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.

Eight Eleven Uptown driving iron at Montrose and Clarendon (Updated with Tower Crane news)

Posted on April 3, 2017 by danieldschell

Driving piles and breaking rocks at Eight Eleven Uptown.

Eight Eleven Uptown is the new apartment tower from JDL Development coming to the Uptown neighborhood. In the midst of clearing away remnants of the old Cuneo Hospital, foundation work is now underway on the 27-story, 381-unit tower at Montrose and Clarendon Avenues. Stalworth Underground is there as we speak, driving H-piles into the earth, even as American Demolition cleans up.

*** Look what came through Monday! It’s a tower crane permit. That was fast. ***

The tower crane permit, issued Monday April 3.

One Bennett Park adds the second tower crane

Posted on April 3, 2017 by danieldschell

Like the old NBA 3-to-make-2 free throw rule. Two cranes work together to build the third.

It’s an embarrassment of riches at One Bennett Park. Not only is it all blue and yellow and pretty on sunny days, but now it’s got a second tower crane. One Bennett Park joins Vista Tower and the McDonald’s Headquarters in the Two Crane Club. One big difference? McDonald’s and Vista got their two cranes at once; One Bennett Park planted its first tower crane way back in October.

Here are some photos from Saturday afternoon, as the second crane, West Crane, was being erected.

: Your cab awaits.

Life is a glass at 465 North Park

Posted on April 3, 2017 by danieldschell

465 North Park rises up in Streeterville.

465 North Park, the 48-story, 444-unit apartment tower from Jupiter Realty Company, continues to grow at East Illinois Street and North Park Drive in Streeterville. Power Construction has been working on the Pappageorge Haymes-designed tower since July of last year.

Work has climbed as high as seven stories now, but that’s not the best feature. That distinction belongs to a few windows lined up along the west facing. Unusual this early on in construction? Maybe. Am I complaining? Nope.

At The Sinclair, glass is almost up, and the tower crane is almost down

Posted on April 3, 2017 by danieldschell

Tower cranes aren’t supposed to be lower than the top of the buildings their servicing. Unless they’re being removed.

The tower crane started coming down from The Sinclair last week. That may seem like sad news, but the glass is also more than half full, which is good news. So they cancel each other out.

McHugh Construction has been working on the Fifield Companies apartment tower since Winter 2015. Now, after two tower cranes and lots of concrete, the 35-story, 390-unit tower looks certain to make its Summer Opening goal.

: A tower craned section is loaded onto a truck.

: Hey, Dude.

: Your cab is a bit hung up.

: The Sinclair has a booboo.

: Installing cladding on the east wall of the podium.

: There goes some of the tower crane.

1101 South Wabash digs deep

Posted on April 3, 2017 by danieldschell

Foundation work, getting down and dirty, at 1101 South Wabash.

There’s a hotel being built at 1101 South Wabash in the South Loop. And besides it being at the corner of Wabash and 11th Street, behind the Best Western Grant Park Hotel, that’s about all I can tell you of it. Sure, the original foundation permit tells us it will a 30-story hotel. But now there’s a revised permit, which calls for a 30-story mixed-use building.

Okay, not huge news. But there’s more; the revised permit now names Skender Construction as the general contractor, where Lendlease held that distinction on the original permit. Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture remains the architect of record.

With the former two-story parking garage a distant memory, the foundation is being dug and shored up. A tower crane permit was issued February 22, so we have that to look forward to.

: The new general contractor, according to the revised foundation permit.

: Lendlease signage remains all over the construction site.

: The Tower Crane permit, issued Feb 22.

One Grant Park plants a tower crane

Posted on March 31, 2017 by danieldschell

Scratch One Grant Park off the tower crane waiting list.

https://twitter.com/PDNAChicago/status/847801738648268800

Thanks to that tweet from Twitter user @PDNAChicago, we now know One Grant Park has begun installing a tower crane. The crane permit was granted (heh…Granted) way back on February 1, so it’s been a long wait.

The highly-anticipated Rafael Viñoly Architects design for Crescent Heights is delivering 76 stories and 792 apartments, plus 12,000 square feet of retail space, to the South Loop intersection of Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue.

Soon, McHugh Construction will have a new tower crane with which to begin sending One Grant Park into the sky. Hopefully, it won’t be a two-month wait like we had for the seedling. (Spoiler alert: It won’t be.)

: Someone’s in there.

: Foundation work, but not for the tower crane.

: Digging continues.

: The permit was issued Feb 1.

: Rendering of One Grant Park from Rafael Viñoly Architects.

Aloft Chicago Mag Mile sets foundations in Streeterville

Posted on March 31, 2017 by danieldschell

Stalworth Underground is on the foundation beat at the new Aloft Chicago Mag Mile.

Aloft Chicago Mag Mile rendering from the Tishman website.

With the former home of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art erased from existence, the new Aloft Chicago Mag Mile has begun putting down roots into the Streeterville soil. This is a design from Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, but the project itself is all Tishman. That’s because Tishman is not only the developer, owner, and manager of the new 18-story, 336-room hotel, but they’re the general contractor too.

For now, Stalworth Underground is on the scene, drilling caissons upon which the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile will sit. Next, they’ll do sheeting work (not the making-the-bed kind) before Tishman sends the new hotel vertical. They expect have it open in Winter 2018.

Chicago’s new Apple Store is taking the glass box to 2 whole new levels

Posted on March 31, 2017 by danieldschell

What says “glass box” better than an actual glass box? That’s pretty much what Power Construction is building in Pioneer Court these days. And while some use the “glass box” description as criticism, the new Apple Store at 401 North Michigan Avenue along the Magnificent Mile sure is making it work.

: Glass-wall views to and from the Chicago River.

: Those lights scream PARTY BARGE.

: Still no cab, Abe?

Quick Look: The Sinclair tower crane is coming down

Posted on March 29, 2017 by danieldschell

I wasn’t fast enough on the draw to capture the tower crane at The Sinclair coming down this morning as the Purple Line passed by. But I recovered in time to get this shot between the Sedgwick and Armitage stops. That rooftop crane will handle the rest of the heavy lifting from here on out.

Riverline levels continue to rise

Posted on March 28, 2017 by danieldschell

Ancora represents the first phase of the Riverline development in the South Loop.

Progress continues at Ancora, the first phase of the huge Riverline project CMK Companies is building along the Chicago River in the South Loop. The 29-story tower is barely above street level, yet somehow it already appears to be soaring. With the help of Pepper Construction on concrete work, Lendlease has reached the third floor on some parts of the site.

The Perkins+Will design will bring 452 apartments to this first phase of Riverline. Future phases will ultimately bring nine more buildings, 16,500 square feet of retail space, and a new riverwalk to the neighborhood.