Water Tower Place facts for kids
Water Tower Place (its mall on the left and skyscraper on the right) with Chicago Avenue Pumping Station in the foreground and 875 North Michigan Avenue in the background
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| Location | 835 Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
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| Opening date | 1976 |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group (retail space) Brookfield Property Partners (skyscraper portion) |
| Architect | Edward D. Dart |
| No. of stores and services | 104 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 0 |
| Total retail floor area | 729,000 square feet (67,726.3 m2) |
| No. of floors | 74 in skyscraper, 7 in mall, 3 in American Girl, 8 in former Macy's |
| Public transit access | Chicago "L": at Chicago |
Water Tower Place is a huge building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It's a mix of a tall skyscraper and a big shopping mall all in one place! The mall covers about 758,000 square feet (70,400 m2) and is part of a 74-story skyscraper.
You can find Water Tower Place at 835 North Michigan Avenue, on the famous Magnificent Mile street. It's named after the old Chicago Water Tower nearby. A company called Brookfield Property Partners owns it. The building has faced some challenges recently because many stores have closed, including Macy's.
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History of Water Tower Place
Water Tower Place was first planned in the late 1960s. It was built in 1975 by Urban Retail Properties. The main architect was Edward D. Dart.
The skyscraper part of the building is 78 stories tall, reaching 859 feet (262 meters). It's made of reinforced concrete and covered in gray marble. When it was built, it was the tallest concrete building in the world! Today, it's still one of the tallest buildings in Chicago. The tower has a Ritz-Carlton hotel, apartments (called condominiums), and office spaces. All of this sits on top of a large base that holds the shopping mall.
When Water Tower Place opened, it changed the way people shopped on the Magnificent Mile. Before, that street mostly had fancy, expensive stores. Water Tower Place brought in shops for everyone, including middle-class families. This made the shopping center of downtown Chicago move north to North Michigan Avenue.
In 2001, the mall got a big makeover. They added glass walls outside and updated the escalators and fountains inside. These changes made the building look more modern and inviting.
In 2002, a company called The Rouse Company took over the mall. Later, in 2008, a three-story American Girl store opened, replacing a store called Lord & Taylor.
On January 5, 2021, it was announced that the Macy's department store would be closing. It officially closed on March 21, 2021. This was part of Macy's plan to close many stores across the country.
In October 2023, there were reports that the top five floors of the mall might be sold to become office spaces. The owners are thinking about making the mall smaller, only using the first three floors.
The Ritz-Carlton, Chicago Hotel
The Ritz-Carlton Chicago is a hotel with 435 rooms located inside Water Tower Place.
When Water Tower Place was built in 1975, its owners got the right to use the famous Ritz-Carlton name and lion logo for their hotel. This was before the modern Ritz-Carlton hotel chain became well-known in the 1980s. Because of this agreement, no other hotel could use the Ritz-Carlton name in Chicago while the agreement was active.
To be part of a larger hotel group, the owners of Water Tower Place hired Four Seasons Hotels to manage their hotel in 1977. So, even though it was called The Ritz-Carlton, it was actually managed by Four Seasons for many years.
On August 1, 2015, The Ritz-Carlton Chicago stopped being a Four Seasons property. It then became a full part of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. This means it now works with all the other Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world.
In 2018, the hotel was named the sixth-best hotel in Illinois by U.S. News & World Report.
Shopping Center Features
When the mall first opened, its main stores were Marshall Field's and Lord & Taylor. Marshall Field's became Macy's in 2006, and Lord & Taylor closed in 2007. Macy's then closed in 2021.
The mall has eight levels with almost 100 shops, a live theater, and several restaurants. Everything is built around a shiny chrome-and-glass area with glass elevators. Water Tower Place was one of the first "vertical malls" in the world, meaning it's built upwards instead of spreading out. Other vertical malls in Chicago include The Shops at North Bridge and 900 North Michigan.
Some of the stores you can still find there include Akira, American Girl, American Eagle Outfitters, Bath and Body Works, Chico's, Eileen Fisher, Express, Finish Line, Inc., Forever 21, Hollister Co., J. Jill, Lacoste, Lego, Sephora, Sunglasses Hut and White House Black Market.
As mentioned, the owners are thinking about making the mall smaller, possibly using only the first three floors for shops in the future.
Education Nearby
Kids who live near Water Tower Place go to schools in the Chicago Public Schools system.
- Ogden School (for grades K-8)
- Wells Community Academy High School
Position in Chicago's skyline
Bus Connections
You can get to Water Tower Place using several CTA bus lines:
- 3 King Drive
- 26 South Shore Express
- 66 Chicago
- 125 Water Tower Express
- 143 Stockton/Michigan Express
- 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express
- 147 Outer Drive Express
- 148 Clarendon/Michigan Express
- 151 Sheridan
- 157 Streeterville/Taylor
See also
In Spanish: Water Tower Place para niños
- List of skyscrapers
- List of tallest buildings in Chicago
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
- World's tallest structures
