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.
732 West Randolph is an edition, and an addition. The eight-story building in the heart of Restaurant row connects on all six floors of the exiting building to its east. Wait….I guess it’s more of an extension than an addition, but I’ve said what I’ve said.
Never forget, this humble eight-story edifice brought a tower crane to the West Loop. Be grateful for that, Construx Nerds.
Hey, there’s a sweet video in that link above. And the gallery shows what the almost-ready-for-business office building looks like right this very moment.
This post has been corrected to show Q Investment Partners of Singapore as the developer.
The tower crane at 633 South LaSalle in the South Loop.
633 South LaSalle has avoided a forced vacation to Spireville and is now underway in the Printers Row area of the South Loop. The tower crane is up, the core has gone 3-D, and any and all delays — pandemic-related or otherwise — are a thing of the past. Thrilled and relieved to see this one get going.
This will be an 18-story co-living development, consisting of 117 units and 381 beds. Why co-living in the South Loop? Students. Roosevelt University, Columbia College, DePaul, East-West University, etc. Lots of kids need lots of places to stay.
Tip o’the cap to Chicago Cityscape for letting me know the tower crane was up.
Was I hallucinating when it came to old permits here? There were a bunch of them, I swear. But now there are only three on the City of Chicago website:
The tower crane goes up at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Lake View.
I went to the South Loop Friday to see a new tower crane, and found an even newer one in Lake View on the way home.
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is erecting an eight-story vertical expansion (if this was a house, it would be called an addition) addressed as 900 West Nelson Street. This construction is best viewed from an outbound Brown Line train, which is where I was Friday when I snapped a couple iPhone shots of the crane going up.
Turner Construction is the general contractor. It looks from the permits issued that SmithGroup is the design architect.
Almost as many permits and floors on this one. The construction itself was permitted in three phases, while the tower crane has two permits of its own:
1114 West Carroll has gone vertical in the Fulton Market District.
1114 West Carroll, the 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower from developer Trammell Crow Company, is beginning to go 3-D from its excavation site in the Fulton Market District. On the site where once stood a Ryder truck-rental site, GC Power Construction has been digging out space for the below-grade 95 parking spaces for several weeks. But now, the core is rising.
Designed by ESG Architecture & Design, who also teamed with Trammell Crow on the Fulton Labs project on the north side of the Metra tracks, 1114 West Carroll will add retail space at ground level. Below-grade parking + ground-level retail = no parking podium, if my math is correct.
To date, 1114 has received the following building permits: foundation issued 1/9/23 tower crane issued 1/23/23 full build issued 3/7/23 hoist issued 4/25/23
I got over here a couple times while the digging was still being dug — you’ll see photos from those visits in the gallery, including shots from Craning Day in March — but verticality is always a nice milestone. Those pics were taken May 7.
The glazing is underway at Sterling Bay’s 225 North Elizabeth.
The future 28-story apartment tower at 225 North Elizabeth in the Fulton Market District is up to about the 20th level. But it’s much easier to count the levels of glass than the levels of concrete. There’s one. One level of glass. I know this for a fact because I took a look on a gorgeous May Sunday and did the math in my head. There’s one level of glass. Not a complete level, mind you. But one, just the same.
1000M is at that age where the up-closes aren’t as dramatic as the far-offs. Which is why this post exists in the first place. Wednesday the 12th was as perfect a day as Chicago ever sees in mid-April, and while I didn’t set out to take more progress photos of Helmut Jahn’s South Loop apartment tower, the views once I backed away had their way with me.
So here ya go. A bunch more 1000M photos taken from a variety of perspectives, including Northerly Island (my first real visit there and OMG!), Grant Park, and the Museum Campus. Please enjoy:
Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
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