Waterview Tower will be one of the tallest residential buildings in Chicago, which is impressive considering the comparatively small footprint of its riverfront site. At 90 stories, Teng Associates’ planned condo highrise will cut a pencil-thin profile in its prominent location at 111 W Wacker Dr.

In addition to the project’s 245 traditional condos, Teng added 233 hotel condos to the development in late 2005.

Waterview Tower will be home to Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts' first U.S. location. The 233-room hotel and Shangri-La's signature CHI Spa will occupy floors 12 through 27. In October 2005, studios and suites in the hotel condo portion of the project were priced from the $430s to $1.8 million.

Separate services, amenities

“It’s going to be a spectacular hotel,” said Dorrie Freiman, director of marketing and sales at Waterview Tower. “(The Waterview hotel condo) is unique to Chicago because it’s the only one within a mixed-use building that has its own amenities. As a resident living in the tower you don’t have to share your pool, but as a resident you can have the benefits of having a hotel below you.”

Residential condo owners will have on-site access to room service, maid service, a restaurant, a ballroom, a business center and a sunset promenade. The full spa will have a pool, seven treatment rooms and spaces for manicures, pedicures, Pilates and yoga. In addition to the hotel amenities, residential condo owners will have their own hospitality room with a gourmet kitchen; a roof garden with a sundeck and dog run; a fitness center with a 60-foot indoor lap pool, a Whirlpool, exercise machines, a sauna, steam and massage rooms; a business center; a concierge; and door staff.

Views are key

The homes will have one to four bedrooms and two to 4.5 baths, and in October 2007, remaining units were priced from the $610s to $8.8 million. Standard features include Italian cabinets; granite kitchen countertops; marble bath countertops; hardwood floors; and a universal system allowing residents to control lighting, temperature, window shades, and audio, visual and appliance technology from one central location.

But views, as the name implies, are the focal point at Waterview Tower.

“The design is really all about capturing the views,” said principal design architect Thomas Hoepf, of Teng Associates. The building will overlook the Chicago River, Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan, and because of the riverfront location, the views are protected against obstruction from future construction.

Teng chose granite, aluminum and glass for a façade that will be a showpiece, according to Hoepf.

“The way we detail the granite when it comes to the metal is very prismatic and jewel-like,” he explains. “The granite is very rich and light-colored so the building has much more visual texture.”

The residential condos at Waterview Tower were about 48 percent sold in July 2005, according to Teng, with construction scheduled to begin in September, and first occupancy in  2009.

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