They’re scraping and digging at 455 West Superior Street.

I don’t normally pay mind to single-family development. I like the big stuff. The tall stuff. The expensive stuff.

The Permit.

Well, here’s a single-family home that fits into all three categories. Back in March, Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s was all over the news of a permit being filed for a home to be built at 455 West Superior Street in River North. What makes this home so unusual? Let’s have a look at that permit, filed by the City of Chicago on March 1, 2016.

• It’s a five-story, single-family home. That’s a tall home.
• The permit estimates construction costs at just under $10,000,000.00!
• THERE WILL BE CAISSONS! This is gonna be one *heavy* home. (Yeah, no basement. I guess the game room will have to be on one of the five above-ground floors.)
• Power Construction is the general contractor. That’s a heavy hitter for your home building.

Not much has been done since March, until now. When I walked past on Thursday, I saw the first signs of active construction since the permit. Scraping and digging. Just like they do for skyscrapers. This will be an interesting home to watch go up.

The actual permit, displayed on site at 455 West Superior Street.

Another view of the lot, which, according to Dennis Rodkin’s article, is really *three* lots.

455 West Superior on March 2, the day after the permit was filed.