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.

A post-European-visit Chicago tower crane survey

Posted on May 29, 2017 by danieldschell

There were 32 active tower cranes in the City of Chicago when the B.U.C. staff took a break to look for cranes in London on the 17th of this month. A lot changed during our nine-day absence, and we returned to find…okay, there are still 32 active tower cranes in Chicago. But not all the same ones.

Two cranes from that count are no longer active: 171 Aberdeen, which came down Friday, and 3Eleven, which has been partially lowered and will soon be completely removed.

: 171 Aberdeen tower crane removal.

: 3Eleven tower crane removal.

But two new cranes have taken their places: One South Halsted and the Moxy Hotel. That means the West Loop and River North both lost and gained a crane. Nice synergy.

: The One South Halsted tower crane.

: The Moxy Hotel tower crane.

There are also a few changes on the future tower crane horizon. Aloft Chicago Mag Mile has planted a stub at 243 East Ontario Street in Streeterville, joining No. 508 (508 West Diversey Parkway) as stub-only tower crane sites. And the Marlowe project at 675 North Wells Street in River North received a tower crane permit on Friday.

: The new tower crane stub at Aloft Chicago Mag Mile.

: Still waiting for the rest of the crane at No. 508.

: Marlowe received a tower crane permit Friday. Caisson work is ongoing.

Two sites, Nobu Hotel (854 West Randolph Street) and Essex On The Park (808 South Michigan Avenue) have permits, but continue to keep us waiting on stub planting. Nobu is driving piles; Essex remains on caisson duty.

: Driving piles at Nobu Hotel following the completion of caisson work.

: Caisson work continues at Essex On The Park.

Quick Look: Aloft Chicago Mag Mile plants a tower crane stub

Posted on May 29, 2017 by danieldschell

Streeterville has a new tower-crane stub, thanks to the lovely new seedling sprouting up at the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile at 243 East Ontario Street. Just a little more sand left to dig out of the lot, and Tishman’s 18-story hotel can start going vertical.

Not down yet, but the 3Eleven tower crane is out of commission

Posted on May 29, 2017 by danieldschell

The tower crane at 3Eleven has been lowered below the top of the building. You know what that means.

Having served its city well, the tower crane at 3Eleven (311 West Illinois Street) is on the way down. The John Buck Company’s 25-story apartment building topped out in April, and the cladding has nearly reached the top of the tower. Now the work is done for this pretty yellow Liebherr 316 EC-H 12 Litronic tower crane.

Where will it end up next? Well, this is purely speculation, but the tower crane permit for the Nobu Hotel at 854 West Randolph Street in the West Loop calls for the exact same type of Liebherr crane. “Hmmm,” you might say.

: The jib peeks out across the L tracks.

: That Timberland ASD 35-100 Derrick crane will lift what remains to be lifted.

: Down but not quite out.

The long-awaited One South Halsted tower crane is up

Posted on May 27, 2017 by danieldschell

There it is, finally! One South Halsted put up a tower crane for me.

Old Glory, and a Glorious Golden Tower Crane.

The shiny yellow tower crane stub that tantalized us for so long at One South Halsted has finally blossomed into a full-blown Liebherr 316-EC-H 12 crane, spreading joy and heavy materials throughout the Greektown neighborhood of the West Loop.

Twitter user @iYarn let us know last week while we were enjoying the Tower Cranes of London that assembly had started, and the tower crane was completed and operational upon our return. Sorry to have missed it, but the hours of entertainment it’ll provide will more than make up for that disappointment.

: One South Halsted, b/w The Sears Tower.

: One South Halsted, b/w 625 West Adams.

: 4West Loop cranes, though 171 Aberdeen (top) is now gone.

: Close-up.

: From the Madison Street bridge.

: Crane and Flag.

171 Aberdeen drops the tower crane

Posted on May 27, 2017 by danieldschell

A street crane prepares to take down the tower crane at 171 Aberdeen in the West Loop Friday morning.

The last Friday of May was also the last day the tower crane at 171 Aberdeen stood above the West Loop. A crew started bright and early in the morning bringing the crane down, making the West Loop American Flag, Tower Crane, and Water Tank photo opp much more difficult.

171 Aberdeen (165 N Aberdeen now?) is a mixed-use building from MCZ Development, delivering 90 residential units, with 40,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of retail space, plus 130 parking spots, to the neighborhood. Novak Construction is the GC. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture the designer.

: When that second crane shows up, you know your tower crane’s doomed.

: Removing counterweights.

: Removing counterweights.

: Your jobs are safe from me.

