Shelbourne Development, the privately-owned Irish property firm, yesterday filed a revised plan to build a 609m (2,000ft) residential tower that would be the tallest skyscraper in North America.
The new design for the distinctive corkscrew-shaped "Chicago spire" drops plans for a hotel and a 131m (430ft) antennae on top of the building in favour of 1,300 apartments on its 160 floors.
Shelbourne paid $64 million (€48.4 million) in July for the site by the shores of Lake Michigan, and hopes to start construction of the tower, which was designed by Santiago Calatrava, in the second quarter of next year.
The developers said the spire would be the second-tallest residential building in the world, surpassed only by the Burj Dubai, where construction is close to passing the 100-storey mark.
The final height of the Emirate's record-breaking building is undisclosed, but it is expected to be at least 162 floors tall. Taipei 101, in the Taiwanese capital, stands 509m (1,670ft) high and is the world's tallest building.
