The tower crane starts the long journey back to earth at Aurélien.

Aurélien, the 368-unit luxury apartment tower Ryan Companies designed, developed, and is constructing at 833 North Clark Street in the Near North neighborhood, reached another milestone this week, albeit a sad one for construction nerds. On Tuesday, the tower crane atop the topped-out 31-story structure began its slow descent back to earth. That means most of the progress photos you’ll see below, taken Sunday when the tower crane was at full staff, are already obsolete. Such is life.

Gallery I: Tuesday’s tower crane descent

Gallery II: Sunday’s progress photos