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.
Sure, if you’re a neighbor along the first block of North May Street, you can feel the progress (to which one friend has attested.) For the rest of us, the best way to find out if caisson work on Embry (21 N May St) has begun in the West Loop is to go take a look. We went. We saw. We photographed.
McHugh Construction and McHugh Concrete, general and concrete contractors, respectively, got the full permit to build on April 5. A demolition permit to get 25 North May out of the way was issued January 28. We’re hoping to see a tower crane permit any day 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.
Unsurprisingly, it looks like all bets are off at what was supposed to be theToyoko Inn at 320 South Clinton in the West Loop. Long before the parking garage across the street had been demolished for the nearly-completed Union Station Tower, crews buried caissons in the ground for the would-be 24-story hotel. There was word a local alderman wasn’t happy at all that work had gotten started, and he put a stop to it. Now, almost four years later, there’s a For Sale sign up on the property, the gaping foundation hole that sat full of water for months and months has been filled in, and the lot smoothed over.
The now-moot tower crane permit was issued April 10, 2020. In May of last year, a permit was issued to “restore and secure the site while construction is suspended.” Hence the new fence and infill.
So if you’re interested in a developable plot of land with caissons already installed, you might want to look into this one.
It ain’t no Spire Hole, but it’s still an eyesore. Caisson crews at work, May 2018Caisson work, May 2018Is this recent work at the Toyoko Inn Chicago site? 320 South Clinton is officially no longer a parking lot, as foundation work begins for the Toyoko Inn 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 University of Chicago’s tower crane at 1306 E 61st
Up until about a week ago, the tower crane building a parking garage for the University of Chicago at 1306 E 61st in Woodlawn was our southernmost and easternmost tower crane. That title vanished when the Obama Presidential Center erected the first of its three rigs. Thankfully for U of C, that designation comes with neither a trophy nor a monetary award, so they didn’t miss out on much more than a mention on B.U.C.
Clark Construction is the CG on the parking structure. They received the full build permit December 8 of last year, the caisson permit on November 18, and the tower crane permit on September 21. No idea how long the crane’s been up, but they’ve gotten a lot done so far.
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.
Progress at 160 North Elizabeth has doubled since our last visit, though the change seemed much more dramatic on first glance. This morning, Adjustable Concrete shared on its Linkedin page that they’re working on Level 9. They’re the concrete contractor for GC Clark Construction, so they would know.
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.
Northwestern Medicine is putting up a four-story building at 4445 W Irving Park.
There’s a very large, very organized hole in the ground at 4445 West Irving Park Road in Irving Park. Soon, a new four-story building for Northwestern Medicine will rise from it, bringing medical offices and lots of parking.
You can find a wealth of information at this link from Lukas over at Urbanize Chicago.
Currently, this is Chicago’s northernmost and westernmost tower crane.
Permits were issued for: overall construction on 12/21/21 the tower crane on 10/28/21 demolition of 4441 W Irving Park on 07/17/20 demolition of 4447 W Irving Park on 07/16/20 demolition of 4457 W Irving Park on 07/16/20
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.
Tower Crane #1 at The Obama Presidential Center, taken from Wooded Island in Jackson Park.
I’d be lying if I said I understood who all is involved, and how they’re involved, in the construction of The Obama Presidential Center. What I do know is where you can go to learn some of that very information. First, visit Lakeside Alliance. To me, that’s sorta like your general contractor information. Next, visit Concrete Collective. That’s got your concrete contractor info.
The Concrete Collective was responsible for erecting the first of three tower cranes on the site last week. And you might be wondering just how many photos of a tower crane you need to see.
Two sunny days in a row, coupled with a day-and-a-half of free time, let me get to the far reaches of Chicago construction to chase down the last of the unphotographed tower cranes. That includes one, at 1306 E 61st St, that I wasn’t at all sure was happening, had already happened, or had been scrapped. Well, it’s real. And up until a few days ago, it was Chicago’s southernmost and easternmost tower crane. But no more. The rig at The Obama Presidential Center takes that prize. Fortunately for 1306, I don’t give trophies out for these titles, so it didn’t lose out on much.
Our northernmost and westernmost cranes are also a single construction site: at 4445 W Irving Park, where Northwestern Medicine is building a healthcare facility.
Residential projects dominate our cranes, with 11 of them going towards building new housing. There’s one for education (that’s how I’m categorizing the Obama Center until I come up with a better category); one for parking (1306 E 61st is a parking garage for the University of Chicago); one for Life Sciences (ALLY): and one for healthcare (4445 Irving Park)
If I missed your tower crane, hit me up. If you’ve got a tower crane out in the ‘burbs, let me know that too. It’s about time for a jaunt out of the city.
Starting south and working our way north, here are Chicago’s 16 active tower cranes:
The Obama Presidential Center (6001 S Stony Island)1306 E 61st St1400 South Wabash1000M (1000 S Michigan)The Reed (234 W Polk)513 South Damen160 North Elizabeth900 Randolph (164 N Peoria)166 North AberdeenSalesforce Tower (333 W Wolf Point)354 North UnionHUGO (751 N Hudson)The 808 Cleveland (808 N Cleveland)The Seng & Common Lincoln Park (853 W Blackhawk)ALLY at 1229 W ConcordNorthwestern Medicine (4445 W Irving Park)
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.
1020 Randolph, with a water tank, American flag, and tower crane photobomb in the background.
With apologies to anyone sad about the loss of that weird little bank at the corner of Randolph and Carpenter in the West Loop, I say good riddance to drive-thru banking (do that on your iSmartphonebookpad, ya dinosaur) and hello to boutique office buildings.
1020 West Randolph is currently in foundation mode now. A development by L3 Capital and RL Edward Partners, the five-story brick-façade building is a design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, who’ve created a look that would be just as well suited for Fulton Market’s disappearing meat-packing history as it does in today’s modern phase. The 37,000sf building will include 23,000sf of office space, 5,000sf of retail space, and an amenity roof deck.
W.E. O’Neil is the general contractor. Their goal is to have the building open for tenants early in 2023. They got a building permit (addressed at 155 North Carpenter) on August 13 of last year. The demolition permit for the old bank was issued May 28 and was handled by Precision Excavation. If the below galley includes any demo pics, it’s because I dug through the back pages of my hard drive until I found them. New construction photos were taken 03/21/22 and 04/03/22.
That lame…old…bank.Demo wraps up. HPA rendering.
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 