One North Wacker, formerly UBS Tower is a 199 m (652.9 ft) skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 located at One North Wacker Drive

Wacker Drive

Wacker Drive is a major street in Chicago, Illinois, United States, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. The 50 story structure, started in 1999 and completed in the spring of 2002, was designed by Lohan Associates (now Goettsch Partners) with developer the John Buck Company to accommodate the needs of UBS

UBS AG

UBS AG is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, which provides investment banking, asset management, and wealth management services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland...

 groups such as UBS Warburg, UBS PaineWebber, UBS Global Asset Management and UBS O’Connor in a single building.

Building

The UBS Tower was the first large multi-tenant tower to be constructed in Chicago for 6 years since 1993.

Architecture

The tower's most eye-catching feature is its main lobby. The lobby's glass wall was a first in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 40 feet (12 m) wall was made out of 5'x5' glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

 panes attached to a system of medallions and cable. This cable system was tested at pressures above 150 psf, or a wind speed of nearly 250 mph. The glass itself is also noteworthy- an optical interference anti-reflective glass (designed by Schott AG) with an unusually low surface reflectivity of 1% is used. This imbues the lobby with an almost transparent appearance.

Exterior landscaping

Landscaping

Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...

 was designed by the Berkeley, Calif.-based firm, Peter Walker and Partners Landscape Architecture Inc.

Artwork

Artwork throughout the building is drawn from the UBS PaineWebber Collection of contemporary art pieces and from the UBS Global Asset Management collection of architectural relics. Roy Lichetenstein’s sculpture, Archaic Head, is displayed on the 38th floor near Louis Sullivan’s elevator gate, claimed from the old Chicago Stock Exchange.

Use

With 1754000 square feet (162,951.9 m²) of floorspace, UBS Tower's rents are among the highest per square foot of any building in the Chicago Metropolitan Area at an average of over $25 per square foot on a triple net basis, grossing up to over $40 per square foot. The building amenities also include a two story underground garage for senior executives, One North Kitchen and Bar, a Conference Center, Fitness Center and Convenience Store.

Awards

In March 2002, the building was recognized as “Development of the Year” at the 14th Annual Greater Chicago Commercial Real Estate Awards.

Major Tenants

• Barnes & Thornburg LLP
• PwC
  PwC
  PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
  
  
• Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold LLP
• UBS
• Merrill Lynch
  Merrill Lynch
  Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...
  
  
• L.E.K. Consulting
  L.E.K. Consulting
  L.E.K. Consulting is an international strategy consulting firm, with headquarters in London.Started in 1983 by three partners from Bain & Company, James Lawrence, Iain Evans and Richard Koch, L.E.K. has since grown to over 900 consultants and 20 offices worldwide...
  
  

See also

• List of skyscrapers
• List of tallest buildings in the United States
• List of tallest buildings in Chicago
• World's tallest structures

External links

• One North Wacker at Hines Interests Limited Partnership