Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle

The Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle was a proposed 125-floor skyscraper intended for Chicago, Illinois, United States, by Lee Miglin and J. Paul Beitler and designed by architect César Pelli. The site of the proposed Skyneedle now is host to a parking garage. If it had been built when it was planned, the 1,999 ft (609 m) tall Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle would have been the tallest building in the world.[1]

Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle
General information
Status	Vision
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Address	201 West Madison Street
Height	609 m / 1,999 ft
Technical details
Floor count	125 +1 below ground
Floor area	127,276 m² / 1,369,987 ft²
Design and construction
Architect	Cesar Pelli

The tower's plans were unveiled in 1988. The plans would falter due to the post-Gulf War market downturn.[1][2][3] Miglin-Beitler held hopes of reviving the project, but these were dashed by the murder of Lee Miglin.[3]

The firm had believed that the observation deck planned atop the tower, as well as the twelve floors of parking at its lower levels would produced large amounts of revenue.[3][2] Plans also called for the building to include a two-story health club.[2] Office space in the building would have been marketed to smaller yet prestigious firms.[1]

Across the street (Wells Street) from the site where the tower had been planned is another Pelli project previously developed by Miglin-Beitler, 181 West Madison Street, which reportedly inspired the general design of the Skyneedle. Visually the upper floors of the Skyneedle do appear to be similar to a stretched 181 W Madison.

César Pelli also designed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers have an obvious design reference, with the exception of having round floorplates as opposed to square ones.