The $550,000,000 Mandarin Oriental Tower is a 74 story proposed mixed use project targeted to be the 9th tallest building in Chicago (assuming the Trump and Waterview Towers, both under construction get completed first). The tower is being built by the Hong Kong based Mandarin hotel group, currently operating over 30 hotel groups around the world and are partnering with Solomon Cordwell Buenz as their design consultants.
The proposed design is to be 1.2million sq feet and will include 300 condos and 250 hotel-condo units with the unit mix concept defining these hotel-condos as rooms sold as condominiums to private buyers who now allow the hotel to rent out these units when the owners are not using them.
Despite the initial excitement over the addition this building would make to the design infrastructure of the city of Chicago, a Dec 2, 07 article in Crains Chicago Business stated that various parties involved with this project are facing financial issues and construction loans have not been forthcoming. This is in part due to the current real estate slump in the Country and some inside sources have expressed their apprehension that this project might never be built as the groundbreaking initially set for January 08 is still yet to occur.
Unfortunately, this is the same for numerous other projects around the country; the building industry is slowing down and if the situation does not improve soon, many of us in the field of architecture and other related disciplines might not have much work to do.
Image obtained from condohotelcenter.com
This seems to go a long way in summing up the concerns of many Bay Area residents about the effects of the One Rincon Towers on Rincon Hill right next to the Western approach of the Bay bridge. This project is a residential complex designed by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and associates and is to consist of two towers, 45 and 60 stories respectively, sharing a common podium base with a combined count of 709 units. The latter tower (Rincon south tower) has been completed and currently stands at 641 feet but Rincon north tower just broke ground in january of this year.
Though the towers are considered not only the most significant additions to the San Francisco skyline in over 30 years and one of the tallest all-residential towers west of the Mississippi, it has sparked a lot of criticism from residents. Some of this criticism has stemmed from its design which has been ridicled to resemble the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air purifyer. Other residents living east to north east of Twin Peaks are enraged at the height and placement of the towers as they block views from Delores park and Hillside neighborhoods to the Bay bridge but the general concern is about the price of the units within the towers which have been rated to be too expensive for most San Franciscans selling at $600,000 to $2,000,000 on average. This they feel is about to set the preceedent for outrageously priced condo units making San Francisco as expensive to live in as Manhattan. This is an interesting concept to note as most of the units within the South tower have sold already.
This building though still under construction has become the most controversial landmark in San Francisco since the Transamerica Pyramid. One website, curbsf, has nominated the Rincon towers as the ugliest buildings in the city beating the Marriot on Fourth St, which is saying a lot.
I know that I slammed the Al Hamara tower for not relating to it's site better and though the Rincon towers seem to do much of the same, I think that they enhance the skyline and add to the dramatic effect of the city view when coming down the Bay bridge from Oaklnad. Yes, I like the towers and I think that they have a certain elegance and sleekness to them that is lacking in most residential highrises today. Am I "flip-floping?" Maybe but Rincon affects my perception differently. After all, architecture in a sense is subjective. Image obtained from www.sfnewdevelopments.com
The $550,000,000 Mandarin Oriental Tower is a 74 story proposed mixed use project targeted to be the 9th tallest building in Chicago (assuming the Trump and Waterview Towers, both under construction get completed first). The tower is being built by the Hong Kong based Mandarin hotel group, currently operating over 30 hotel groups around the world and are partnering with Solomon Cordwell Buenz as their design consultants.
