About danieldschell

I'm Daniel Schell, Chicagoan, Twitter fiend, and picture taker. I like sunsets, travel, and long walks through construction sites. If you build it, I will come.

Vista Tower opens this year. It’s a pretty big deal.

Posted on January 23, 2020 by danieldschell

Soil sampling at Lower Wacker Drive and Field Boulevard, August 2016.

Vista Tower opens in 2020. That’s this year. Seems like a decade ago there was the occasional soil sampler in the lots bisected by Field Boulevard in Lakeshore East. But then earth was scraped, caissons were sunk, foundations were poured, two tower cranes were erected, frustums were frustummed, and here we are.

You know what we haven’t seen from this blog in a long time? A big ole Vista Tower photo dump. In part because once a tower under construction reaches 39,000 feet in the air, or whatever this glorious beast is, it’s hard to watch the work that’s being done. But I’ve passed by her a few times over the past several months, always snapping a few shots on the way. You might want to see them, so if you do, here they are.

Like I said, she’s glorious, ain’t she?

Midwest Property Group has a foundation permit for 448 North LaSalle

Posted on January 23, 2020 by danieldschell

Who knows what the actual address will be, but in the follow-up to a tower crane permit being issued (way back in November) for 151 West Illinois Street in River North, a foundation permit was issued Wednesday for 448 North LaSalle. That permit allows for construction to begin through the first three levels of a 13-story building. The developer, Midwest Property Group, uses 430 North LaSalle as the address here, so we now have three different physical addresses related to this build.

I *think* this is going to be an office building, with retail space at street level. If so, ride to work, don’t drive. You’ll be able to park 40 or so of your bikes here, but no cars.

Lamar Johnson Collaborative is the design architect on 151/430/448. Lendlease is the GC. Crews have already been busy with site prep, tearing apart what used to be a dreaded surface parking lot.

Here’s a very clumsily-copied rendering I lifted from the pdf Alderman Reilly’s office shared with the public back in March.

: The English Pub building at 444 will remain…

: …and here’s a hint at what it may become.

Just the cranes – Cirrus, Cascade triple the fun

Posted on January 22, 2020 by danieldschell

What’s that old saying I just made up a couple weeks ago? Oh yeah, I remember:

Tower cranes should be cherished. Two tower cranes should be cherished and celebrated. Three tower cranes should be cherished, celebrated, and should get their own post.

It’s true at One Chicago Square just as it’s true at Cirrus & Cascade in Lakeshore East. What’s more, these are three shiny yellow Liebherr cranes. My favorite cranes (that aren’t lit up.)

This is their own post.

Stuff That’s Done: 727 West Madison

Posted on January 22, 2020 by danieldschell

727 West Madison takes me back. There was a time, at this blog’s busiest, that I spent many many hours staring out over the West Loop. Not only was I checking up on the explosion of development, but I wasted an awful lot of time watching traffic zoom (or crawl) by on the Kennedy, Ryan, and Eisenhower Expressways. Not to mention the ongoing revamp (no pun intended) of the Jane Byrne Interchange.

I watched from above as the Crowne Plaza parking lot was fenced off and torn up, and construction commenced on 727. I would move from the neighborhood before it leveled up too high, but it was amazing to watch the start from that vantage point.

727 West Madison is the first tower I think about if a return to the West Loop makes sense. Skyline views? Check. Traffic views? Yup. Sweeping views of the booming West Loop and Fulton Market development? Serious check.

FitzGerald is the design architect of 727 West Madison. Fifield Companies and F&F Realty are the developers. Lendlease did the dirty work. Have a look. It’s shiny, curvy, and perfectly located.

P.S. I still think One South Halsted was a better name, but I wasn’t consulted. I’m over it.

Photos follow of 727 West Madison in its completed stage, and in its infancy, as One South Halsted, taken from the original B.U.C. HQ high above the West Loop. (Oh how I miss it)

320 North Sangamon adding 300,000 square feet of offices to Fulton Market

Posted on January 22, 2020 by danieldschell

SCB rendering of 320 North Sangamon.

320 North Sangamon is up off the ground and going vertical. The 13-story, 300,000-sq-ft office building is being developed by Tishman Speyer. As you may have already heard, the market for Fulton Market office space is going nuts right now.

Clark Construction is tasked with getting 320 North Sangamon ready for its 2021 opening. They know a thing or two about putting up office buildings; you may have heard of 150 North Riverside? 110 North Wacker? Union Station Tower? Yeah, I thought so.

320 is a design by Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

The following photos were taken January 1 and January 19.

Zooming in on Union Station Tower

Posted on January 21, 2020 by danieldschell

Union Station Tower is surrounded by construction fence, as you’d expect from a construction site. But man, does it ever get in the way. Monday I got just high enough to zoom in on some of the action.

Imprint, Chicago’s punniest residential tower, is making an impression in the South Loop

Posted on January 21, 2020 by danieldschell

Imprint rises at 717 South Clark St in the South Loop.

This is my first edition dedicated to Imprint. The name Imprint is a novel idea, an homage to the history of the South Loop’s Printers Row neighborhood. You should book a tour; nothing is binding until you sign a lease. I tried to talk to one of the workers on site, but the wind was too strong, creating a rough draft that had chapter lips. She wasn’t able to page someone else, despite my attempt to press.

That’s it; I don’t have any more printing puns. <HITS PUBLISH>

Imprint will be a 30-story, 349-unit rental tower. A three-story, 55,000-sq-ft former office building at 719 South Clark is being renovated and integrated as amenity space for the new residents.

CMK Companies, responsible for a lot of what’s being built in the South Loop, is the developer. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect, and Lendlease is on the build. They’re all working toward a Spring 2020 opening.