Joffrey Tower
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This article contains information about a building currently under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically and frequently as construction progresses and new information becomes available. |
| Joffrey Tower | |
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| Information | |
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| Location | 8 East Randolph Street (@ State Street) Chicago, Illinois |
| Status | Under Construction |
| Estimated completion | Summer 2008 |
| Roof | 125 m (409 ft) |
| Floor count | 31 |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Booth Hansen |
| Developer | Smithfield Properties |
The Joffrey Tower will be the name of the high rise commercial real estate development on the northeast corner of North State Street and East Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States that will be the new permanent home of the Joffrey Ballet. It is located immediately south of the Chicago Theatre and directly across the street from Macy's on State Street, the flagship location of the Chicago Landmark Marshall Field and Company Building of the former Marshall Field's within the Loop Retail Historic District. Its address had once been the site of the Masonic Temple. The placement of the Joffrey Ballet in this building appears to have involved political dealings with the Mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley and his brother, William Daley, a co-chairman of the Joffrey board of trustees. The building was originally scheduled for completion in December 2007. As of January 2008, the anticipated grand opening will be in the summer of 2008.
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[edit] Details
The building was originally named the Modern Momentum Building (nicknamed the MoMo). It will now, like the ballet company, be named after Robert Joffrey, co-founder of the company.[1] The Joffrey Ballet acquired the naming rights when they purchased 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) of space on the 3rd and 4th floors to serve as their new permanent home.[2] The floors will include the Joffrey administrative offices plus seven state-of-the-art rehearsal studios and a black-box theatre.[2] The building will consume the southwest quarter of the block bounded by North State Street to the west, North Wabash Street to the East, East Randolph Street to the South and East Lake Street to the North. The Modern Momentum Project will officially take the Joffrey name when the Ballet company takes possession (originally anticipated in December 2007).[2] The first two floors of the Joffrey Tower will house retail tenants to be named by Smithfield Properties.[2] Floors 9 through 32 will be residential condominiums.[2] All four of the foundation floors are 14 feet (4.3 m) high.[3] The four story cutout above the foundation and green roof is capped by "legs" with only elevators and stairwells that compensate for the fact the building does not have the typical lower level parking spaces to improve the views by raising the units.[3]
The building was designed by Booth Hansen Architects. Construction started in 2005 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. The height of the structure will be 409 feet (125 m) or 125 meters (including spires and antennae).
The building was originally scheduled for completion in December 2007 official renaming and company move accompanying the completion. However, as of January 2008, the anticipated grand opening will be in the summer of 2008. The grand opening events, including performances by Shelley MacArthur and Ramsey Lewis, will be sponsored by The PrivateBank, a corporate partner.[4]
[edit] History
The building is located on the same site as the former Masonic Temple, which had once been the tallest building in the world.[5] Since the demolition of the Masonic Temple, the address has housed a 2 story retail building.[6] One failed previous plan to replace the small retail building on the cite was the Market Hall Tower, proposed in 2000, which was to have a two-story European style food market and 75 spacious apartments in the adjacent 26-story, 291-foot (89 m) tower.[6] Another failed plan was the subsequent 33-story Randolph Court plan.[7]
The Daley administration has been a proponent of the Joffrey Ballet having a permanent Theatre District home in order to establish them as a major Chicago institution.[8] However, the cost of building their own building at State and Lake was prohibitive.[8] Supposedly, the city of Chicago held the development of this project hostage until the developer agreed to the Joffrey initiative.[1] The delay tactic used was to delay closing long enough to cause the developer to have to file suit.[8] William Daley, a co-chairman of the Joffrey board of trustees,[2] is a former Cabinet member in the Clinton administration and clout-heavy brother of Chicago's mayor, Richard M. Daley. The arts-loving mayor has revitalized the Loop in part by re-establishing a central theatre district. The Joffrey Tower is within three blocks of Cadillac Palace, Chicago, Goodman, Harris, Ford Center/Oriental, and Storefront Theatres, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Tiffany-decorated former central library.[1]
[edit] Center Stage Campaign
