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Golub, CIM Group spell out plans for Chicago’s second tallest building

The 1,422-foot-tall skyscraper would rise behind the landmark Tribune Tower

Chicago’s skyline could get a big addition in the coming years.

Los Angeles-based CIM Group and Chicago-based Golub & Company revealed details of their plans for a site they bought recently from Tribune Media at the first public meeting on the massive project Monday night.

The plan calls for Chicago’s second-tallest building, a 1,422-foot-tall mixed-use tower — 34 feet higher than the 1,388 feet first reported earlier this year.

The developers plan to divide the eastern portion of the site, which will include the new tower, into several sections. The tower itself would house a roughly 200-key luxury hotel, 439 rental units and 125 condo units. Then, below street level, would be 10,700 square feet of retail space and 430 parking spaces accessible from lower-level streets.

Zoning allows for 1.6 million square feet on the full site. CIM and Golub’s plans call for about 2 million square feet, and they plan to “buy” permission for the extra space by paying about $14 million into a commercial development fund.

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They also plan to pay another $12 million into the city’s affordable housing fund in lieu of including affordable housing on site, Golub & Company principal Lee Golub said.

The plan presented by the developers also calls for repurposing the site’s existing four buildings, including the landmarked Tribune Tower, into 163 residential units.

That part of the project would include a four-story addition built on top of one of the buildings that will be preserved. The developers propose 47,500 square feet of retail space in the existing buildings, some of it fronting Michigan Avenue and Pioneer Square, an open plaza with an Apple Store at the opposite end.

Fronting Pioneer Square is a massive, white Chicago Tribune sign. The developers are suing the Chicago Tribune, which wants to keep the sign when it leaves the building later this year. CIM and Golub want it to stay on the building.

Construction is set to begin as soon as August, Golub said, with work on the new tower to start in late 2019 or early 2020.

The new tower would displace Trump Tower (1,389 feet) as the city’s second tallest, and would rank behind only the Willis Tower (1,451). The Vista Tower under construction in Lakeshore East would be fourth at 1,191 feet, followed by the Aon Center at 1,136 feet and the John Hancock Center at 1,128 feet.

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