Author Archives: danieldschell

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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.

How many tower cranes are there in Chicago’s sky *right now*? (Spoiler Alert: 32)

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Chicago's 32 Tower Cranes

Tow of Chicago’s 32 tower cranes hover over the McDonald’s Headquarters site in the West Loop.

You’ve read the story that’s been going around for several months now. It ranked Chicago Number 1 in the country in active residential tower cranes in the air. An earlier national story mentioned Chicago having  56 active tower cranes back in Fall 2016. Sorry, but that seemed too high (heh — tower cranes…high…) to me.

Unable to climb the Sears Tower and get visuals, here’s what I pulled from the far reaches of my brain as Chicago’s current count. And the city’s permit list.

Let’s work our way from north to south (more or less):

  1. Eight Eleven Uptown (Uptown)
  2. Hotel Zachary (Lake View)
  3. Addison & Clark (Lake View)
  4. Elevate Lincoln Park (Lincoln Park)
  5. Atrium Village (Near North)
  6. 1001 West Chicago (River West)
  7. Wicker Park Connection (Stub) (Wicker Park)
  8. No. 9 Walton (Gold Coast)
  9. Simpson-Querrey Center x 2 (Streeterville)
  10. Optima II (Streeterville)
  11. One Bennett Park x 2 (Streeterville)
  12. 465 North Park (Streeterville)
  13. Apple Store (Streeterville)
  14. 8 East Huron (River North)
  15. Hubbard221 (River North)
  16. 3Eleven (River North)
  17. Wanda Vista Tower x 2 (New East Side)
  18. 171 Aberdeen (West Loop)
  19. McDonald’s Headquarters x 2 (West Loop)
  20. Illume Chicago (West Loop)
  21. One South Halsted (Stub) (West Loop)
  22. 625 West Adams (West Loop)
  23. Landmark West Loop (West Loop)
  24. Cook County Central Campus Health Center (Stub) (Illinois Medical District)
  25. Alta Roosevelt (South Loop)
  26. Ancora at Riverline (South Loop)
  27. 1136 South Wabash (South Loop)
  28. One Grant Park (South Loop)
  29. 1411 South Michigan (South Loop)
  30. The 3 Hiltons (Prairie District)
  31. Solstice On The Park (Hyde Park)
Chicago's 32 Tower Canes

Two more, at One Bennett Park in Streeterville.

31 construction sites with tower cranes, four of them having two cranes, but 3 are just stubs, so they aren’t active. That’s 32 tower cranes by my count. Have I missed any?

Chicago's 32 Tower Cranes

Two at Wanda Vista Tower.

There’s some math to do as far as trying to get to 56 from November. We’ve lost a lot of tower cranes since then, but we’ve also added several. But I maintain Chicago did not have 56 active cranes at any time in 2016.

A story by Curbed Chicago in November counted 48 tower cranes active during the 2016 calendar year throughout Chicago, but not all were active at the same time. This Chicago Tribune story, also from November, counted 32 active cranes, calling that a record for Chicago. By the time all three current stubs are active (Cook County Health, Wicker Park Connection, and One South Halsted) we might have lost cranes at topped-out projects 3Eleven, 1001 West Chicago, and Landmark West Loop. So we could break the record in the next couple weeks. if those two cranes hang around long enough.

Of note:

  • There are no tower cranes in The Loop right now.
  • 6 cranes are non-residential: The 2 at Simpson Querrey Center, the Apple Store, 625 West Adams, the triple-branded Hilton, and the Hotel Zachary.
  • The stubs at Cook County Health and Aloft Hotel will be non-residential as well.

Construction Progress: 625 West Adams

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625 West Adams

625 West Adams, as seen from the B.U.C. HQ.

625 West Adams, the 20-story office tower from co-developers White Oak Realty Partners and CA Ventures, continues adding steel beams in the West Loop. After watching the elevator core shoot skyward well ahead of the rest of the building, the main floors are catching up now, so expect to see the core start growing again soon. As of today, Power Construction crews are adding beams to the 17th floor, while concrete gets poured onto the 11th. The SCB-designed tower is on schedule to open in Spring 2018.