The Joffrey Ballet launched its first Chicago capital campaign on March 7, 2007.[9] As of May 2008, it has raised $30 million towards a goal of $35 million for Joffrey Tower construction costs and an endowment.[10] When the purchase was finalized, the Joffrey had $2.5 million in reserves and the state had recently approved a $4 million grant.[8] The construction costs alone will be $21 million.[9] The fundraising enticements include the possibility that for $10 million a corporate donor could acquire renaming rights to the entire building and for lesser amounts they could acquire naming rights for various specific spaces.[11] Facility details released at the hard hat preview and launch include the following:
- A dedicated entrance and elevators on Randolph Street, with a lobby box office selling tickets to company events.[9]
- A "black box" theater space that will serve primarily as a full-company rehearsal space but, with its lighting booth and fully foldable seating for 144, also can double as an intimate showcase for open rehearsals, works-in-progress viewings and more. When unused, the studio also can be rented to visiting dance companies.[9]
- An additional six rehearsal studios with high ceilings and no obstructions. The Joffrey could use these for classes if it starts a school here. For now they will be the site of activities related to the Joffrey's extensive outreach school programs.[9]
- Locker rooms, dressing rooms, showers, wardrobe and laundry suites, a lounge, physical therapy areas and artistic and executive staff offices.[9]
- A Green roof will cover the Joffrey part of the building[12]
In Chicago, the administration and the performers have been in separate buildings. The Joffrey Ballet currently rents both a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m²) rehearsal studio at 17 N. State Street, which it leased in July of this year, and administrative offices at 70 E. Lake Street.[2] The Joffrey will now have the company's creative leadership, dancers, administration, technical staff, guest artists, students, and apprentices united under one roof, creating streamlined operations and a more efficient and accomplished organization. The new space will be nearly double the current space.[12] The new permanent state of the art facilities will enable The Joffrey to recruit and retain elite dancers and simultaneously attract world-class performers, guest artists and collaborators. The planned space will allow the company to rehearse and present more of its repertoire, mount additional full-length ballets, extend its apprentice program, launch additional revivals, and provide young dancers and choreographers the opportunity to train and present their new works.[13]
[edit] Occupancy
Although the Joffrey Ballet is not scheduled to take occupancy until December, Loehmann's opened a 27,000 square feet (2,500 m²) retail store on the first two floors on October 12, 2007.[14] This location is part of the transformation of State Street to a retail and student-housing mecca.[15]
[edit] Gallery
 2006-08-17 - Future Joffrey Tower Construction with Macy's State Street & The Heritage at Millennium Park in the background |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Joffrey Acquires High-Rise Home, Plans Alumni Reunion. Backstage.com. The Nielsen Company (2006-01-09). Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g Harand, Samara and Beth Silverman (2005-12-20). Joffrey Ballet Purchases New Space at 8 E. Randolph Building; Smithfield Properties Development To Be Named The Joffrey Tower Upon Delivery In December 2007. Joffrey Ballet. Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b Modern Momentum. Data Based Ads, Inc. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-15.
- ^ Kelly, Colleen Hogan (2007-11-07). Press release. Joffrey Ballet. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
- ^ MoMo. Emporis.com. Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b Market Hall Tower. Emporis.com. Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ Randolph Court. Emporis.com. Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Corfman, Thomas A. (2005-12-21). Joffrey Ballet finds permanent home: Condo tower across from Block 37 chosen. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. ProQuest-CSA LLC. Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
- ^ a b c d e f Weiss, Hedy. "Joffrey Tower going up on Randolph St.", Chicago Sun-Times, Sun-Times News Group, 2007-03-08. Retrieved on April 10.
- ^ Frey, Mary Cameron. "Joffrey tiptoes into the future", ChicagoBusiness, Crain Communications, Inc., 2008-05-05, p. 43.
- ^ Yue, Lorene. "Dancing for Dollars", ChicagoBusiness, Crain Communications, Inc., 2007-02-07. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ a b Smith, Sid. "A special Joffrey preview: Troupe shows off space that will be new home", Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 2007-03-08. Retrieved on April 11.
- ^ New Building Overview: The Joffrey Tower. Joffrey Ballet (2007). Retrieved on April 10, 2007.
- ^ Guy, Sandra (2007-10-16). State St. gets a bargain. Chicago Sun-Times. Digital Chicago, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ Guy, Sandra (2006-10-28). Loehmann's likes Loop: Fashion discounter to open store at State & Randolph. Chicago Sun-Times. FindArticles. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
[edit] External links
- Joffrey Tower is at coordinates Coordinates:
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