Hinsdale Magazine | On the water
Wolf Point East interior
Photography by Pawel Dmytrow; image courtesy of Luxury Living Chicago Realty
Continued from page 39 for humanity, something that we react to at a human level, rather than at a city-amazement level, is really genius. Julie Jonlich The building (WPE) is a series of offset planes, landing lightly within a park, with its stepped profile being the same at the bottom as it is at the top. If it were turned upside down, its profile would be the same—a rich connection to Burnham’s grid system in Chicago. What inspired the planes? Chris Kennedy One of the things that is the reward for working with genius is this: you end up doing things that are counterintuitive; you end up doing things that would have never occurred; you end up doing things that are great, that are, let’s say, visionary, but beyond the horizon; and that’s what occurred with Wolf Point. The notion of giving up the retail space on the lower levels of the building—that would be crazy talk in a regular development; that’s often the most valuable part of the building. [In] some buildings, their retail footprint accounts for more than the value of the entire upper floors, and Fred was able to convince us that we should do something great for the city, and that we would be rewarded in doing that in ways that we could not expect. He thought that if we gave up the retail, we would get greater value on the upper floors, and people would flock to be a part of something that was set in a park and not above a mall. That’s hard to swallow, 56
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but when you’re dealing with someone that great, they can be convincing. They can share their vision, their experience, their lifetime of incredible works, and form what we’re doing in Chicago, and I think that’s what happened with Fred Clarke. Julie Jonlich What’s your favorite redevelopment?
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Chris Kennedy I think there’s really nowhere else you can live directly on the river, without you and Wacker Drive between you and the river, or other buildings between you and the river. I’ve spent my whole 35 years in Chicago working along the river, but never this close—never where I felt like I could reach out my window and touch it. Certainly if you had a tennis ball, you could drop it in the water from our building. And that notion that we’re tied to the water, the lake and the river, the environment is that proximate—that we haven’t abandoned it as we’ve moved into the city—that nature continues to form our lives—that we can have it all, in the sense that we can have a dense community and nature too. I think that’s the great riddle of mankind in this century: how can we all be together without abandoning our planet? And Fred has found a way to do that in Chicago. Julie Jonlich What do you think your grandfather Joseph would be most proud of with the way things turned out?
Chris Kennedy For his own family, his own wealth, I think he had a very human and community-oriented vision for what those great assets should do. He did not think his children’s job was to simply make money and enjoy a life of leisure. He wanted them active and involved in the communities they were part of—whether that was Boston, New York or the country itself. And he sacrificed and his children sacrificed for this country. I think in some ways, Wolf Point is a testament to that legacy—that notion that we need to see ourselves as something bigger than individuals—that land that exists is part of a block, and that block that exists is part of a street, and that street is part of a city, that city, that neighborhood is part of a great state and our country, too. And somehow in every decision that we make, we need to contribute for all of those things to make ourselves proud of the accomplishments that we make our life's work, and I think he would see what has occurred on Wolf Point as part of that legacy. I think one thing about Wolf Point that’s really interesting to me is the notion that it exists on that peninsula. It is part of the city, but also apart. It gives people a little bit of an oasis where they can still be a part of the city. I think the people that move into Wolf Point look for ways to participate in the greater community, and we hope that notion of involvement will be a part of the building people’s lives forever.
