Dead by Design #4: Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle in The Loop
One of Chicago’s tallest and most notorious cancelled developments is the 125-story Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, the first in this series to surpass the Willis (Sears) Tower in height. Proposed in 1988 by Lee Miglin and J. Paul Beitler, this superstructure would have risen 1,999 feet at 201 W Madison Street in The Loop. If construction proceeded as planned up until its targeted 1993 completion, the tower would have reigned as world’s tallest building for 17 years leading up to the completion of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in 2010. It is worth noting however that building’s sheer influence would very likely have altered the race to the top, creating what may have been a very different set of subsequent mega-towers around the world.