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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.

369 West Grand starts glassing up the joint

First Glass Post for 369 West Grand.

Last time I walked by 369 West Grand, I caught a milestone; Onni Group was jumping the tower crane. And here it is another week, and another milestone achievement for the Canadian developer/builder: the first few pains of glass have been installed for the tower’s curtain wall.

As is almost always the case, I have photos to prove it:

Old Town Park goes for the triple play

The Third Edition of Old Town Park rises in Near North.

This is Tower #3 at Old Town Park, the new development from Onni Group that used to be Atrium Village. Just one building from Atrium Village remains, as this third apartment tower rises at 228 West Hill Street. When completed, it will deliver 456 rental units across its 41 stories.

As they’ve done with the first two tower of Old Town Park, the residential building The Hudson, and at the under-construction 369 West Grand, Onni Group is both the developer and general contractor. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect. Adjustable Concrete is the concrete contractor. I’m including them because they’ve got a couple sweet overhead shots from early construction on their website.

Sometimes I forget where I’ve been and what I’ve done. And with that I admit the following photos are more than two weeks old, having been snapped on February 2. If I hadn’t told you, you’d have never known. But still, I’m sorry for the delay. I try to keep content fresh around here.

 

 

West End on Fulton nears completion in the (far) West Loop

https://twitter.com/Power_Construct/status/1151616342761594893

Today we have another Power Construction topping-out tweet to lead us into a progress update.

West End on Fulton is a 14-story office building form Trammel Crow Company. Designed by ESG Architecture & Design, it’s testing the western limits of the West Loop at 1375 West Fulton. The east façade lies up against Ogden Avenue, my personal unofficial West Loop boundary. Scheduled to open in the first quarter of this year, West End will deliver 285,000 square feet of rentable office space, while also including the sorts of top-notch amenities you’d expect to see in new residential construction.

Before you ogle photos, here’s a sweet pdf that will learn ya everything you need to know about West End on Fulton.

 

Chicago’s newest tower crane is on the job at Rush’s Rubschlager Building

Two cranes and a skyline at Rush’s Rubschlager Building.

The tower crane is up and running for Power Construction at 1520 West Harrison Street, the site of Rush University Medical Center’s Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building.

I could be wrong, but it appears the tower crane is working on the cofferdam, while the steel is being erected by the rolling crane. (Rolling crane? Street crane? What should I be calling those things?) Whatever they’re called, and whichever is doing what, this dynamic crane duo is piling iron atop iron as the Rubschlager begins its 10-story journey.

 

Stuff That’s Done: Coeval

Coeval has two addresses: 51 East 14th St. and 1419 South Wabash. Ave

I had surgery on a knee as a young adult. I was fascinated by the effects of anesthesia. One moment after drifting off to sleep, my eyes popped open in the recovery room. To me, the surgery happened faster than the snap of the fingers. Like time travel in Back To The Future.

Those questionable analogies are a means of explaining Coeval. I stopped by 14th and Wabash twice; once during demolition of 1415 South Wabash, and once as the rolling crane was being set up on the freshly-demoed lot. The third time I visited, this past week, Coeval was open. Heck, I didn’t even know it was called Coeval until now. If only construction could be instantaneous like that.

Coeval is a two-towered apartment development from CMK Companies. Consisting of a 14-story tower to the north, and a 10-story tower to the south, the project contains about 260 units in total. It was designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners and built by Clark Construction. It opened to residents last summer.

Former Jefferson Park Hospital building begins demolition for 1400 Monroe

Demo has begun at 1400 West Monroe, clearing the way for 1400 Monroe.

There’s a new condo building coming to 1400 West Monroe in the West Loop. But first, what used to be Jefferson Park Hospital, among other things, has to go.

Milburn Demolition & Dismantling has begun tearing down the old building. When they’re done, work will begin on 1400 Monroe, a new condominium project developed by JK Equities. The seven-story, Booth Hansen-designed property will deliver 42 luxury 2- and 3-bedroom condos next to Skinner Park.

The tower crane I missed at Aspire is missed no more

You all are The. Best.

Just a day after I posted about not making it to 2111 South Wabash in time to snap the tower crane, Robert Burke comes along and fills my inbox with photos. Crane going up, crane coming down, crane building a building, the whole sequence. Thank you, Robert!

All photos are from Robert Burke:

2111 South Wabash Aspires to be clad all over

Aspire Residences, at 2111 South Wabash, glassing up the joint.

That’s Power Construction in the tweet above, letting the world know about the topping out of 2111 South Wabash in the South Loop back in December. That same week, Draper & Kramer, the developer of 2111, announced not only the topping out, but also the project’s new name — Aspire Residences.

The 24-story, 275-unit apartment building took down the tower crane in late January. (A tower crane I saw, but didn’t get a photo of. I hate missing them.) Aspire is a design by SCB. It’s on schedule to open this summer.

Stuff That’s Done: Union West

Union West is 357-unit apartment development in the West Loop. Its two 15-story towers occupy a large portion of the city block bounded by Washington, Sangamon, Madison, and Morgan, with part of its footprint touching all four streets. It was designed by bKL Architecture for ZOM Living. Power Construction was on the build.

Union West opened in Fall 2019.

 

 

Tower crane permit signals the beginning of 1125 West Van Buren

The tower crane permit for 1125 West Van Buren, issued Feb 6, is the first new construction permit issued for the future apartment tower.

To be fair, the demolition permit in March of last year was probably the real start of construction at 1125 West Van Buren, but a tower crane permit is far more glamorous. And that was issued yesterday.

1125 West Van Buren will be a 20-story, 200-unit apartment building from Tandem, who will also be performing general contracting duties. The tower is a design by Antunovich Associates. If that combo sounds familiar, this is the same team that just wrapped up Avenir in River West.

 

A rendering of 1125 West Van Buren from Antunovich Associates.

Taylor Excavating doing demolition work on the site in January.