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.
The view of the Fulton River District’s 354 North Union from the Fulton Market District.
The coolest of Chicago’s current tower crane crop is at 354 North Union. No contest. The lighted crane always wins. Kudos to Onni Group for lighting up yet another.
I stopped by Saturday night to take a few shots in the dark. Wish my photography skills were better, but even bad photos of lit up tower cranes are cool. Also in the gallery are some progress shots taken throughout the month of May.
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.
The first two of three tower cranes at the Obama Presidential Center.
Chicago has 19 active tower cranes in the sky to begin the month of June, 2022, as of the end of Memorial Day weekend. The variable here is 513 South Damen. The crane was still up Sunday, but the tower has been topped out, and it’s *slightly* possible it has started its descent before June 1. But it’s being included in the count as “active.”
Okay, *two* variables. 732 West Randolph wasn’t completely erected as of Sunday, but we’re counting that one as a June crane.
Where are the cranes?
West Loop – 6 South Loop – 3 Near North – 3 Woodlawn – 2 Five “neighborhoods” have one crane each: Illinois Medical District (513 South Damen); Fulton River District (354 North Union); Lake View (3501 North Halsted); River North (HUGO); Irving Park (4445 W Irving Park)
What are they building?
Residential – 14(wow) Medical – 2 Cultural Institutions – 2 Office – 1 (732 West Randolph)
How many cranes are lit up at night?
Just one: 354 North Union
This month, we’re starting up north and heading south:
4445 West Irving Park3501 North Halsted1475 North Kingsbury and 853 West Blackhawk (Big Deahl)808 North Cleveland751 North Hudson (HUGO)354 North Union166 North Aberdeen164 North Peoria (900 Randolph)160 North Elizabeth160 North Morgan732 West Randolph1044 West Van Buren513 South Damen234 West Polk (The Reed at Southbank)1000 South Michigan (1000M)1400 South Wabash6001 South Stony Island (The Obama Presidential Center)
As always, the Building Up Chicago Tower Crane Survey is not a scientific poll. If I’ve missed any, hit me up. And if you know of a tower crane out in the ‘burbs, let me know about those too. I hope to get to the outskirts some time soon.
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.
Some architecture is tired, as some is *for* tires. The Cassidy Tire building at 344 North Canal was, at least for the last part of its life, the latter. I went back Memorial Day weekend, twice, to see Atlas Industries’ demolition progress, both in daylight and after dark. Sadly, I was the one holding the camera, so the night shooting wasn’t terribly successful. But you get the gist.
See what I mean?
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.
Solar Junkyard can build their 33-story, 204-unit apartment tower in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. So says the Chicago Plan Commission, which approved the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed proposal during Thursday’s meeting. What’s significant about this is that Solar Junkyard might be the best name ever used by a local development firm, which in this case is Newcastle Limited. You know that name form Gild at State and Division. I mean yes, it’s also significant that we get to bulldoze another parking lot while adding another cool tower to the West Loop. But I love Solar Junkyard.
I took a couple photos of the proposed site at 210 North Morgan last week, where (for now) a single-story Maria Pinto store stands next to a surface parking lot. Since this blog is about photos, I needed to be sure I had a photo or two of my own to post, along with a couple of Hartshorne Plunkard’s renderings.. But really, this particular post is about the name “Solar Junkyard.” I wonder if there’s swag I could get. More importantly, where did the name come from?
Rendering of Solar Junkyard’s 210 North Morgan from Hartshorne Plunkard ArchitectsRendering of Solar Junkyard’s 210 North Morgan from Hartshorne Plunkard Architects
I said I didn’t want to miss much of the construction at 1000M, yet here we are, more than a month since my last visit. Unacceptable. Let’s fix that now.
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.
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.
The first two levels of glass are being installed on The Reed, the second residential tower at Southbank, Lendlease’s neighborhood development on the South Branch of the Chicago River. You’re probably familiar with The Reed because of the tower crane in the South Loop that looks like a red hammerhead shark. If you squint and are slightly dehydrated. Whatever. It’s a cool crane.
First glass is always a favorite milestone of mine when it comes to construction. So this was fun to see, which resulted in lots of photos. (And these don’t even include my two previous visits to The Reed that I didn’t get around to posting.) I know; you’re shocked.
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.
Power Construction and Central Contractors Service were out in the elements (it was a beautiful day) Thursday erecting the second tower crane at the Big Deahl development. While the first crane builds The Seng and Common Lincoln Park, this second rig will handle the taller task of 1475 North Kingsbury.
Dedicated crane chaser that I am, I stopped by here twice on Thursday to supervise things. As an added bonus, I have a few progress shots of The Seng and Common Lincoln Park too.
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.
Chicago saw three tower cranes erected last week as the city continues to overcome that five-count from a few months back.
One of the new ones is a shiny yellow Liebherr number at Sterling Bay’s160 North Morgan. I dropped by twice on Thursday to check it out. I would have stayed all day, but tower cranes take a looooong time to go up safely, and there are a lot of lulls in the action. Unless, of course, you’re part of the crews from Walsh Construction and LaGrange Crane. For them, assembly action never slows down.
Bet you’ve never seen this many photos of a tower crane that wasn’t even half built yet. Unless it was another post on this blog… but tower crane builds deserve this much attention.
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 