It’s 640 North Wells vs The Gallery On Wells. may the prettiest under-construction tower win.
Photo Gallery: The War On Wells, late-night edition
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Author Archives: danieldschell
Return to New York City: 220 Central Park South
Looking straight up at 220 Central Park South from West 58th Street.
No, I didn’t really return to New York City. That would be wishful thinking. I merely sorted through a few more photos that I actually managed to label properly, in order to put together a gallery focused on the new condo tower at 220 Central Park South in Midtown Manhattan.
Developer Vornado Realty Trust is building 116 units or so in two parts: One, an 18-story “villa” that fronts 59th Street, and a 79-story tower that unofficially fronts the north side of 58th Street. 220 Central Park South is a design by New York’s Robert A.M. Stern Architects, currently known around these parts for designing One Bennett Park in Streeterville.
Lendlease, also busy all over Chicago, is the general contractor.
To learn more about 220 Central Park South, please see the outstanding work from New York YIMBY here, and from 6sqft here.
And now, a barrage of photographs.
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- Rendering of 220 Central Park South from Vornado.
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- Rendering of 220 Central Park South from Vornado.
Demolitions continue around the old Children’s Memorial Hospital
Remnants of the White Elephant Resale Shop at 2375 North Lincoln Avenue.
It isn’t just Children’s Memorial Hospital being erased from Lincoln Park memory. Adjacent buildings on Lincoln Avenue and Fullerton Parkway have also been doomed to the wrecking ball as well, in addition to a couple structures within the triangular block where the hospital stood. Those include the Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion at 701 West Fullerton, and what you may have known as the White Elephant Resale Shop at 2375 North Lincoln.
A Hines McCaffery Interests rendering, which seems to show the White Elephant building remaining.
You aren’t alone if you thought the White Elephant building was to be saved. Renderings of The Lincoln Common show the building in place, so many of us were thrown off by its demise. According to DNAInfo, it was to be saved, or reconstructed, or maybe it will still be recreated as a brand-new structure. Whichever way, it’s rubble now. As for the Wilson Pavilion, that’s nothing but a hole in the earth now.
2350 and 2356 North Lincoln Avenue, prior to demolition. They’re both gone now.
Over on Lincoln Avenue, 2350 and 2356 were permitted for demolition in September, and 2358 a partial demolition, with the Lincoln Avenue facade to be saved, in early October. The former two structures are gone. 2358, of course, will take more time and care to bring down.
Finally, the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, at 700 West Fullerton, built in the late 1920s according to Preservation Chicago, which American Demolition started tearing into last month. Unrelated to The Lincoln Common, to will be replaced by a similarly-styled 7-story brick building to be used as a senior living facility.
The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion demolition is underway.
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- Gaping holes in the Nellia A. Black memorial Pavilion.
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- You used to be able to see the White Elephant Resale Shop here.
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- But it’s gone now.
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- The power plant is also expected to remain. Time will tell.
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- Faint reminders of the Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion.
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- Looking past the remains of the Martha Wilson Pavilion to the remains of the White Elephant shop.
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- The facade of 2358 North Lincoln Avenue, which will be saved.
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- Early demolition work of 2350 and 2356 North Lincoln Avenue…
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- …and the gap where they once stood.
Construction Progress: 1035 West Van Buren
1035 West Van Buren in the West Loop, colorful even on a gloomy day.
The 30-story, 300-unit apartment tower from Related Midwest at 1035 West Van Buren continues to show its true colors, all of them primary, alongside the Eisenhower Expressway in the West Loop. The blue, yellow, and red-covered construction site would have looked much better on a sunny day, but a quick check of the forecast shows it might be completed before we get more sunshine in Chicago. I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for the following photos from a dreary December afternoon.
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- The view from Building Up Chicago.
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- Kudos to Related Midwest; still Flying The W.
Linea gets out of the Chicago cranes business
No more tower crane atop Linea at 215 West Lake Street. But the curtain wall is starting to work its way down.
Tower cranes, that is. Linea, the residential tower by Thomas Roszak Architecture at 215 West Lake Street in The Loop, still has a baby crane on the top level to help finish off the building. But it’s topped out and getting more glass by the day. In fact, curtain installation has been working from the top, down, as well. Once known as Level Apartments, Linea is a 33-story, 265-unit development with about 150 parking spaces. Clark Construction is the contractor tasked with having Linea move-in ready in 2017.
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- No crane, more glass.
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- Placing curtain panels where the tower crane used to be anchored.
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- A few levels up, another gaping crane chasm.
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- Only six more stories of cladding to meet up with the top level.
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- For those who really miss the tower crane, 151 North Franklin’s makes a cameo appearance, top right.
Tearing down West Randolph Street
Jessica Alba’s billboard is still around. 729-735 West Randolph? Not so much.
Not all of it, of course. There are a few restaurateurs who’d fight that plan.
Specifically, we’re talking about 723-733 West Randolph. The building marked 735 doesn’t have a demolition permit that I’ve been able to find, but that could just be someone putting the wrong numbers on the front door. Either way, it’s mostly rubble now. Making the space is the ever-reliable Heneghan Wrecking.
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- Above and behind the destruction.
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- 735 is an ugly building, but it looked for a while like it would be spared the wrecking ball. Newp.
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- Kennedy-side rubble.
A look into the core of the Apple Store
Gallery
This gallery contains 16 photos.
1136 South Wabash still has Flyboy, and adds a tower crane
The tower crane at 1136 South Wabash, looming high above the South Loop.
Hebru Brantley’s Fly Boy mural on the south-facing exterior wall of 1132 South Wabash Avenue won’t be visible in the South Loop forever. That’s because 1136 South Wabash will soon obscure our view. But for now, Flyboy remains, supervising Lendlease construction crews as they go about the task of erecting the CA Ventures project.
Remember, 1136 South Wabash got a foundation permit and a full-build permit on the same day, October 4. Caisson work is done, and that’s why the tower crane has been brought in, to start taking this SCB design vertical. Expect a 26-story tower with 320 rental units, 143 parking spaces, and retail on the first floor.
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- Fly Boy, supervisor extraordinaire.
Ace Hotel discards its tower crane
The tower crane’s gone from the Ace Hotel.
It’s a sign of progress to see how many tower cranes are sprouting throughout Chicago. It’s another sign to see how many of those cranes are disappearing from construction sites around town. Done with one job; on to the next.
The Ace Hotel at 311 North Morgan Street in the West Loop is one of the latest area projects to lose its tower crane. The GREC Architects-designed 159-key, seven-story boutique hotel is topped out, and Sterling Bay is looking to have full houses in the very near future. General contractor Power Construction is doing what it can to make that happen soon.
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- Gone too are the shipping containers that held the original facade in place during early construction.
Like the bottom bun, McDonald’s foundation off to a good start
Lots of irons in the fire at the new McDonald’s HQ.
With Harpo Studios a distant memory, foundation work is underway in the West Loop on what will be the new headquarters for the McDonald’s Corporation. And you know, you can’t start building a burger without a good bottom bun.
The foundation permit, issued November 7.
A foundation permit was issued by the city on November 7. Equipment from Michels Corporation (they did the caisson work on the newly-opened River Point Plaza) is tearing away at the soil in the block surrounded by Carpenter, Randolph, and Aberdeen Streets, and Washington Boulevard. Once that work is done, general contractor McHugh Construction will start going vertical with the Gensler-designed HQ.
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- You’re just making it harder for spectators, aren’t you
Building Up Chicago 