BMO Tower

BMO Tower is the local headquarters for BMO Harris Bank, occupying a third of the 46-story office building. A five-foot-diameter sewer conveying drainage from the Jane Byrne Interchange bisects the site before outfalling into the Chicago River. Due to construction, future maintenance, and liability concerns, the client, IDOT, and CDOT agreed to reroute the sewer into public right-of-way. To avoid flooding under the office tower, we designed a new bulkhead for the tunnel which was installed five-feet east of the building footprint. In addition, we assisted with right-of-way acquisition along Canal Street to expand the building footprint. As a result, Canal Street changed from two-way traffic to northbound only, so we designed the new traffic signal and lane configurations in conjunction with CDOT and Bureau of Electricity.

Owner

Goettsch Partners

Additional Info

Project Highlight:

The property, directly south of the CTA Transit Center, is two acres in size and is located in Chicago’s Southwest Loop District. Approximately one acre is the office tower footprint and the remaining area is an open plaza above a parking garage.
The rerouted sewer crossed over an existing trolley tunnel and under the Amtrak pedestrian walkway connecting to Union Station. The trolley tunnel was originally constructed between 1890-1894 to allow horse-drawn carriages to cross under the Chicago River into the central business district.