875 N Michigan Avenue, 94th Floor
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 751-3681
The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet (191 m). NBC's Chicago offices, studios, and owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV are located here as of 1989 and on October 1, 1989, WMAQ-TV broadcast their first newscast at 10 pm that evening at their new home, NBC Tower with the then-weeknight news team of Ron Magers, Carol Marin, John Coleman and Mark Giangreco. Later, Telemundo O&O WSNS-TV since their 2002 purchase by NBC. Formerly its former radio sister WMAQ/WSCR was located here. NBC's former Chicago FM property, WKQX and its sister station WLUP will move their studios to the NBC Tower in the summer of 2016.The design, by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is considered one of the finest reproductions of the Art Deco style. It was inspired by 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, NBC's headquarters. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone piers and recessed tinted glass with granite spandrels. The building takes additional cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower with the use of flying buttresses. A 130ft broadcast tower and spire tops the skyscraper. WMAQ and WSNS have STL and satellite facilities on the roof; the STLs link to WMAQ and WSNS's transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower. WMAQ radio/WSCR studios and STL were located in the building until 2006 when they relocated to Two Prudential Plaza.
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile. It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company.HistoryWhen ground was broken for the Wrigley Building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which spans the river just south of the building, was still under construction. The land was selected by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. for the headquarters of his company. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White using the shape of the Giralda tower of Seville's Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details. The 425ft south tower was completed in April 1921 and the north tower in May 1924. Walkways between the towers were added at the ground level and the third floor. In 1931, another walkway was added at the fourteenth floor to connect to offices of a bank in accordance with a Chicago statute concerning bank branch offices. The two towers, not including the levels below Michigan Avenue, have a combined area of 453433sqft.The two towers are of differing heights, with the south tower rising to 30 stories and the north tower to 21 stories. On the south tower is a clock with faces pointing in all directions. Each face is 19ft in diameter. The building is clad in glazed terra-cotta, which provides its gleaming white façade. On occasion, the entire building is hand washed to preserve the terra cotta. At night, the building is brightly lit with floodlights.
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located adjacent to downtown, and one block east of Rush Street. The Magnificent Mile serves as the main thoroughfare between Chicago's Loop business district and its Gold Coast. It is generally the western boundary of the Streeterville neighborhood, to its east and River North to the west.Real estate developer Arthur Rubloff of Rubloff Company gave the district its nickname in the 1940s. Currently Chicago's largest shopping district, various mid-range and high-end shops line this section of the street; approximately 3100000sqft are occupied by retail, restaurants, museums and hotels. To date, rent on The Magnificent Mile is the eighth most expensive in the country, behind Fifth Avenue in New York and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.Several of the tallest buildings in the United States, such as the John Hancock Center and the Trump International Hotel and Tower, lie in the district. Landmarks along the Magnificent Mile include Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, the Chicago Water Tower, and the Allerton Hotel.
680 N Lake Shore Drive is a 29-story building located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Originally named the American Furniture Mart, was completed in 1926. The two halves were designed separately: the eastern half by Henry Raeder, George C. Nimmons, and Max Dunning; and the western half by Nimmons and Dunning alone. At 474 ft tall and encompassing the entire block between Lake Shore Drive and McClurg Court, it was the largest building in the world when it was completed.ArchitectureConstruction of the American Furniture Mart was undertaken in two phases: the eastern section was completed in 1923, and the western portion in 1926. The eastern half is constructed with reinforced concrete, whereas the western half, as well as the tower, is steel. The easternmost portion of the building has a superstructure that was originally designed to hold a mooring mast for dirigibles, though it never was used for that purpose.The building was converted by David L. Paul to condominium and office space between 1979-84. Mr. Paul hired Lohan Associates, Inc. to be one of two architects. The design concept was Mr. Paul's. It is now home to 415 condo units divided amongst the building's three separate condominium associations: the Tower, the Lake, and the South residences. There is also 420000sqft of commercial office space, 65000sqft of retail space, and seven levels of indoor parking.HistoryDuring its early decades as the American Furniture Mart, no one appeared to notice the building's address: 666 North Lake Shore Drive, the numbers "666" being the Number of the Beast. In March 1988, the building's name was officially changed to 680 North Lake Shore Drive. A few months later, Playboy Enterprises moved their corporate headquarters from its location in the Palmolive Building to the location at 680 N. Lake Shore Dr. Since then, 680 has been colloquially referred to as the "New Playboy Building" and is commonly mistaken for the Playboy Building. Playboy moved all of their offices out of this building in 2012 and the Playboy sign was taken down from the Erie Street entrance to the building.
