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.

Eight Eleven Uptown brings the pane

Posted on November 28, 2017 by danieldschell

Curtain wall installation has begun at Eight Eleven Uptown.

Lots of progress has been made at Eight Eleven Uptown. Not just in height, which appears to have reached a dozen or so floors. But also in glass. A walk around Lendlease’s construction site Monday revealed two levels of curtain wall installed on Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture’s 27-story apartment tower.

Eight Eleven Uptown is comprised of 381 rental units and nearly 300 parking spaces. Many of those parking spots will be used for the Treasure Island food store to be included in the 36,000 square feet of planned commercial space.

Australian Unity’s new offices begin to rise at 271 Spring Street in Melbourne

Posted on November 27, 2017 by danieldschell

Probuild’s tower crane has started construction on ISPT’s 271 Spring Street in Melbourne.

A noticeable trend in Australia is incorporating the old into the new. Saving facades, adding additions atop existing buildings, and developing around historic structures. 271 Spring Street is Melbourne is one such project.

Designed by John Wardle Architects, 271 Spring Street will be a 16-story office tower developed by ISPT. It will — literally — tower over the facades of the old Elms Hotel and the Mission Building along Spring Street. Probuild is the builder, which is why they get to have their name on the tower crane. (Side note: Getting my name on a tower crane is now a life goal.)

271 Spring Street looks like a cool building, right? Great location? Close to transportation? Want to lease some office space? Sorry. Every centimeter of the 15,600 square meters of space is spoken for by Australian Unity. They’ll move into the new digs in mid-2019.

This on-site rendering poster shows how 271 Spring Street will loom over, and behind, two historic buildings.

Watch via EarthCam as work begins on Milwaukee’s BMO Tower

Posted on November 27, 2017 by danieldschell

Google Maps image of the doomed parking garage, being demolished to make room for BMO Tower in Milwaukee.

November 16 saw groundbreaking ceremonies for BMO Tower in Milwaukee, a 25-story office building that will serve as the new home for BMO Harris Bank. Designed by Kahler Slater (Westin Milwaukee), the tower will feature 380,000 rentable square feet, and 647 parking spaces through the 8th floor. The ground floor will contain a BMO Harris bank branch. Along with BMO Harris, the law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP is also signed on as a tenant.

As you can see below, our friend Curtis Waltz at Aerialscapes flew over the site this weekend. BMO’s current offices are in the building on the right. To the left, you can see the demolition equipment staged atop the roof of the soon-to-be-leveled parking garage.

Aerial view courtesy of Curtis Waltz at Aerialscapes.

The new BMO Tower is being developed by Irgens, which will also renovate BMO Harris’ current space next door once they move into the new building. J.H. Findorff and Son (Marquette and The Couture) is the general contractor.

Of course, with Milwaukee being a far far far north suburb of Chicago, it’s a little out of my coverage radius. Thankfully, EarthCam sent over a link to its webcam for the BMO Tower project, so you can watch progress, starting with the demolition of the existing seven-story parking garage, live. You’ll find “View 3” is already zoomed in on the rooftop of that garage for you to get a close-up look.

BMO Tower rendering from Kahler Slater.

Another Google Maps image of the parking garage being demolished at Broadway and Wells.

Onni Group lights up the Old Town Park tower crane. Again.

Posted on November 27, 2017 by danieldschell

The moon and the glow crane were out Sunday evening at Old Town Park.

For the second year in a row, Onni Group has strung some serious lights on the tower crane hovering above Old Town Park in the near North neighborhood. Of course, it was still Atrium Village at this time last year. Not to mention construction had barely risen above street level. But now, Old Town Park is topped out at a full 31 stories, and glass has reached the 25th floor, or thereabouts.

Folks, let me just tell you that glow-in-the-dark tower cranes are THE. BOMB. Chicago needs more of them. I would love to see this become a trend here. But at least Onni gets it right. Two years ago, they also lit up the tower crane at The Hudson for the holidays. So kudos to them for their three-year streak. Will we see another this time next year when the next Atrium Village phase is underway?

: Last year’s glow crane.

: Onni Group’s glow-in-the-dark crane at The Hudson, December 2015.

Probuild, Golden Age Group announce topping out of Victoria One in Melbourne

Posted on November 26, 2017 by danieldschell

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Roberts Co (@roberts__co)

Three weeks ago, we took a look at Victoria One, the 75-story, 629-unit apartment tower being built in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. And now we get word via the Instagram photo above from Probuild that Victoria One has topped out at 452 Elizabeth street in the Central Business District.

That means hearty congratulations are in order for the Victoria One team, including Probuild, developer Golden Age Group, and design architects Elenberg Fraser.

Golden Age Group celebrated via Instagram as well:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb3gXnzlnEU/

**UPDATE: Probuild has issued a press release on the topping out:

Probuild’s Victoria One has successfully topped out as the tallest tower in the Melbourne’s CBD.

