It is to be perhaps Chicago's most recognizable landmark, but first Santiago Calatrava's planned Chicago Spire has to get off the ground. The building of the dramatic swirl of a building is currently stalled out. Construction has stopped and the architect, Calatrava, has filed a lien against Shelbourne Development Group Inc,. the Irish developer of the 2,000-foot condominium tower, for $11.3 million.Perkins+Will, the Spire's architect of record, is also seeking nearly $4.85 million from Shelbourne. And the hits keep coming, Architectural Record also reports that New York-based Thornton Tomasetti, which worked with Calatrava on the project's structural engineering, has filed its own lien for $1.3 million. A spokeswoman for Shelbourne president Garrett Kelleher, says the developer is working to resolve the payment issue. The reason for the problem, it's the new old refrain of "the credit crunch" or as Kim Metcalfe, Kelleher's spokeswoman puts it: "We're waiting for the banks to start acting like banks again."

As we mentioned earlier this year, about 30 percent of the tower's 1,200 condominiums are sold, including the penthouse,which was originally priced at $40 million and bought by Beanie Babies magnate Ty Warner. I'd be very surprised if this project didn't get completed but I do think it's another one that will be majorly delayed.

Chicago-based wine auction house Hart Davis Hart Wine Company has had some impressive sales lately (their sale of the Fox Cellar brought in an astounding $11,160,583 making it the fourth largest wine auction in history) and they aren't stopping anytime soon. This Saturday, November 1, Hart Davis Hart will hold an auction at Tru restaurant in Chicago. The auction will have 1,131 Lots worth an estimated $2.3-$3.4 million, the sale including wines from Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Pétrus, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Screaming Eagle, and over 100 lots from the cellar of Craig Williams, former winemaker of Joseph Phelps Vineyards. The Williams consignment includes large format offerings of Joseph Phelps Insignia, as well as Eisele and Backus Cabernet Sauvignon from Williams' cellar in Napa Valley.

Top lots include an imperial of 2000 Château Pétrus estimated at $40,000-$60,000 and a magnum of 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon for $10,000-$15,000. The live auction starts at 9 am at Tru and lunch during the auction can be had for $75 per person. Those not in Chicago can bid via phone, fax, online absentee bid through the live bid option on the Hart Davis Hart Live website. The live bid technology lets you hear the auction in real time and bid accordingly. Almost as exciting as being there.

I was curious what impact today's economy has on the wine auction market so I chatted with Hart Davis Hart President and CEO Paul Hart. He described the overall mood as "optimistic but concerned." Certainly the September success of the Fox Cellar auction which exceeded the high end of the estimate by nearly $1 million was a positive sign that the wine auction market is still strong. While acknowledging that that economic outlook has slid since then he noted that the retail arm of his company has continued to see strong sales. He believe that "wine is resilient," and his company has weathered bad markets before. Also the huge rises in wine auction prices over the past few years were likely to hit a stabilizing patch outside of any overall economic gloom.

What do people buy in a down market? As Hart put it, "the money always flows to the blue chips" and so there will continue to be interest in first growth Bordeaux and the top Napa wines. But wine auctions are also about the passion of the collector and while people buy with their wallets they also buy with their hearts. He reported that there is increased interest in some of the Phelps offerings such as the Backus Cabernet Sauvignon simply because it is hard to find and people want to try it. Wine, like art, can be a good investment but the old advice about the art market holds true for wine auctions, buy what you love.

UPDATE: The sale brought in $3,034,655 against a pre-sale auction estimate of $2,312,810 - 3,456,490. A live internet bidder came away with the largest invoice of the day and 99.29% of the lots were sold.

It seems as though wine enthusiasts either have to live on a coast (East or West) or be willing to travel a great distance in order to enjoy premier wine tasting events. Chicago is widening the field by offering its own tasting focused on California Pinot Noir wines on November 15th at Chicago Pinot Days Tasting. For $50 you can enjoy great Pinots on Navy Pier. In addition to Saturday's Grand Wine Tasting there is a Friday night winemakers dinner at Bin36. Looks like the perfect way to expand your wine knowledge, enjoy great wines and maybe even impress someone of interest by bringing them along for the event.

We see a lot of plans for new green buildings but an existing iconic tower is getting an eco-makeover. The famous Sears tower in Chicago was the world's tallest skyscraper when it was built in 1973. The new plan calls for installing wind turbines and PV to reduce energy use by 10% (the building has already reduced energy consumption by 50%). Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture spoke about the project at this week's Cityscape conference and said it also calls for new lighting systems, extra insulation and a green roof. The Building website has video of Smith talking about the greenification which is expected to cost over $145 million.

