May 18, 2010 – If you didn’t get a chance to see the elaborate NBC Tower 18th floor sales office and full model for the Chicago Spire, you probably never will now. Spire developer Garrett Kelleher and his Shelbourne Development Group were served an eviction notice last year in August after supposedly not paying rent from April 2009 forward on the sales center. According to a Crain’s report, that eviction suit was settled and Shelbourne has closed the office and will handle sales from Shelbourne’s office on Wacker Drive in Chicago. Although the landlord claimed that $316,000 in back rent was owed, a judgement for $55,000 was ordered but voided with Shelbourne leaving the space, according to the article.

Any potential buyers will now only get to view three-dimensional computer models instead of the real thing, according to a Tribune article. The old sales center cost $10 million to build, $350,000 of which the NBC Tower landlords contributed. The full-floor sales center model was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the Spire.

Developer Garrett Kelleher insists that this Chicago real estate project isn’t closed and a spokeswoman for Shelbourne told the Tribune that, “He’s being smart. If you’re in a situation where things are slowing down, you need to consolidate and you need to be smart. Clearly the economy has been tough and he’s had to focus on areas of his portfolio that are doing well.”

The Chicago Spire may never make it out of the hole it’s in, both literally and figuratively, but there are many other luxury Chicago condos already built and showing price reductions if you’re in the market to buy.

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.