Chicago began May 2024 with 9 tower cranes operating on construction sites around the city. Nine tower cranes isn’t very many for Chicago, but it happens. The good news is, we’ve got a few on the way: at 220 North Ada (real soon), 400 Lake Shore (mid-May?), and maybe 1723 South Michigan (permit pending, but that’s just an idle, empty lot right now.)

More good news is that the Chicago Plan Commission will consider four projects at their next meeting — May 16 — that, if approved, will all require tower cranes: 700 West Chicago (multiple cranes over a multi-phase build?), 2031 North Kingsbury (355-unit apartment tower), 370 North Carpenter (29-story apartment tower), and 400 North Elizabeth (two towers, 724 total units.)

As for the nine we *do* have:

Four are building medical facilities (two at UChicago Cancer Center, one at Illinois Masonic,
and one at 4822 South Cottage Grove (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)
One parking garage (O’Hare Terminal Five)
One Cultural Center (Obama Presidential Center)
One community center (Project H.O.O.D.)
One Life Sciences facility (Hyde Park Labs)
One office building – 919 West Fulton

Community Areas represented:
Hyde Park – 3 (Hyde Park Labs and 2 at UChicago Cancer Center)
Woodlawn – 2 (Obama Presidential Center and Project H.O.O.D.)
O’Hare – 1 (Terminal 5 Parking Garage)
Lake View – 1 (Illinois Masonic)
Near West Side – 1 (919 West Fulton)
Grand Boulevard – 1 (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)

Here they are in pictorial form, from south to north:

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