Ode to a resilient Chicago Water Tank

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Chicago Water Tank 809 North Racine

The tank sits on top of Handelsman Lofts, on the right. But the building on the left, 811-813 N Racine, is a gorgeous building.

If there’s one thing I like, it’s rooftop water tanks. And baseball. And a good MLT, mutton lettuce and tomato sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean. But water tanks. Those are cool.

All the way back in of August of 2016, a permit was issued by the city allowing for the removal of the water tank atop 809 North Racine Avenue in the Goose Island (I think?) neighborhood. Now, I don’t know what this particular water tank is ding right, but here we are almost seven months later, and that Chicago water tank still stands proud.

I think that deserves a blog post. Here is that tank’s blog post.

Chicago Water Tank 809 North Racine

Standing tall and proud in the distance.

One South Halsted tower crane stub from the ground, just because

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You’ve seen the overhead shots. Now, the view from street level.

One South Halsted and its shiny yellow tower crane (stub).

 

Wicker Park Connection joins the Tower Crane fun

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Wicker Park Connection tower crane

A freshly-planted tower crane stub springs up at the Wicker Park Connection.

How’s this for quick. On Tuesday, the City of Chicago issued a tower crane permit for the Wicker Park Connection. That’s the 15-story, 140-unit Transit Oriented Development Centrum Partners is building next door to the T.O.D. they built at 1664 West Division Street, Centrum Wicker Park. The Wicker Park Connection is another collaboration with Hirsch Associates Architects, who also teamed with Centrum in River North on 412 North Wells and Centrum Hubbard (is it called “Hubbard221” now?)

Where was I? Oh yeah, tower crane permit. Anyway, general contractor Linn-Mathes wasted no time in getting the tower crane stub planted in the ground. Foundation work is still underway, but expect that new tower crane to start lifting heavy stuff off the ground in no time.

Caissons roll along at Essex On The Park

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Essex On The Park caissons

Like a 4th-line forward in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Case Foundation goes to work in the corners at Essex On The Park.

Two weeks ago, Case Foundation started moving equipment onto the lot at 808 South Michigan Avenue, next to the Essex Inn. And now, they’re deep into full-blown caisson work for the new Essex On The Park apartment tower from Oxford Capital Group. Soon, the 56-story, 476-unit project by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture will have footing to stand on, allowing Power Construction to get about the task of sending it vertical.

 

One South Halsted is planting a beautiful yellow tower crane, and all is right with the world

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Guess what we’re getting, West Loop! A shiny yellow Liebherr 316-EC-H 12 tower crane (stub), courtesy of One South Halsted.

 

The earth is turning under 1326 South Michigan

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1326 South Michigan site prep

That’s a serious hunk of concrete.

There’s no mistaking the former surface parking lot at 1326 South Michigan for a current surface parking lot. That’s because Walsh Construction is on the scene with Zenere Companies, excavating the site for the 46-story, 500-unit tower from Murphy Development Group and CIM Group.

There’s enough topography on site now to make for a decent par-three golf course, what with the undulating mounds of soil, piles of rock and debris, and deep bunkers. There’s also a giant concrete block right smack dab in the middle of the lot that could present quite the hazard should you slice your tee shot.

It’s an Old Town Teardown as O’Brien’s meets the wrecking claw

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O'Brien's 1528 North Wells Street

When this shows up at your table, you better hurry and clean your plate.

Tuesday was Last Call at O’Brien’s Restaurant at 1528 North Wells Street in Old Town, as a crew from Heneghan Wrecking went about making space for a future hotel on the site. Permitted for demolition in March, O’Brien’s closed in late August, but plan to be back in business as part of the new boutique hotel slated for the site. That hotel, approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in June 2016, will be 13 stories high with 188 guest rooms, and, teamed with four single-family homes, will include demolition of the building next door, at 1520 North Wells.

Eight Eleven Uptown puts a tower crane in the ground

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Eight Eleven Uptown tower crane

Eight Eleven Uptown alters the skyline with a new tower crane.

Planted, sprouted, and in full bloom, there’s now a tower crane high above Eight Eleven Uptown.

The 27-story apartment tower from JDL Development and Harlem Irving Companies at 811 West Agatite Avenue got its permit on April 3, so that’s an impressive jump to action from Lendlease.