
National Wrecking started tearing holes in the 130 North Franklin soil on June 6.
“Hey, Dufus” your letter to the editor begins, “that makes no sense. Why would an empty lot need to be demolished?”
HOLES. That’s why. Sometimes the very equipment that tears a structure down becomes the excavation tools, the first step in building one up. And that’s the case at 130 North Franklin in The Loop, where the National Wrecking Company has moved in to start prepping the land for a 54-story office tower from developer Tishman Speyer.
The Chicago Plan Commission approved the Krueck & Sexton-designed tower on August 20, 2015, and construction nerds have been staring at the half-dirt/half-parking lot ever since, as us construction nerds do. And now we finally get to see some action. There are no permits filed as yet for 130 North Franklin, but when we know about them, you’ll know about them.

A long view.

Please don’t back up, Sir.

The parking lot portion at the north end of the site will be developed as well.

A rendering of 130 North Franklin from Krueck + Sexton.