The Benchmark, A Half-Victory For Preservation in Lincoln Park

Posted on July 8, 2016 by danieldschell

The unmistakable gap-toothed smile of a building that knows it’s escaped the wrecking ball. 2746 North Magnolia will be the centerpiece of The Benchmark.

A church at 2750 North Magnolia Avenue that stood since 1884, deemed “not worth saving,” was demolished in March. As with any demolition of a church, that didn’t sit well with many folks. But a small victory was won with the preservation of the parish house next door, at 2746 North Magnolia, which was released from the City of Chicago Demolition Delay Hold List on Wednesday, as it’s in the midst of a complete overhaul into a single-family home.

A joint effort from Noah Properties and Sergio & Banks Real Estate is erecting The Benchmark, a 5-building development that will see single family homes constructed on either side of the existing former parish house. At 2742 and 2744 North Magnolia will be two single-family homes, while to the north at 2752 and 2756 North Magnolia will rise two 5-unit condo structures.

All five projects are designs from architect Bill Kokalias at Axios Architects & Consultants, in The Loop. ALL Builders of Chicago is the general contractor.

: A rendering of the 5-building The Benchmark, from Sergio & Banks.

: The church at 2750 North Magnolia. Now gone.

: The church, from Diversey Parkway.

: DEMOLISHED 2016

: The parish house pre-renovation.

: The parish house, with the church lot next door now empty.

: The Benchmark.

: Peeking inside the parish house, 2746 North Magnolia Avenue.

: The rear of the parish house.

: On the left, 2742 North Magnolia will be one of the 6-bedroom single-family homes.

: From the alley, looking at construction on 2742 North Magnolia.

: ALL Builders working on 2756 North Magnolia, one of the 5-unit condo buildings.

: This will be 2752 North Magnolia.

: Church tower demolition in April.

Earth is moving for gigantic River North home

Posted on June 30, 2016 by danieldschell

They’re scraping and digging at 455 West Superior Street.

I don’t normally pay mind to single-family development. I like the big stuff. The tall stuff. The expensive stuff.

The Permit.

Well, here’s a single-family home that fits into all three categories. Back in March, Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s was all over the news of a permit being filed for a home to be built at 455 West Superior Street in River North. What makes this home so unusual? Let’s have a look at that permit, filed by the City of Chicago on March 1, 2016.

It’s a five-story, single-family home. That’s a tall home.
The permit estimates construction costs at just under $10,000,000.00!
THERE WILL BE CAISSONS! This is gonna be one *heavy* home. (Yeah, no basement. I guess the game room will have to be on one of the five above-ground floors.)
Power Construction is the general contractor. That’s a heavy hitter for your home building.

Not much has been done since March, until now. When I walked past on Thursday, I saw the first signs of active construction since the permit. Scraping and digging. Just like they do for skyscrapers. This will be an interesting home to watch go up.

The actual permit, displayed on site at 455 West Superior Street.

Another view of the lot, which, according to Dennis Rodkin’s article, is really *three* lots.

455 West Superior on March 2, the day after the permit was filed.

Clybourn 1200 Piecing Together Nicely

Posted on June 22, 2016 by danieldschell

Clybourn 1200 is being pieced together by a massive ground crane, like an out-of-hand game of Tetris.

Clybourn 1200 is a new mixed-use, mixed-income apartment project from Brinshore Development. Depending on your perspective, it’s in the Gold Coast neighborhood, the Goose Island area, the Cabrini-Green neighborhood, or the Near North.

The V-shaped building, designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners to fit in the triangular lot at 1200 North Clybourn Avenue, will have 77 apartments for people, a whole bunch of roof-top hives for bees, and 17,000 square feet of space for retailers, including a day-care center for children.

McShane Construction is on the build, a notable site for its massive red crane parked in the middle of the lot.

: The “front” of Clybourn 1200, facing Division Street.

: This facade faces North Clybourn.

: McShane Construction personnel atop Clybourn 1200.

: The big red crane doing what big red cranes do.

