Below is a list of the skyscrapers under construction or planned to be built in Chicago, Illinois, the skyscrapers are at least 750ft tall and are listed in order from shortest to tallest.
Due to the rapid development of skyscrapers in Chicago, the status and other details of the buildings below are subject to change, and more skyscrapers will be proposed, the content below will be updated accordingly.
130 North Franklin Street
Status: Approved
Height: 751 ft (229 m) Floor count: 53
Estimated completion: unknown
Functions: Office, Retail
This 53-story office tower is envisioned by New York-based developer Tishman Speyer, to be built on a vacant lot at the corner of North Franklin and West Washington Streets, the lot is currently the only vacant site in the northwest part of the Loop district, the previous building was demolished in 2003.
The developer proposed the project in 2012, and received approval from the city in 2015, but has been unable to find an anchored tenant, leaving the site vacant till this day. The deadline to get started on this project is September 2022, if the developer still doesn’t move on with it by that time, the approval received years ago will expire, then the developer has to start with a new project or they can transfer the property to other developers. Anyway, a skyscraper or a supertall tower will eventually be built here, for the site is located in the most sought-after area in the city and is the only vacant site in the area.
400 Lake Shore Drive North Tower
Status: Approved
Height: 765 ft (233 m) Floor count: unknown
Estimated completion: 2024
Functions: Residential
This tower is the shorter tower of a two-tower complex proposed to be built at 400 N. Lake shore Drive, it’s supposed to replace the cancelled 2000-ft-tall Chicago Spire. Related Midwest proposed the project in 2018, the two towers were initially designed to be 1,100-ft and 850-ft tall, but was rejected by the city later in the same year. Then the towers were redesigned, the overall shape only changed a little, but the heights were reduced to 875 ft and 765 ft. The city finally approved the project in December 2020. The lead designer of the project is David Childs of SOM, he is known for designed the new One World Trade Center in New York City.
According to the developer, construction will begin in 2022.
1000M
Status: Under Construction
Height: 805 ft (245 m) Floor count: 73
Estimated completion: 2024
Functions: Residential
Previously known as 1000 South Michigan, 1000M is a 73-story residential tower planned to be built on the western edge of Grant Park.
The tower is one of the last works of the famed German architect Helmut Jahn, who passed in a car accident in 2021. Helmut is known for designed the iconic Thompson Center in the city center, and some famous skyscrapers designed by him include Liberty Place in Philadelphia and the Messeturm in Frankfurt.
The tower was formerly designed to stand 831 ft tall, and the construction on the tower had begun in late 2019, but halted due to the pandemic. Then the tower was slightly redesigned with the height reduced to 805 ft, and construction restarted in December 2021. Originally planned as a condo tower with 506 condominiums, 1000M has been changed to a rental tower with 738 rental apartments.
Salesforce Tower Chicago
Status: Under Construction
Height: 835 ft (255 m) Floor count: 60
Estimated completion: 2022
Functions: Office, Retail
Salesforce Tower is a 60-story skyscraper currently under construction in the Wolf Point, a property owned by Kennedy family and located on the north bank at the fork of the Chicago River in Downtown area.
The tower was originally proposed to be 900 ft tall in 2012, and was revised to over 1000 ft in 2015, but was then reduced to 950ft in 2016. Then in late 2018, Salesforce signed a 17-year lease for 500,000 sqft in the tower and obtained naming rights, and also demanded the building to be redesigned with a reduced height of 835 feet.
The tower has been built to a height of about 780 feet by the end of 2021, and is expected to top out in 2022 and complete in 2023.
400 Lake Shore Drive South Tower
Status: Approved
Height: 875 ft (267 m) Floor count: unknown
Estimated completion: 2024
Functions: Residential
The tower is the taller tower of the two-tower complex to be built at 400 N. Lake shore Drive.
113 East Roosevelt Phase II
Status: Approved
Height: ~951 ft (~290 m) Floor count: ~82
Estimated completion: unknown
Functions: Residential
This tower is planned to be built adjacent to the 896-ft-tall residential tower NEMA (113 East Roosevelt Phase I) at the southwest corner of Grant Park, the new tower will be slight taller than NEMA, the exact height is not unveiled yet but is possibly around 950 ft as seen in the render.
The tower is designed by Rafael Viñoly, whose notable works of skyscrapers include 432 Park Avenue in New York City and 20 Fenchurch Street in London. The design of this tower is highly influenced by the Willis Tower, consisting of 9 bundled tubes that rise to different heights.
One Chicago East Tower
Status: Topped Out
Height: 973 ft (296 m) Floor count: 78
Estimated completion: 2022
Functions: Residential, Retail
One Chicago East Tower is part of the two-tower complex called One Chicago Square, in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, it’s the taller one of the two towers, which are connected by a central podium.
The tower is for residential use, with 812 residential units, while the podium contains retail space. The tower had fully topped out in July 2021. With a roof height of 296m, it’s only 4 meters lower than the minimum height of supertall, and is Chicago’s 6th tallest building if judged by roof height, or 8th tallest by architectural height.
Lakeshore East Parcel I Tower
Status: Approved
Height: 984ft+ (300m+) Floor count: 85
Estimated completion: 2025
Functions: Residential, Parking garage
This tower is planned to be built at the northeast corner of Lakeshore East neighborhood, immediately next to Lake Shore Drive and Chicago River, the site can be found across the river from the site of 400 Lake Shore Drive, and only a little more than 400 feet east of Vista Tower.
The proposed height for the tower is 950 ft, but it’s highly likely that the figure is not measured from the ground level, but from an elevated position atop the parking podium at the bottom of the tower, so the actual height could surpass 984 feet and make it a supertall tower.
The tower will be purely for residential use, offering 600 units. The development was approved in 2018, and the construction could begin in 2022.
Tribune East Tower
Status: Approved
Height: 1,422 ft (433 m) Floor count: 113
Estimated completion: 2025
Functions: Residential, Hotel
Tribune East Tower is a 113-story skyscraper planned to be built to the east of the Tribune Tower, the historic neo-Gothic building with iconic buttresses on the top. The skyscraper will rise to a height of 1,422 ft and become the 2nd tallest building in Chicago, only after the Willis Tower, and 5th tallest building in the United States if built today.
It is designed by Adrian Smith, who also designed the nearby Trump Tower, and is known for designed the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Tribune East Tower has received final approval in May 2020, and the groundbreaking for the tower could begin in early or mid 2022.
Thompson Center redevelopment
Status: Conceptual plan
In 2017, then-Illinois governor Bruce Rauner proposed to sell the Thompson Center, which houses offices of the state government, the reason for the proposal is that the large building is too expensive to operate, Rauner also presented a rendering showing an 1,700-ft-tall skyscraper to replace the building. And in 2019, the new governor J. B. Pritzker signed a bill to officially begin the sale of the building, and received bids from two groups in October 2021, then the state will choose one of the bids, and the sale could close in around April 2022.
A new zoning ordinance was approved by the City Council in May 2021, which makes it possible for a supertall tower to be built on the site.
Update: In December 2021, the governor decided to sell the building to developer Prime Group and the sale agreement has been finalized on March 31, 2022, the buyer’s plan is to preserve and renovate the existing building, so no skyscraper will be built on the site.
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