No. 9 Walton, 9 West Walton Street in the Gold Coast.

Over at 9 West Walton Street in the Gold Coast, JDL Development is erecting what may turn out to be one of the crown jewels in an already rather jewel-encrusted neighborhood. No. 9 Walton, a design from Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, originally set out to be a 35-story residential tower comprised of 67 ultra-luxury condominiums. But then, after beginning construction last summer, JDL asked the City of Chicago to go higher:

A proposal for the amendment of residential business planned development #1043, submitted by West Walton Chicago Investors LLC, for the property generally located at 9 W. Walton Street. The Applicant is proposing to increase the maximum allowable height permitted for tower 2 from the previously approved 430’ to 456’ to allow for the construction of 2 additional floors. The increase would allow for the construction of a total of 5 additional dwelling units. The applicant would be using the Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus to allow for an additional 0.29 FAR within the planned development. The Applicant is requesting to rezone the properties from Residential Business Planned Development #1043 to Residential Business Planned Development #1043, as amended. (2 nd Ward)

And sure enough, the Chicago Plan Commission said yes:

So now, No. 9 Walton will rise to 37 stories and a height of 456 feet. And if all goes according to plan, Lendlease, the general contractor on the project, will have condos ready for habitation by Summer 2017. Seem optimistic? We’ll just have to sit back and watch them work.