Clark Completes 300 N. LaSalle in Downtown Chicago

February 16, 2009

Clark Completes 300 N. LaSalle in Downtown Chicago

CHICAGO – Clark Construction Group, LLC, has reached substantial completion on one of the tallest projects in company history: the 800-foot-tall, 1.3 million-square-foot 300 N. LaSalle building. The 60-story office tower offers dramatic views of the city’s skyline and, complete with a waterfront café, fine dining restaurant, fitness center, conference center, bank, sundry shop, and half-acre public plaza, will serve as a natural gateway to the downtown area.

300 N. LaSalle is comprised of office, retail, restaurant, amenity, and public spaces as well as three levels of below-grade parking. The structure consists of 34 belled caissons, the largest reaching 25 feet in diameter, and concrete core shear walls surrounded by structural steel framing with concrete slabs on metal deck. The building façade is primarily a unitized curtain wall system with stainless steel accent covers incorporating metal panel buttresses at the top of the building as well as precast concrete panels on the north and south elevations.

Project owner and developer Hines has secured global law firm Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, as the building’s anchor tenant. The firm will occupy 675,000 square feet over 28 floors. The remaining more than 460,000 square feet of leased office space is shared by multiple tenants. As of January 30, 2009, the building is 92% leased.

Pre-Certified LEED®-CS Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council, 300 N. LaSalle takes advantage of its location for one of its most unique sustainable elements. The project site lies along the Chicago River and uses river water to cool the building, eliminating the need for a cooling tower system, saving considerable operation and equipment costs. Additional green elements of the construction process included using electric tower cranes instead of diesel and diverting over 85% of construction waste from landfills, nearly double the amount required by Chicago city ordinance, securing two LEED credits.

Pickard Chilton, of New Haven, Conn., is the design architect and Kendall/Heaton Associates, Inc., of Houston, Texas, is the architect of record. Magnusson Klemencic Associates, of Seattle, Wash., is the structural engineer and Alvine and Associates, Inc., of Omaha, Neb., is providing MEP engineering services.