The City Club of Chicago is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose members include prominent business, civic and government leaders in Chicago. The organization attracts those interested in civic responsibility, public issues, open political debate and networking opportunities. Founded in 1903, it is the longest-running civic forum in Chicago. The mission of the City Club of Chicago is to provide a forum for the discussion of civic and public affairs in Chicago, the metropolitan area and the State of Illinois.
The Palmolive Building, formerly the Playboy Building, is a 37-storey Art Deco building at 919 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Built by Holabird & Root, it was completed in 1929 and was home to the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet corporation.The Palmolive Building was renamed the Playboy Building in 1965 when Playboy Enterprises purchased the leasehold of the building. It was home to the editorial and business offices of Playboy magazine from that time until 1989 when Playboy moved its offices to 680 N Lake Shore Drive. Playboy had sold the leasehold in 1980 and signed a 10-year lease that expired in 1990. The new leaseholder renamed the building 919 North Michigan Avenue.During the time that Playboy was in the building, the word P-L-A-Y-B-O-Y was spelled out in 9ft illuminated letters. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2000, and it was added to the federal National Register of Historic Places in 2003.In 2001, the building was sold to developer Draper and Kramer who, with Booth Hansen Architects, converted it to residential use with the first two floors dedicated to upscale office and retail space. High-end condos make up the rest of the building. The new owners restored the building's name to the Palmolive Building. The business address remains 919 North Michigan Avenue; however, the residential address is 159 East Walton Street. Notable residents of the building include Vince Vaughn, who bought a 12,000-square-foot triplex penthouse encompassing the 35th, 36th and 37th floors for $12,000,000. In February 2013, Vaughn offered the penthouse for sale as a pocket listing for $24.9 million. However, after multiple price cuts he chose in May 2016 to divide the unit in two, offering one for $8.5 million, and the other smaller unit for $4.2 million.
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One Magnificent Mile is a mixed-use high-rise tower completed in 1983 at the northern end of Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago containing upscale retailers on the ground floor, followed by office space above that and luxury condominium apartments on top.Building OverviewOne Magnificent Mile Condominium Association, also known as One Mag Mile or One Magnificent Mile is a mixed-use retail, office and residential skyscraper in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building was aptly named after its location at the head of the Magnificent Mile shopping corridor immediately adjacent to the exclusive Oak Street shops.The 57-story building* has 58,734 square feet of retail space on the first three levels, and 341,470 square feet of office space on its middle floors 4 through 19. The mechanicals for the entire structure are housed on floors 20 and 21 along with a swim club and fitness center serving the 181 private residences on floors 22-56. The lower level and sub-basement contain a parking garage.Design & ArchitectureThe building was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill with lead architect Bruce Graham. The 57-story Spanish pink granite clad structure reaches a height of 673 feet, which at time of construction was the 10th tallest building in Chicago. Renowned structural engineer Fazlur Kahn who previously engineered the John Hancock Building and Sears Tower is responsible for the unique tube system. In 1984 this building won the Best Structure Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois.The building is actually four hexagonal reinforced concrete tube structures of differing heights linked in a bundled configuration, the tube heights reach 5, 21, 49 and 57* floors. Each of the tubes has a sloping roof. Penthouse units feature greenhouses and outdoor terraces. Each hexagonal tube is designed with two 90 degree and four 45 degree corners which allow the building to face Lake Michigan and Oak Street Beach, while remaining aligned with Walton Street, Michigan Avenue and Oak Street. The tubes' heights were calculated to minimize afternoon shadows on the beach.