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Tribune Blue Cross Blue Shield building growing up to
completion With Chicago?s high-rise development experiencing such a boom and considering the few remaining open lots in the city, one growth opportunity for existing buildings not likely, but available is to expand upward. However, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) and Goettsch Partners (then Lohan Associates) had the foresight to plan for such growth over 10 years ago when the Blue Cross-Blue Shield building in Chicago was designed. In what Mark Lane, Director of Media and Public Relations for HCSC, calls a completion project as opposed to an expansion, 24 additional floors will be built atop the existing 33 floors of the will be built atop the existing 33 floors of the Blue Cross building at 300 E. Randolph, making available an additional 860,000 square feet of space. "It's very satisfying to see the effort undertaken over 10 years ago to plan and design a building that would allow Blue Cross to expand now paying off for them," says James Goettsch, President of Goettsch Partners. Goettsch originally architected the building to be 57 stories, 54 of which would be above ground, and designed the construction to occur in two phases. During the development of phase one, additional investment was included to prepare the structure to handle the entire weight of the building after phase two was completed. Considerations were made for riser space to accommodate HVAC units. Atrium space around the current elevators at the north end of the building was designed to house new elevators necessary for phase two. The now 466-feet-high building (from the basement) will rise to an estimated 796 feet when construction is expected to be completed in 2010. The Blue Cross building does in fact appear as a foundation or base of something to come, with a short and rectangular, but solid shape. One can visualize snapping on another building block to the top. Obviously, such a feat would not be that easy. Matt Larson, Director of Business Development for Goettsch Partners, says he ?cannot think of anyone anywhere? who has completed such a project. According to Larson, the design for the additional floors was never intended to exactly mirror the exterior of the 30 floors below, but rather to blend a continuance of the existing fa?de with special attention paid to the middle of the building and the new top of the building to ensure a smooth transition and complete look. The John Buck Company will serve as the owner?s representative, and structural engineering will be provided by Magnusson Klemencic Associates with Cosentini Associates acting as the MEP engineer. Since the building has been planned from the beginning to undergo further construction, it was understood that the building would have tenants during phase two. While the distraction of constructing 24 new floors will be unavoidable, plans were prepared to minimize any disruption to operations, which are expected to continue throughout construction. Since the completion of phase one of the Blue Cross building, Goettsch Partners? other projects have included the 111 S. Wacker and UBS tower, both of which were developed by The John Buck Company. Larson says that one third of their business today is in China, but they are excited that phase two of the Blue Cross building is coming to realization. Construction is scheduled to begin January 2007.
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