Real estate may be sluggish but that hasn't seemed to stop the luxury home tours. For three weekends in September, Sept. 5- 21, Chicago-area real estate gawkers can check out the houses in the 5th annual Chicago Luxury Home Tour. The homes are all new and feature green construction such as asphalt shingle roofs, geo-thermal heating and cooling, radiant in-floor heating and recycled and recyclable materials. Tickets can be bought in advance for $15 at local locations or for $20 at the homes. Or if you aren't in the area, sneak a peek at the photo gallery on the Chicago Home Tour website.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Luxe British lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, known for its sexy ad campaigns featuring Kate Moss (right), is expanding rapidly following its $120 million acquisition by a private equity firm last year.

The label, designed by Vivienne Westwood's son Joe Corre, already has 40 boutiques worldwide including eight in the U.S., with new locations planned for Boston and Chicago this fall, in addition to others around the globe.

"I just opened a boutique in Bahrain [in July], as well as Geneva and Puerto Barres in Spain," Corre tells WWD. "There also are more openings [planned] in Madrid, St. Petersburg and Germany." The brand, which was founded in 1996, plans to unveil its latest round of racy adverts next month.

Ever since Thor Equities paid $230 million a while back for Chicago's famed Palmer House hotel, we've been awaiting the results of their $150 million revamp of the storied space. The original edifice, rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, was frequented by presidents, robber barons and writers like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The current hotel, constructed in 1923, continued the opulent tradition but eventually lost some of its luster.

A fair amount of progress has been made on the project to date, including a chic restaurant called Lockwood and the new addition of Potter's (above), a bar / lounge named after the Palmer House's founder, Potter Palmer. In the style of a 1930s men's club, the wood and leather-bedecked space features oversized photos of past Palmer House patrons and Chicago icons like like Nat King Cole, football star Walter Payton, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

[via Men.Style]

Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs will open a boutique for his signature collection at the lavish Elysian Hotel development in Chicago (right) early in 2009. Jacobs' quirky, so-hip-it-hurts clothing is revered by celebs like Victoria Beckham, who starred in his ad campaign.

Jacobs has inked a ten-year lease on the 2,700-sq.-ft. space, which will be located in the development's Beaux Arts-style retail courtyard. The designer already has a boutique for his bridge line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, in the Windy City.

The 60-story edifice designed by architect Lucien Lagrange, is being billed as "a throwback to the grand hotels of the 1920's with the modern conveniences of today." It features 188 guest suites starting at $600,000, 51 private residences which start at $3 million, and a restaurant by famed chef Charlie Trotter.

Hart Davis Hart Wine Co., has a huge single-owner sale planned for September 19th and 20th. The Fox Cellar includes 166 lots of Château Lafite-Rothschild worth an estimated $1,067,400- $1,589,900 including 7 cases of the 1982 and 21 cases of the 1996 vintages (all in their original wooden cases); a 100 lot offering of Château Pétrus worth an estimated $1-$1.5 million; more than 1,000 bottles from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti; over a thousand bottles each of Châteaux Latour, Margaux, Mouton-Rothschild and Haut-Brion; a large selections of Italian wines from Angelo Gaja along with Super Tuscans, Guigal's Single-Vineyard Côte Rôties, and top California producers. Many of the lots were purchased by the current owner as futures or on release and are still in their original wooden cases.

The live auction will take place at Chicago restaurant Tru, at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 19th, 2008 and Saturday, September 20th, 2008. The auction of over 1,700 lots is estimated to fetch $7-$10 million.

Those in town for the auction can indulge in a Château Lafite-Rothschild Dinner at Charlie Trotter's on Thursday, September 18th. Hart Davis Hart Wine has chosen 20 celebrated vintages reflective of the Fox Cellar, spanning the past four decades of the estate and Chef Trotter will design a five-course dinner to complement the wines.

More than ever it seems having a snappy website and a dramatic plan by a popular architect does not guarantee that a building will be built. But the developer behind one of the most ambitious projects in the U.S., the Chicago Spire, is saying that the Santiago Calatrava-designed building is a go. The developer says they have already sold 30 percent of the building's condo units, sending a strong signal that there is enough interest in the project despite the fact that the condos are priced higher than others in the city (the studio units start at $750,000) and that the developer has required 15 percent of a unit's price upfront for each sale.

The Shelbourne Development Group, has been financing construction but that will change later this year and so everyone will be watching to see what new lenders step forward to back the project. The Spire will have 1,194 units total including the still-for-sale $40 million penthouse. If all proceeds as planned, move in is set for 2012.

