Nicholas B. Jackson

The economy is crumbling. People are worried about a recession. The housing market is dead. And, with the arrogance that Chicago has often been known for, @properties, a real estate firm, opened the main sales office for the planned Chicago Spire last month, hoping to sell an unprecedented amount of luxury real estate.

With the massive Trump International Hotel & Tower nearing completion on the river and several other condominium units reaching for the skies, there is no shortage of high-end living spaces in and around the Second City right now. Yet, preliminary construction began on Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire in mid-2007 and is expected to be completed by 2011. In the three years between now and then, @properties is hoping to sell out what will be the tallest residential building in the world when the last plate is welded on approximately 2,000 feet above the sidewalk. The tower will also become the tallest building anywhere in North America, dwarfing Toronto’s CN Tower.

The Spire will house about 1,200 units, including a two-story, 10,000 square-foot penthouse that is on the market for $40 million, or $4,000 per square foot, more than any condominium has ever sold for in the city, according to a recent article in The Chicago Tribune. It appears as though “low-end” 500 square-foot studios will run in the $750,000 range.

Garrett Kelleher, the building’s developer, attributes the record-breaking pricing to the large influence of the designer, Calatrava, on the building. It has yet to be seen how many of the condominiums will pre-sell in the coming months. We do know, however, that the Spire is getting a lot of international media attention and the hype is building. For example, the global sales campaign launched in Dublin this week where it is reported that more than 1,000 people turned out to the four-day exhibition.

“The initial response from the global community has been overwhelming,” said Dominic Grace, Head of Savills Residential Development and leader of the global sales campaign. “Our sales team has been busy writing contracts every day. There is simply nothing like The Chicago Spire anywhere else in the world, and the privilege to live in a residence of its significance is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

• Originally published: Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008.02.13