Chicago just got a little colder as the end to a decades-long building boom has left two of the city’s tallest building projects stuck in limbo, leaving their owners scrambling to seek alternative methods of financing. Developers of the 1,047-ft-tall Waterview Tower and 2,000-ft-tall Chicago Spire bet that enough sales would come through before the market turned sour, but they lost that round—at least for now. Construction of the two supertall residential projects may be on hold until the market rebounds, but industry observers believe the buildings will not be left out in the cold forever.

In both cases, speculators may have bitten off more than they could chew. “Ninety-five percent of the developers in this market first obtain the construction loan, and then they put a shovel in the ground,” says Gail L. Lissner, vice president of local real-estate analyst Appraisal Research Counselors. “These are the two exceptions.”