DLs Get Behind-the-Scenes Look at River Point
On April 28th, a small group of Developing Leaders enjoyed scenic river views from Hines’ River Point office development currently under construction and expected to open in December 2016. Wearing hard hats and watching our steps, Laura Hines, Project Manager, and Tom D’Arcy, Senior Managing Director, led us through the lobby to the extensive Riverfront Plaza. Nearly two football fields long, the Plaza will be a permanent easement to the City for a 1.5 acre public park, the largest riverfront park in downtown Chicago.
Laura and Tom discussed the $29M TIF provided by the City for the terrace that extends over the train tracks in order to make the project feasible as an office building. Hines had to coordinate with many other third parties as well, including Amtrak, the CTA, the Coast Guard, and the Army Corps of Engineers due to the surrounding and underground train tracks and Chicago River.
Our tour group hopped on the hoist elevator and headed to the Marketing Center, which houses a replica of the development complete with the large terrace and a model of the 3-story, white tablecloth, restaurant with retractable roof that will be occupied by Gibsons Restaurant Group. We also learned that the bottom half of the building leased faster than the top. Laura and Tom shared that Hines prefers to own and develop buildings along the river as the spread in leasing rates between high and low rise floors tend to be within approximately $2 PSF as opposed to more typical spreads of $10 PSF due to the impressive views.
We ended the tour on the 40th floor overlooking the city as well as Wolf Point West, Hines’ 509-unit apartment building that opened in February. Hines has plans to begin developing Wolf Point South and East, a two million square foot multi-use complex that sits on 4 acres of land. See Event Photos
NAIOP Chicago’s Developing Leaders host smaller, less formal events that provide exclusive access to developments, case studies, and senior leaders. Watch for upcoming details on these member-only events.
Submitted by Christy Wold, CA Senior Living and NAIOP Chicago DL Board Member