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.
Just in the nick of time, before August ended, 210 North Aberdeen got the tower crane up in the air. Work was supposed to have started Monday, but weather may certainly have hampered those proceedings. But Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful days, and it looked like the finished touches were being wrapped up Wednesday afternoon. My guess is that crane is lifting all manner of heavy stuff by Thursday morning. Shout-out to Power Construction and All Crane for breaking our mini-Chicago-tower-crane slump.
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A month ago, 160 North Morgan got its hoist permit. Its skip permit. Its construction elevator permit. Its “red thing right there in front” permit. And it’s newly-installed since the last time I dropped by mid-month. I don’t often point out hoist permits, but maybe I should. Besides, now I know what a dual-car Tornborg FC8000 Per/Mat counter-weight hoist tower looks like, so I can point them out to folks on the street when I see them.
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.
Sorry to be so dramatic. It hasn’t really been that long. But since we’ve lost three tower cranes (160 N Elizabeth, 166 North Aberdeen, 853 West Blackhawk) this month, it’s nice to see one going up.
And that’s going to happen starting Monday at 210 North Aberdeen. (h/t to Chris for dropping the hint.) That tower crane base is well-hidden, but the behemoth ALL Crane next to it gives away the story.
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.
We’ve lost three tower cranes (160 N Elizabeth, One Six Six, Common Lincoln Park) in Chicago during the month of August, but be heartened by the amount of caisson work being done as we speak. It means more cranes are on the way. The one with the longest-standing tower crane permit (from April 14, and that’s among projects that are actually being built) is 150 North Ashland.
150 North Ashland is another joint effort between developer Marquette Companies and design architects Brininstool + Lynch. This dup is known for hits like 513 South Damen, Parq Fulton, and EVO Union Park.
Along with rehabbing a five-story 1930s-era building immediately south on the 100-block, 150 North Ashland will be a new-construction, 12-story apartment building. There will be 210 new apartments, and parking for 62 cars. Power Construction is the general contractor. Those are Thatcher Foundations caisson rigs doing the drilling. (Omega handled the demolition work.)
Other permits for this one include: Renovation for 140 N Ashland on 11/1/2021 3-story demolition on 3/30/2022 Caissons on 6/9/2022 Foundation on 8/3/2022 The entire project was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in April of 2021.
I’ve got some caisson shots for you, as well as a bunch of late-in-the-process demolition photos, along with a few pics of the building being rehabbed at 140 North Ashland.
140 North Ashland
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.
We lost our third tower crane of August last week, as the Golden Lifter Of Heavy Things was dismantled and hauled away at One Six Six (166 N Aberdeen). It joins 160 North Elizabeth and 853 West Blackhawk (Big Deahl) in the history books. We thank them all for their service.
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.
I’m not upset the pretty lights in the sky at Big Deahl are gone; I’m upset the tower crane at Common Lincoln Park holding the pretty lights at Big Deahl is gone. Alas, lots of good things come to an end. It’s at least nice to see lots of windows on The Seng.
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.
At 4445 West Irving Park, work on the parking-deck ramp is pun-derway.
The team of Power Construction and UJAMAA Construction have been hard at work getting the new Northwestern Medicine healthcare facility above street level at 4445 West Irving Park. This one’s only going up to four stories, as CannonDesign creation will top out relatively soon-ish, with just three more levels to go.
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.
1000 West Carroll will be demolished to clear space for 350 North Morgan. That’s another Sterling Bay office building, 345 North Morgan, in the background.
There’s demolition fencing all around the former Pioneer Wholesale Meat facility, located at 1000 West Carroll. Atlas Industries has equipment on site, prepared to act on the demolition permit the City of Chicago issued August 22. Once that’s dispatched, Sterling Bay will begin construction on their latest office tower.
350 North Morgan is a creation by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. They’ve designed an 18-story office building with 600,000 rentable square feet, 18,000 square feet of retail space, 36,000 square feet of amenity space, and 142 parking spots.
We’ll be on the lookout for building permits soon, and then we’ll know who the general and concrete contractors all.
RIU Plaza Hotel rendering from Lucien Lagrange Studio.
The lot that sat empty at 150 East Ontario for what seemed like an eternity is finally seeing action. Big action.
The RIU Plaza Hotel construction has begun in Streeterville. The City of Chicago issued a permit for caissons and foundation on July 19 for a 28-story, 390-room hotel. W.E. O’Neil is the general contractor. Lucien Lagrange Studio is the design architect. And that’s a big yellow Keller North America rig drilling caissons.
We stopped by in late July to have a first look at site prep, then headed back over this week to see the caisson action. And action we got. Very happy to see work started on this site.
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.
741 North Wells will be a 178-unit apartment tower. It was designed by Antunovich Associates Architects, and according to their website, will offer a mix of 70 studios, 68 one-bedroom, and 40 two-bedroom units, with “a full complement of amenities including a rooftop terrace with pool, meeting facilities, exercise area, bicycle storage, and parking for roughly 50 vehicles.” There will also be about 9.400 square feet of street-level retail space.
The City of Chicago issued permits for: The full build on 8/25/2022 Caissons and foundation on 7/19/2002 The tower crane on 6/22/2022 Demo permits for 739 N Wells and 745 N Wells on 5/12/22
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.
Building Up Chicago 