: No better place to hang out on a Friday of a holiday weekend.

: Prepping the end section of the jib.

: That’s crooked.

: We have separation.

: Down comes the first jib section. Watch out for that L train.

: Stubby crane.

River North’s Moxy Hotel gets Chicago’s most unique tower crane

Posted on May 26, 2017 by danieldschell

Off in the distance stands one of Chicago’s newest tower cranes, at the Moxy Hotel site.

Tower crane parts are delivered the first week of May.

We knew there’d be a crane at the Moxy Hotel site in River North, but when the parts showed up, I asked someone on site and was told it really wasn’t a “tower crane.” But a piece of paper can make all the difference in the world, and as you can see, the City of Chicago’s building permit says it’s a tower crane:

ENGINEERED SUPPORT FOR A LEIBHERR 81 K.1 TEMPORARY SELF ERECTING TOWER CRANE SUPPORTED ON A BALLASTED BASE AND CRANE

Yeah, Liebherr is the correct spelling, but that’s not important. What matters is that this contraption with the weight stack that looks like the bench-press machine from high school goes in my official book as another tower crane for Chicago.

There were similar cranes to this one spotted during a visit to Phoenix this winter, but they were operated from the ground. Since the Moxy Hotel crane requires an operator to make the climb up to a cab, that gives it even more legitimacy. Count it.

: The Tower Crane Permit.

: Remember high school, when we challenged each other to bench the stack? Yes you do.

: The Captain. 2

: The Ship.

One South Halsted builds a tower crane

Posted on May 21, 2017 by danieldschell

Many thanks to Adebayo Onigbanjo (Twitter user @iyarn) for keeping me up to speed on the tower crane at One South Halsted. These photos are from Thursday; alas, the excitement of London got the better of my attention span, so by now, I presume the crane is fully assembled and lifting the heavy stuff.

: All images courtesy of Adebayo Onigbanjo

: All images courtesy of Adebayo Onigbanjo

: All images courtesy of Adebayo Onigbanjo

London, OMG!

Posted on May 19, 2017 by danieldschell

You think Chicago has tower cranes? Okay, yes it does. Chicago does have tower cranes. But London has tower cranes like they’re being given away. Every direction you look, cranes. Turn the corner, another crane. Look to the left, you might see 10 tower cranes. On one site. There might be too much home work to do here, but for now, just have a few photos. If I figure out what the words should be, I’ll post ’em later.

: The famous “bent” crane at 22 Bishopsgate.

: Not tower cranes, but still cool.

: 100 Bishopsgate. Yes, there’s a logo on the tower crane.

: The London Eye, and a bunch of cranes.

: Madness. This is Southbank Place. There are TEN here.

: Zoom in. I count art least 12 tower cranes in this shot from Tower Bridge.

: Cranes galore, seen from the Great Fire Monument.

: A cluster of cranes near The Gherkin.

Walsh Construction celebrates topping out at Hotel Zachary

Posted on May 16, 2017 by danieldschell

A tweet from The Big Green W yesterday confirmed that the Hotel Zachary has reached a construction milestone.

https://twitter.com/thebiggreenw/status/864231518352355329

Then the Hotel Zachary Twitter account joined the fun as well, tweeting a photo of Hickory Street Capital’s Tom Ricketts (you might know him for his other gig as the guy who brought a World Series trophy to Wrigley Field) signing the final beam.

https://twitter.com/hotelzachary/status/864244896110137345

#FlyTheBigGreenW indeed. There’s still a lot of work to do to get the Hotel Zachary into full-functioning hospitality mode, so let’s not put the tower crane on the endangered list quite yet. The 175 rooms and countless eateries will open in 2018 in time for another season of Cubs baseball, plus all the concerts and entertainment Wrigley Field and the newly-opened Park At Wrigley can host.

Tuesday-morning view of the Hotel Zachary from a swift-moving L train. (I blame all my blurry photos on swift-moving L trains.)

With site cleared, St. Ignatius can begin its new athletic center

Posted on May 16, 2017 by danieldschell

1001 West Roosevelt, site of the new St. Ignatius College Prep Athletic Center, seen from Skydeck Chicago.

At the corner of West Roosevelt Road and South Morgan Street, Heneghan Wrecking has hauled off the last remnants of the former Provision Theater, making space for St. Ignatius College Prep to get started on its new athletic center.

Permitted for demolition on March 13, the site at 1001 West Roosevelt is a blank canvas now. Not much information is available yet for the new facility, but the coveted building permit will spill all the secrets as soon as it’s issued, likely in the very near future.