March 23, 2009 – There hasn’t been much news lately about the Chicago Spire, only speculation about whether or not the 150 story high-rise will ever actually be built. The crater-sized 76 foot deep foundation hole is also a topic of concern among local residents who fear the $1 billion Chicago real estate project will remain stalled for a long time. But a recent article in Crain’s states that a new effort is being launched to raise capital to get construction on the 2,000 foot tower started again.

According to the report, because Shelbourne Development is still unable to get any financing for the tower, a group of construction unions are in talks to possible pool and invest their pension funds to raise money for the project. Construction work on the Chicago Spire is estimated to generate 1 million paydays for skilled labor such as carpenters and ironworkers, the article said. We’ll have to wait and see if the prospect of investing in future work if enough to convince these unions to gamble on their pensions.

Many developers are in a holding pattern when it comes to new projects, and unemployment in the construction industry is currently at 21.4% according to the Laborers’ International Union of North America. Defaults on construction loans for developers have also increased for the past 10 quarters, up to 15%. Appraisal Research Counselors states that in the last quarter, there were more canceled Chicago condo contracts than there were sales, with buyers willing to walk away from $10,000 deposits rather than close on contracts. And even when prospective buyers find a good deal on Cheap Chicago Condos, it’s often very difficult to qualify for a home loan or mortgage.

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

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.