About danieldschell

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.

Stuff That’s Done: 61 Banks Street is open on Lake Shore Drive

Posted on February 20, 2020 by danieldschell

There aren’t many surface parking lots along the west side of Lake Shore Drive. And at the end of 2017, one of them was torn up to make room for a new apartment building.

61 Banks Street in a 58-unit rental development at 61 East Banks St., obvs. At eight stories, it’s short enough that it doesn’t block many views behind it, but since it sits right on the lakefront, its own views must be amazing.

Draper & Kramer, who we just dropped in on recently at 2111 South Wabash, is 61’s developer. Booth Hansen is the design architect; Leopardo Companies was on the build. The building opened to tenants in June 2019.

: 61 East Banks

: 61 East Banks has begun to rise at Lake Shore Drive and Banks Street.

An iPhone update at Union Station Tower

Posted on February 19, 2020 by danieldschell

Goettsch Partners rendering of Union Station Tower.

Caisson work is ongoing at Union Station Tower, and it’s still pretty darn tough to get a good look anywhere but along Clinton Street. Sometimes you have to be satisfied with sticking your phone up to the gaps in the fence and snapping away.

So here you go: A February iPhone Update at Union Station Tower, with a few real-camera shots thrown in for good measure.

There is a Superior House in River North nearing completion

Posted on February 19, 2020 by danieldschell

A rendering of Superior House from FitzGerald.

A Superior House with superior homes is coming this spring to River North. 34 of them, in fact.

Ascend Real Estate Group is developing the condominium building at 360 West Superior. Once existing structures were demolished, construction got started with a permit back in January of 2019.

Superior House is a design by FitzGerald. They’ve teamed up with Ascend previously on Niche 905 in Near North, among other projects. Power Construction is the general contractor.

: Sept 2019

: Sept 2019

: Sept 2019

: Sept 2019

The Balcony is Closed: A February update at Cirrus and Cascade

Posted on February 18, 2020 by danieldschell

Twilight shot over Lake Shore Drive, courtesy of Derek Svehla up in the tower crane.

That means you, Daniel.

The last time Cirrus Condominiums and Cascade Apartments appeared on this blog, I pointed out the need to get as many photos as possible before construction rose above “theater level” from N. Harbor Drive. Well, here’s the thing about that. With construction looming so close to that elevated walkway, you can’t have construction nerds standing within an arm’s length of carpenters and iron workers, offering our advice on how work should be done. And so, the sidewalks have been (understandably) walled off to provide a safety buffer between pedestrians and professionals, limiting us tower crane enthusiasts to get shots where we can. Which is still pretty cool, tbh.

: Just a peek

Construction has begun at 1125 West Van Buren

Posted on February 18, 2020 by danieldschell

Dirt is being disrupted at 1125 West Van Buren. No glamour. Just heavy equipment doing the dirty work. But soon progress will be highly visible from the Eisenhower Expressway. It’s the start of what will be 20 stories and 200 apartments in a tower designed by Antunovich Associates for Tandem. For now, Keller NA has their distinctive blue & gold equipment on site, handling the caisson work.

A tower crane permit was issued February 6, followed by the building permit on the 11th. That means Tandem, acting once again as developer and CG, is good to go vertical. They hope to have 1125 open to residents next summer.

With caisson work complete, 448 North LaSalle goes on tower crane watch

Posted on February 18, 2020 by danieldschell

Rendering of 448 North LaSalle from its website.

Did you blink? Then you might have missed caisson work at 448 North LaSalle. Revcon got out there, got at it, and got out already, leaving a clean site on which to start construction for Midwest Property Group’s 12-story, 175,00 sf office building. Now Lendlease can get to work on going vertical.

When this lot first starting showing signs of action, workers from Pepper Construction were on scene starting site prep. Pepper is also listed in the foundation permit as the masonry contractor. I think, in this case, that means they’re handling concrete duties.

According to 448’s brand-spankin’ new website, MPG plans to have offices open to tenants before 2020 is over.

So how about an eclectic collection of site photos from the month of February, right up through Sunday’s snow-covered, waiting-for-a-tower-crane empty lot:

Stuff That’s Done: Renelle on the River

Posted on February 18, 2020 by danieldschell

Renelle on the River, from Across the River.

Renelle on the River is an 18-story condominium tower in the River North neighborhood. It was built atop an existing parking garage at 403 North Wabash Ave once topped by a small plaza park. The garage was built with future use in mind, so no additional caissons were required. It was a unique project to watch get started.

Renelle on the River is a design by bKL Architecture, and was built by James McHugh Construction. Developer Belgravia Group delivered its 50 condos to residents last year.

: Renelle on the River (403 North Wabash)

: Renelle on the River (403 North Wabash)

: Renelle on the River (403 North Wabash)

: Plaza demolition as of August.

Peoria Green tears up a parking lot

Posted on February 18, 2020 by danieldschell

Tear. It. Up.

The Tetris-shaped parking lot that will soon become Peoria Green is no more. (Is Tetris-shaped a thing? I couldn’t come up with a better way to describe this site. It’s like a long rectangle that broke, and healed wrong. Or a long rectangle with seismic plates that shifted, rendering it askew yet still in one piece.) It’s a funky lot. But at least it isn’t pavement anymore.

Soon it will be a six-story, 25-condominium development from ZSD Corp. And according to the Peoria Green website, only three of those condos remain unspoken for. And now that ground has broken, we can look for some deeper digging soon.

Sullivan Goulette & Wilson is the design firm behind Peoria Green. General contractor duties will be handled by Maris Construction. They’ve teamed up previously in the West Loop on CA Washington.

3300 North Clark almost has a tower crane

Posted on February 17, 2020 by danieldschell

Do you even lift, Bruh? Not quite yet.

Assembly of a tower crane at 3300 North Clark began last week, and as of the weekend, there’s almost a tower crane on Power Construction’s site. For now, it looks more like the Washington Monument than a monument to heavy lifting, but no doubt it’ll be operational within the next few days. And then the eight-story Panorama residential development from Blitzlake Partners and bKL Architecture can start rising off the ground.

New month, new views at One Chicago Square

Posted on February 17, 2020 by danieldschell

Chicago’s coolest chasm, the Tower C cofferdam at One Chicago Square. Photo courtesy of Mike Conlon at Power Construction.

The calendar has flipped to February. That means it’s time to walk around the One Chicago Square site again and check on progress by Power Construction.

Let it be known that I walked around the site on the 10th, but it wasn’t sunny. So I went back Sunday. SUNday. Everything looks better on a sunny day.