For the next couple of weeks we will be checking out some homes in the most expensive zip codes in the United States, up today, 60022 . This zip code refers to the town of Glencoe, Illinois. This zip code has a median price of $1,850,000 with an appreciation rate of 218% since 1990. Glencoe is a small, highly affluent community on Lake Michigan that is part of the Chicago metropolitan area.

Today's estate is definitely not a representative sample of the real estate in the area. Glencoe homes tend to run to the traditional and this home is definitely not that. It's a bit of a contemporary fun house.This home is full of wacky modern furniture and all sorts of funky details including multi-colored wood floors, a bulbous fireplace, a kitchen full of swooping counters and wild bathrooms. It is listed at $6.9 million.

For the next couple of weeks we will be checking out some homes in the most expensive zip codes in the United States, up today, 60611 . This zip code is in Chicago, Illinois and encompasses pricey Chicago's Gold Coast area. This zip code has a median price of $1,954,000 with an appreciation rate of 236% since 1990.

Right now, the most expensive listings in this area belong to the Chicago Spire, the massive spiraled Santiago Calatrava masterpiece that will be the new defining piece in the Chicago skyline. The MLS is also sprinkled with some pricey listings for Trump's Chicago offering. But for today's estate I chose something a little older that speaks to this area's history. This duplex is part of a building built in 1913, designed by architect Benjamin Marshall and located on East Lake Shore Drive. The unit was purchased as raw space by the current owners in 1998 and redesigned by architect Scott Himmel. The main level has a round entry foyer with curved stairway, large living room with lake views, a separate dining room/library, family room, eat-in kitchen with breakfast room and butler's pantry, and a separate laundry room. The upper level has three bedrooms including a master suite with a study, dressing rooms and a terrace over looking the lake. This home is listed at $5.6 million.

For the next couple of weeks we will be checking out some homes in the most expensive zip codes in the United States, up today, 60610 . This zip code is in Chicago, Illinois. This zip code has a median price of $1,950,000 with an appreciation rate of 380% since 1990. One of the most charming areas in this zip code is Astor Street. Astor Street is a slice of Old Chicago, it began in 1880 and is home to 19th Century and 20th Century townhouses in a variety of styles. Walking down this street is an architectural feast for the eyes (for a little taste check out the pictures here).

Today's home recently underwent a five-year renovation resulting in this Art Deco-inspired home. The design gives his three-bedroom the blandly luxe look of a high-end boutique hotel. The home is rich in details such as carved stone fixtures and scrolled metalwork. It has state-of-the-art smart wiring and the home has three large terraces. This home is listed at $9,995,000.

Chicago's "Hotel of Presidents," has opened as The Blackstone, a 332-room luxury Renaissance brand hotel. The Blackstone has had many famous guests including a dozen U.S. presidents, including Franklin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman and John Kennedy. The $128 million renovation of the 23-story, Beaux-Arts building includes a collection of over 1600 original artworks, primarily by Chicago artists, is on permanent display throughout the guestrooms and public spaces of The Blackstone. The hotel has updated the traditional lobby rich with gilded details , French walnut paneled walls and brilliant chandeliers with an avant garde video-generated computer art piece. The artist, Lincoln Schatz, installed a robotic camera on The Blackstone's rooftop and programmed it to transmit changing views of Chicago's lakefront on side-by-side 50" plasma television screens located above the guest check-in pods. All rooms are equipped with a flat screen television, two-line telephone with data port, voice mail, mini bar, fine Chaz Stevens linens, complimentary in-room coffee, hairdryer and bathrobes as well as high-speed internet access (for an unreasonable $12.95 per day).

The hotel also includes ample meeting space, a health club, and a business center. There is also a "hotel within a hotel" concept, Hubbard Place, a previously unfinished space under The Blackstone's porthole-accented mansard roof that once housed mechanical equipment was transformed into the 23d floor Hubbard Place, which contains a lounge, two private boardrooms and a series of luxury suites, all overlooking Lake Michigan. Rates start in the high $200s per night for basic rooms.

Luxury condos in one of the most anticipated buildings in the U.S. went on sale this week. CBS2 in Chicago reports that the sales office for the Chicago Spire is now open. The sales office is as posh as the condos themselves with designs created by the architect of the Spire, Santiago Calatrava. Residences at the 2,000-foot-tall Spire are price from $750,000 to $15 million each. I had my doubts about the building when I first heard about it in 2005 but was soundly rebuked by commenters who insisted that this building is exactly what Chicago needs. Despite the sky-high prices and a sluggish real estate market, it is expected that the Spire will sell, not just to people in Chicago, but to people around the world who are eager to live in a Calatrava building. Those who buy are in for a long wait, move in isn't expected until 2012.