December 8, 2009 – We already told you about the talks last week between the AFL-CIO representatives and Garrett Kelleher of Shelbourne Development about the future of the Chicago Spire. According to a new article in the Wall Street Journal, Tom Villanova who is president of the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council states that a loan deal could be announced sometime in the “coming days.”

How long that may be is anyone’s guess, but Shelbourne spokeswoman Kim Metcalfe was quoted in the article as saying that, “We are obviously in an extremely good position with more than 30% of the units sold and $194 million of Mr. Kelleher’s personal money in the building.” Ms. Metcalfe also said that the construction costs for the 150 story Spire would be significantly less than the widely estimated $2 billion. She believes that if a deal is reached in the nest few days that electrical and water work will start up again in January on the high-rise.

Mr. Villanova again stressed that the potential $170 million loan to pay off the Anglo Irish Bank and all of the liens against the Spire is about creating work for union members. There are 24 construction and trade unions with around 100,000 members. The AFL-CIO pension fund loan would put them in the driver’s seat on this Chicago real estate project and create work exclusively for union members.

Mr. Villanova told the WSJ that, “It’s about jobs for my members.” The Spire project could generate as much as 7.5 million hours of labor over four or five years. The article states that equals about 900 full time construction and trade jobs for the next several years. It may be a big investment in money, but it could also mean a big return for workers.

We may very well have an answer about the future of the Spire sooner rather than later. But until then, if you are shopping for Chicago condos, there are plenty of Chicago Luxury Condos already built and waiting for a buyer.

[tags]Chicago Spire, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.