W.E. O’Neil’s tower crane at Belmont Village (700 West Fullerton) was the 62nd and final crane erected in Chicago in 2017.

Chicago had 62 tower cranes in the air during 2017. 2018 starts out with 30 of them. Sure, there are a bunch of jobs in the pipeline that will require a crane, but erecting 32 more of them to tie our record seems unlikely. But we can hope, right? Records are made to be broken, after all.

Let’s take a look at our initial 30 for 2018:

New since December 2017 count:

1. Belmont Village (700 West Fullerton)

Gone since December 2017:

1. Moxy Hotel
2. Old Town Park
3. Illume Chicago

Coming soon:

1. Hayden West Loop (1109 West Washington – permit issued 09/07; stub planted)
2. Wolf Point East (343 West Wolf Point Plaza – permit issued 11/20)
   

   Hayden West Loop, likely to be the first tower crane erected in 2018.

Who has tower cranes?

1. Lendlease – 8
2. Power Construction – 6
3. McHugh Construction – 5
4. W.E. O’Neil – 3
5. 8 companies have one tower crane apiece: Walsh (1326 South Michigan); Centaur (Nobu Hotel); Leopardo (210 North Carpenter); Tishman (aLoft Chicago Mag Mile); Linn-Mathes – Wicker Park Connection); Macon Construction (No. 508); DLG Development (3833 North Broadway); M.A. Mortenson (Home2 Suites River North)

Where are they?

1. West Loop – 6
2. South Loop – 6
3. Streeterville – 5
4. Lake View – 3
5. Lincoln Park – 3
6. Lakeshore East – 2
7. River North – 2
8. Three neighborhoods have one tower crane each: Gold Coast (No. 9 Walton); Wicker Park (Wicker Park Connection; Uptown (Eight Eleven Uptown)

What are they building?

1. Residential – 22
2. Hotel – 6
3. Medical – 1 (Simpson Querrey)
4. Office – 1 (210 North Carpenter)

Chicago closes 2017 having had a record 62 tower cranes operating across the skyline throughout the year. Before 2018 takes over, let’s recap them all.

Who had tower cranes in 2017?

1. Power Construction – 13
2. Lendlease – 13
3. McHugh Construction – 11
4. Linn-Mathes – 4
5. Walsh Construction – 3
6. W.E. O’Neil – 3
7. Clark Construction – 2
8. 13 companies had one tower crane in 2017: Pepper Construction (Moxy Hotel); Macon Construction (No. 508); Centaur Construction (Nobu Hotel); Onni Group (Old Town Park); Optima (Optima Signature); M.A. Mortenson Company (Home2 Suites River North); Norcon (Illume Chicago); Bulley-Andrews (DePaul School of Music); Clayco (Cook County Central Campus Health Center); Novak Construction (171 Aberdeen); Leopardo Companies (210 North Carpenter); Tishman (aLoft Chicago Mag Mile); DLG  (3833 North Broadway)

Where were they?

1. West Loop – 13
2. South Loop – 11
3. River North – 9
4. Streeterville – 8
5. Lincoln Park – 5
6. Lake View – 4
7. Near North – 2
8. Gold Coast – 2
9. Lakeshore East – 2
10. Six neighborhoods had one crane each in 2017 – The Loop (151 North Franklin); Illinois Medical District (Cook County Central Campus Health Center); Uptown (Eight Eleven Uptown); Hyde Park (Solstice on the Park); River West (Spoke); Wicker Park (Wicker Park Connection)

What were they building?

1. Residential – *40.5
2. Hotel – 10
3. Office – *5.5
4. Medical – 3
5. There was one Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Meetinghouse) one School (DePaul School of Music) and one Commercial building (The Apple Store)

* One crane built Hubbard 221 (residential) and 412 North Wells (office) hence the half-crane in those two categories. The two tower cranes at Vista Tower are building residences and a hotel, so one crane goes to each of those two categories.

And now, photographs of all our 2017 Chicago Tower Cranes:

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.