That tower crane obscured by all the caisson equipment doesn’t belong to the McDonald’s HQ site. But soon, there will be two of them here.

By now you know, tower cranes are a favorite of mine. Two tower cranes? I can barely contain my bliss. We’ve seen them here in Chicago within the past 12 months at The Sinclair, the Simpson-Querrey Biomedical Research Center, and most recently, at Vista Tower. And coming soon, McDonald’s HQ. (HQ stand for headquarters, not headquarter-pounders)

On December 15, the City of Chicago filed permits for the two cranes at 110 North Carpenter Street in the West Loop, and look what they did! They’ve already named them West Crane and East Crane! Which really takes the pressure to come up with clever crane monikers off me.

They’re still busy with caisson work at the new Home of the Golden Arches, so don’t expect cranes to sprout right away. But they’ll be here soon enough. Now, if that completes your order, please pull up to the next window.

East Crane.

West Crane.