Victoria One’s structure commenced in April 2015 and after 699 working days and 18,800m³ of concrete, the level 77 slab was completed on the 23rd of November 2017.

This milestone continues the success and achievements previously set by the team after completing and handing over 232 apartments in June 2017. A further 98 apartments are to be handed over to the client before the end of 2017, which will take the total amount of completed and settled apartments to 330. Our team has been committed to delivering a high quality build, despite the complexity of this construction project.

Once completed, the project will feature 643 residential apartments, the largest car stacker in the southern hemisphere, 11.5km of façade fins and 22,500m² of glass façade with the total weight of the structure estimated to be around 54,000 tonnes.

: Victoria One rendering from Elenberg Fraser.

: Construction progress back in October, looking close to topping out.

: Victoria One, center, has just topped out.

Cranes Without Context: Bondi Beach, Sydney Edition

Posted on November 26, 2017 by danieldschell

Just east of downtown Sydney, New South Wales lies the Pacific Ocean. You probably knew that. And just before you get to the water, you’ll find Bondi Beach, one of Sydney’s most popular attractions for the surfing and tourist crowds alike. As someone who’s never been to the Mediterranean, the surrounding architecture has a very Mediterranean feel to me. And they’re building more, as evidenced by the numerous tower cranes jutting out of the scenery.

: No tower crane, just an up-close look at new-home construction.

Riverline After Dark, Ancora Edition

Posted on November 24, 2017 by danieldschell

When I snapped a bunch of South Loop construction photos a few nights ago, I failed to wander far enough to include Ancora at Riverline in the mix. And the guilt got to me. So, to make it up to Ancora, it gets ts own gallery.

145 South Wells scores a foundation permit

Posted on November 23, 2017 by danieldschell

The Foundation Permit for 145 South Wells, issued 11/22/17.

145 South Wells can begin drilling caissons in its Loop lot. A permit issued by the City of Chicago Wednesday says so. That means we’ll see Case Foundation on site any minute now.

The 20-story office tower is being built by Moceri + Roszak. Thomas Roszak Architecture handled the design for 145 South Wells, which will deliver more than 200,000 square feet of luxury loft offices.

The Loop is presently without a single tower crane, so 145 South Wells figures to be our next opportunity to have one erected. Beyond this project, 130 North Franklin and redevelopment of the General Growth building at 110 North Wacker are the most likely tower cranes on the horizon.

Demolition of the parking garage in March of this year.

145 South Wells rendering from Thomas Roszak Architects.

The Best of Already-Built Melbourne: Light House

Posted on November 23, 2017 by danieldschell

Light House, right, and next-door neighbor Victoria One, left, combine for Melbourne’s finest one-two punch.

You’ve seen a lot of Australian construction photos here lately. But there comes a time when things need to be shaken up. Will I stop posting construction photos from other countries? Oh, heavens no, don’t be silly. I still have 100s of them to go through. What I mean is, it’s time you see the best of what Australia has already built.

And I mean The Best. I’m going straight to the best building from the first city we visited in Australia: Melbourne. This is Light House. What makes it my favorite? It’s tall (natch) and slender and shiny, with vertical striping that creates diagonal waves along the facades, and on clear days it’s bluer than the bluest seas.

Light House is a 69-story tower at 442 Elizabeth Street in the Central Business District. (“CBD” is a little redundant; I didn’t get out much beyond Melbourne’s CBD, so 99% of what I saw of the city is in the CBD.) Designed by (no surprise here) Elenberg Fraser, its 627 apartments overlook Queen Victoria Market, making it a fabulously convenient location. Light House is a development from Hengyi — we just took a look at their Swanston Central project — and was built by Multiplex. Work wrapped up in August, less than two months before our visit, so we just missed the grand opening.

13/10 would live here

Avant another skyscraper in Melbourne! And I always get what Avant.

Posted on November 22, 2017 by danieldschell

Avant reaches for sunlight in the high-rise forest of Melbourne’s CBD.

May Melbourne never stop building.

In a city that seems to have skyscrapers rising on every block, the especially-busy northwest section of Melbourne’s Central Business District is a construction lover’s dream. Let’s take a look at another project in the neighborhood.

Avant is a 55-story apartment tower at 54 A’Beckett Street (I need someone to explain the derivation of that street name; specifically, why there’s an initial, then an apostrophe.) Developed by the Singapore (talk about another bucket-list destination for me!) firm of World Class Global, Avant is yet another sparkling design by Elenberg Fraser, who keep cranking out one stunning building after another.

Avant will feature 456 apartments, with amenities included on floors 10 and 55. Probuild is the builder on this one. We’ve seen their work in Sydney and Gold Coast, too.

I don’t usually include a whole mess of renderings, but the images on Elenberg Fraser’s website of Avant are gorgeous, so here they all are: (construction photos in the 2nd gallery)

All renderings belong to www.pointilism.com.au