin-based Shelbourne Development Ltd., had drawn $69.5 million from an Anglo Irish Bank loan for the early stages of construction, the Sun-Times reported Friday. According to sources cited in the report, Shelbourne has been seeking new financing avenues.

Nearly a third of the lakefront tower's 1,200 condominium units are under contract, according to the developer. The penthouse, listed at $40 million, went under contract this fall; its buyer, according to local media reports, is Beanie Babies magnate Ty Warner.

Doubts have swirled around the twisting tower's prospects virtually since its announcement, by Chicago developer Christopher Carley, in 2005. Donald Trump, whose rival 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago is largely completed (with 67% of its condominium and hotel-condo units sold, according to Crain's Chicago Business), has been among those casting doubt on the Chicago Spire.

"A lot of things that you think will get built in Chicago and elsewhere will never happen," Trump said in late September at his tower's "topping off" ceremony, appearing to reference the spire project. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Irish-banking-woes-stall-150/story.aspx?guid=%7BEEAB0CF8%2DD4A9%2D47D2%2DBF79%2DC27D97DAF227%7D

Looks like a giant screw.

..... I can't believe Chicago officials would allow the Windy City's beautiful skyline to be fouled with that phallic Faberge egg-looking thing.

It looks a bit like a Narwhal tusk to me.