Nine tower cranes isn’t very many for Chicago. But it happens. The good news is, we’ve got a few on the way. At 220 North Ada (real soon), 400 Lake Shore (mid-May?), and maybe 1723 South Michigan (permit pending, but that’s just an idle, empty lot right now.)

More good news is that the Chicago Plan Commission will consider four projects at their next meeting — May 16 — that, if approved, will all require tower cranes: 700 West Chicago (multiple cranes over a multi-phase build?), 2031 North Kingsbury (355-unit apartment tower), 370 North Carpenter (29-story apartment tower), and 400 North Elizabeth (two towers, 724 total units.)

As for the nine we *do* have:

Four are building medical facilities (two at UChicago Cancer Center, one at Illinois Masonic,
and one at 4822 South Cottage Grove (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)
One parking garage (O’Hare Terminal Five)
One Cultural Center (Obama Presidential Center)
One community center (Project H.O.O.D.)
One Life Sciences facility (Hyde Park Labs)
One office building – 919 West Fulton

Community Areas represented:
Hyde Park – 3 (Hyde Park Labs and 2 at UChicago Cancer Center)
Woodlawn – 2 (Obama Presidential Center and Project H.O.O.D.)
O’Hare – 1 (Terminal 5 Parking Garage)
Lake View – 1 (Illinois Masonic)
Near West Side – 1 (919 West Fulton)
Grand Boulevard – 1 (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)

Here they are in pictorial form, from south to north:

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago using the form below.

20-ish. About 20. ~20. Something like that. I haven’t had time to get around town and see two of our cranes for myself, but I’ve concrete (heh) evidence of the Obama Center’s third crane, and I’m comfortable assuming the 4445 W Irving Park crane is still there.

Since counting, but not posting, 21 at the start of July, we’ve lost 354 North Union. That means no cranes were erected in July, which sounds wrong, but I don’t think I’m missing any. 311 West Huron, 150 North Ashland, and 741 North Wells are all permitted but not planted yet.

Here they are, going north to south for this edition:

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago using the form below.