Supertall Proposed for Site Next to Tribune Tower

Tribune East, as the proposed tower is being called, would rise to 1,422 feet, nearly 1,000 feet taller than the Tribune Tower designed by Hood and Howells in the 1920s. Tribune East would be only 29 feet shorter than the Willis Tower, the Windy City's tallest tower since 1974, and about 50 feet taller than Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Chicago's Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) is designing Tribune East. In addition to designing Chicago's Trump tower, partner Adrian Smith was responsible for the design of the Burj Khalifa while at SOM, and AS+GG is realizing the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia, which will supplant the Burj Khalifa as world's tallest.

The project was unveiled at a community meeting on Monday night. Tribune East would follow the conversion of the Tribune Tower, which was sold to CIM Group in 2016 and is slated for residential occupancy in 2020.

The location just east of Tribune Tower means the new tower would be one block from Michigan Avenue and just steps from the new river-facing Apple Store designed by Norman Foster. Although only a couple blocks from Santiago Calatrava's failed Spire residential tower, CIM Group and Golub & Co. are hoping the central location will lure international buyers and move the project forward.

In terms of Tribune East's tapered design, Gordon Gill told the Chicago Tribune, which moved out of its namesake tower recently, "We tried [replicating the setbacks and neo-Gothic architecture of Tribune Tower]. We didn’t like it. It was becoming a big version of Tribune Tower. It didn’t seem appropriate."