670 North May is on its way

Posted on March 23, 2021 by danieldschell

Hey Chicago. We only have 12 tower cranes in the air right now. I better start paying attention to some of the smaller projects too, while I have the time, or there won’t be much to post.

Here’s one such development, at 670 North May in River West. It’s just getting started. It was issued a foundation permit back in February, and I quote:

FOUNDATION AND PARTIAL SUPERSTRUCTURE PERMIT FOR NEW 113 UNIT, 8 STORY RESIDENTIAL TOWER. SCOPE OF PERMIT INCLUDES ALL UNDERGROUND WORK THROUGH 1ST STORY PODIUM AND 8 STORY CORES. **2019 BUILDING CODE** CONSULTANT REVIEWER: GLOBETROTTERS ENGINEERING

I think what that means is we’ll see all eight floors of elevator core before the rest of the building starts going up. But I could easily be wrong, as I really just take pictures of stuff.

According to that permit, Bond Companies is the developer here, of a project designed by FitzGerald, with Global Builders in charge of construction.

Here’s the presentation from the August 2020 Chicago Plan Commission meeting, when the development was approved. (“Hotel use”?) 1140 West Erie was the name then, as well as the address of the building that was demolished to clear the lot. But you’ll notice “670 North May” on the building in some of the renderings.

Anyway, here are the exciting iPhone shots of the beginnings of foundation work. Yeah, the above renderings are much more exciting, until work amps up.

Darn Near Done: Panorama to open soon at 3300 North Clark

Posted on March 19, 2021 by danieldschell

Panorama is an eight-story rental development in the Lake View neighborhood at 3300 North Clark. Developed by Blilzlake Partners and designed by bKL Architecture, Panorama brings 140 units a block away from the Belmont CTA station. It includes 140 apartments, 9,000 square feet of retail space, and parking for 20 cars. As you can see, it sits right up against the new Red-Purple Bypass.

Power Construction is on this build.

Sorry about neglecting you, Pano. A lot of these construction photos were taken from Brown Lines trains on the way back home.

First Visit (in the nick of time): Optima Lakeview lowers the boom

Posted on March 16, 2021 by danieldschell

Optima Lakeview is topped out and moving toward a 2022 opening.

My first visit to Optima Lakeview last week was just in time.

The tower crane is coming down from the topped-out T.O.D. from Glencoe’s Optima. Consisting of 198 apartments and 14,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, with parking for 94 cars and 208 bikes, the seven-story development is expected to open next year.

Optima Lakeview is another role model for do-it-yourself’ers. Optima is handling development, design, and general contractor duties.

Here now, you have your basic construction photos, and then a few shots of tower crane dismantling from March 16.

318 North Carpenter gets its glass in gear

Posted on February 25, 2020 by danieldschell

Raise a glass to 3158 North Carpenter.

Seven-story office buildings tend to get built pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss them. Ferris Bueller taught us that. As soon as you walk away from 318 North Carpenter, GC The Big Green W will have made significant progress again by the time you walk around the next corner.

Walsh has now hit the next milestone; the first row of glass has been installed on the 2nd floor of the north and east façades. Construction has also reached the underside of the 7th floor, so this one’s also getting close to topping out. Like I said, stop and look around.

Keep in mind, Murphy Development Group is planning to open 318 North Carpenter this summer, so time matters.

60 East Benton tears up a parking lot for MDA 2

Posted on February 25, 2020 by danieldschell

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7EJX6QFVlk/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The parking lot at 60 East Benton that used to be next to the parking garage that used to be at 50 West Randolph is no more. Confused? Suffice it to say Chicago has successfully erased another surface parking lot from existence, right next to a parking garage that was recently demolished.

The above Instagram post from Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture announced back on January 8 that MDA 2 was on its way. 60 East Benton sits along Wabash Avenue between the Parkline construction site to the south, and Elephant & Castle to the north. The latter occupies space at ground level of MDA City Club Apartments, to which MDA 2 will be connected by a sixth-floor pedestrian bridge.

January 30 saw a foundation permit issued by the City of Chicago, allowing for work to begin for seven stories and 81 units. As you can see in the photos, site prep is underway.

: January 19

: February 2

Chicago’s newest newest tower crane is ready to send Panorama vertical

Posted on February 24, 2020 by danieldschell

Rush’s reign as newest tower crane was short-lived.

Panorama, at 3300 North Clark in Lake View, is on the board as the newest kid on the block, having completed assembly of its tower crane last week. Power Construction is the GC here; Adjustable Concrete Construction is doing the concrete.

No time is wasted getting 808 North Wells ready for a 2nd chance

Posted on February 20, 2020 by danieldschell

A rendering from Berkelhamer Architects of what might have been at 808 North Wells.

A sales center built at Wells and Chicago back in 2016 for a future residential tower got a demolition permit February 10th so a new vision for the site could begin. And it didn’t take long to tear down the single-story building (it has also seen life as retail space) and rip the old concrete out of the ground. The new 808 North Wells is ready to roll.

808 North Wells was to be a 24-story condominium development from Smithfield Properties with 50 or so condos. The sales center got built, but the tower was never started.

Multiple reports in 2018, including stories by Crain’s and Curbed Chicago, has AMLI Residential looking to build an apartment project on the site. Both sources expected a 17-story tower with just shy of 300 rental units, designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.

If that’s the case, the northwest corner Chicago and Wells will be a blank canvas very soon. Taylor Excavating made short work of the lot, with just a little debris left to haul away, and then construction can get started.

My friend Liz sent me this photo back in April 2016 of 808 North Wells construction. Exhibit On Superior is rising in the background.

: Not much remains at Chicago & Wells.

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.

Former Jefferson Park Hospital building begins demolition for 1400 Monroe

Posted on February 12, 2020 by danieldschell

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.