Presidential Towers is a multi-tower residential apartment complex built in 1986 and located in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

at 555 W. Madison. Bounded by Madison, Monroe, Clinton, and Desplaines streets, the property covers two full blocks in the

West Loop The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of t ...

neighborhood. Built in what was once the

skid row A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...

area of Chicago, the complex received over $100 million in direct investment and waived Federal, state and city revenues to get built, including the then-largest guarantee from the

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a Independent agencies of the United States government, United States government agency founded by Pr ...

. Occupancy struggles in the late 1980s resulted in the complex going into default in the early 1990s.Wright, Talmadge. Out of Place: Homeless Mobilizations, Subcities, and Contested Landscapes. SUNY Press, 1997, page 159 The complex is composed of four 49-story residential

skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

sitting atop a four-story, 1162-space parking garage and retail base. The towers are all staggered in their placement upon the site to maximize skyline views of the nearby

Chicago Loop The Loop is Chicago's central business district and one of the city's 77 municipally recognized Community areas in Chicago, community areas. Located at the center of downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, it is the second-largest busi ...

and surrounding neighborhoods for each of the 2346 apartment units. The complex was built in an area once known as Chicago's

and was designed to be a self-contained community with an inward-facing mall located within the towers' base. Waterton Associates purchased Presidential Towers in 2007 from Pritzker Realty Group and began plans for a comprehensive renovation. Work to date has included updating living units and common areas, and adding street front access to the ground floor retail space. Presidential Towers has hosted an annual "Fight for Air Climb" stair climb since 2009 and was awarded a 2014 Impact Award by the American Lung Association of Greater Chicago. In 2015, it became the largest residential property in Chicago to implement a 100% smoke-free policy.

References

External links

Presidential Towers

Waterton
Residential skyscrapers in Chicago Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design basic silver certified buildings Residential buildings completed in 1986 Apartment buildings in Chicago 1986 establishments in Illinois {{Chicago-struct-stub