Crown installation can be seen for the 60-story Salesforce Tower at 333 W Wolf Point Plaza in River North. The mixed-use, primarily office tower is the third and final phase of the Wolf Point masterplan, developed by Hines in partnership with the longtime landowner Joseph P. Kennedy Family. At a height of 850 feet, the tower makes a substantial appearance on the northwest corner of the skyline, particularly when looking southeast along the Kennedy Expressway.
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
The base of the tower will be lined with multiple retail and dining options and an open lobby area for tenants. The floors above will house class A offices on 25,000-square-foot floor plates. These office floors will offer flexible build-out options and floor-to-ceiling windows with views in all directions. Amenity spaces will include a fitness center, a conference center, and a tenant lounge. Salesforce itself will occupy half a million square feet, tallying at just over a third of the building’s 1.4 million square feet. Similar to its flagship headquarters in San Francisco, the top floor will be known as the Ohana Floor, which will serve as an employee lounge during the day and an events venue for educational and nonprofit events during off hours.
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
The design by Pelli Clarke & Partners reflects that of its shorter Wolf Point East neighbor. Both involve rectangular volumes with a multitude of setbacks for a tapering effect. The two also share a white corrugated motif arranged along their respective crowns. Around this boxy massing, Salesforce Tower is enshrouded in a glass curtain wall spanning its full height.
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
However, unlike Wolf Point East, Salesforce Tower features an all-glass facade rather than the corrugated metal panels seen on its neighbor. Additionally, the setbacks are not as extreme on Salesforce Tower, resulting in a more streamlined and elegant appearance. Given the glassy plethora of 700- to 800-foot riverfront towers built in the last decade, this stretch of downtown has become one of the world’s glassiest skyscraper canyons.
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower Chicago. Rendering by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Salesforce Tower Chicago. Rendering by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
The broader Wolf Point scheme is also significant or pushing the Riverwalk further northwest, offering 1,000 feet of uninterrupted promenade along the river bend. There will also be a large attached plaza space and a sloped park area adjacently east of the tower.
Salesforce Tower Chicago. Video still via Hines
Salesforce Tower Chicago. Video still via Hines
Salesforce Tower Chicago. Video still via Hines
The closest CTA L service can be found for the Brown and Purple Lines, both located at Merchandise Mart station. The nearest Metra service is at Ogilvie Transportation Center. Lastly, the nearest buses for Routes 37 and 125 can be found at the intersection of Orleans & Merchandise.
Salesforce Tower. Photo by Jack Crawford
Salesforce Tower (center). Photo by Jack Crawford
Priced at $800 million for just this single phase, Walsh Construction has served as general contractor for the skyscraper, which is expected to complete by spring of next year.
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It’s…okay?
The south branch view facing north is pretty nice – although it really, really should have been a 1,000 footer.
The river canyon view of it looking west is almost outrageously boring for such a prime spot. Especially as the metal panels on Wolf Point East make it look way more interesting from this vantage point.
Oh well.
the view going nb on s wacker is glorious!
This fills a hole that has bothered me for decades, but I wish it had been something more iconic. I would say this is a wasted opportunity, but since it sat vacant for so long, I’ll take this as a win. Corporate and confident is better than gaudy and bad. Speaking of excessive I had always wanted a beaux arts pile there, with a monumental statue representing the Chicago River or Lake Michigan on the point with a curved building behind it to frame it (fortunately, I didn’t design it, and we are not in the 19th century).
*corporate and competent
I don’t understand why the two choices for this site are ‘corporate & competent’ or ‘gaudy and bad.’ There are a slew of other options like ‘ambitious and well executed’ which isn’t asking that much with the resources of the Kennedy’s and Hines. They had a titan anchor tenant like Salesforce plus an undeniably amazing location which was one of the best opportunities for skyscraper development in the entire country.
I agree that there are many more options, and many of those are better that the two I mention, but sadly I think they were the only possibilities that would actually have happened, because that parcel seems to me to have been seen only as a commodity/investment to sit on forever as a parking lot, then finally go for the something predictable. Buildings by bankers.
Great statement….. “Buildings by Bankers”… That pretty much sums up the lack of inspiration we see today.
It’s cool enough…guess I’d go all glass with those views.