Case Foundation assembles a caisson rig at Essex On The Park, 808 South Michigan Avenue.

The pool, garage, and everything else that was next door to the Essex Inn is gone now, and work is revving up to replace it with Essex On The Park, the latest Chicago project from Oxford Capital Group.

The City of Chicago issued a foundation permit on Monday, and Case Foundation is now on the scene (you thought I was gonna say “on the case, didn’t you?) setting up caisson equipment. Power Construction is the general contractor here, tasked with stacking 56 stories atop one another. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture did the design work on the 476-unit apartment tower.

The South Loop is a very busy place. Essex On The Park joins One Grant Park, 1411 South Michigan, and 1101 South Wabash as already-in-progress joints, while 1326 South Michigan just received a foundation permit as well this week, and there’s lots of buzz about 1000 South Michigan (1000M) firing up soon. Get the lawn chairs and coolers ready, SLoopers. It’s going to be a fun summer!