: It picked it up, now it’s setting it down.

: Come on, admit it. That’s an amazing piece of machinery.

: Getting kinda personal, shooting it from the back like this, but you can see the counterweight required for heavy lifting cross a large site like this one.

Ground Already Broken, 851 West Grand Gets a Permit

Posted on June 22, 2016 by danieldschell

With a building permit in hand, look for more than two people working on 851 West Grand very soon.

There’s a new building permit on file with the city of Chicago for the site located at 851 West Grand Avenue in River West.

Monroe Residential Partners broke ground for the FitzGerald Associates Architects design back in May. There have been something called “reaction piers” installed on the site, according to a FitzGerald Facebook post, but other than that, 851 West Grand has been a relatively quiet lot since.

Not anymore. Expect lots of action now that a permit is on file with the City of Chicago. Summit Design + Build is the general contractor tasked with erecting the 6-story, 36-unit apartment building. Monroe plans like to have 851 West Grand ready before the 2017 is out.

: A rendering of 851 West Grand from Monroe Residential Partners.

: The Permit.

: The big equipment started showing up in early June.

: You can see those “reaction piers” just in front of the tarp. Someone smarter will have to explain what they do. Besides react.

: The Lot

DePaul Tuning Up for New School of Music

Posted on June 21, 2016 by danieldschell

There’s no tower crane yet, but THEY’RE MAKING SQUARE REBAR TUBES!!

Chicago construction company Bulley & Andrews is erecting a new DePaul School of Music out in Lincoln Park. Designed by Antunovich Associates, the new facility will be on the site previously occupied by McGaw Hall, which was demolished early this year.

You can learn all you need to know about the new School of Music by going to DePaul’s site. As for me, I’ll skip the words and share a few photos instead.

: Excavation work is ongoing.

: And ongoing.

: Digging out the corners and shoring them up.

: A pretend tower crane is getting things done. For now.

: It’s got pretty good reach.

: Want to learn more about the DePaul School of Music? Read the fence.

: Those square rebar caisson cages though.

: They are epic.

: The “church” stays.

: Seriously, the tower crane was permitted in March. Where’s my tower crane?!

Fulton West Takes It Up a Level

Posted on June 16, 2016 by danieldschell

Leopardo Construction crews work atop Fulton West.

Take more than two steps anywhere in the Fulton Market District, and you’ll find signs, both literal and figurative, of Sterling Bay’s presence. In its own words, that’s how the west is getting done.

A rendering of Fulton West.

One of Sterling Bay’s latest and most noticeable projects is Fulton West, a combination of renovation and new construction going on now at 1330 West Fulton Street. From the remains of a three-story parking structure, the Gensler Chicago office has designed a nine-story, 290,000-square-foot office building slated for an April 2017 opening. Over 600 parking spaces will be included, plus 20,000 square feet of green space.

Fulton West also boasts one of the longest tower cranes on the Chicago construction scene, a necessity for overall reach, what with the crane being rooted in the “back” (northeast) corner of the project. As you can see from the photo above, that crane has already helped Leopardo Construction crews add a fourth floor to the existing base.

: A rather raw Fulton West site in March.

: One early demo project centered on this “notch” along Fulton Street.

: “The Notch”

: Leopardo crews went to work making the notch larger.

: Notch demolition.

: By May, The Notch was considerably larger.

: But today, The Notch has been filled in, creating a continuous facade along Fulton Street.

: That huge tower crane.

: Seriously, it’s a massive tower crane.

: The tower crane rises from the northeast corner of the construction site. Its length is necessary to reach all sections.

: More demo work on the existing structure as renovation got underway.

: March demo work.

: Ouch. That had to hurt.

Demolition Permit Signals Start of CA Washington

Posted on June 14, 2016 by danieldschell

Bye bye, garage. Hello CA Washington.

A demolition permit filed Monday for the auto repair garage at 1045 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop signifies the first step in construction for the new CA Washington project.

This small sign on the fence proclaims CA Washington’s imminent arrival.

CA Washington is the latest from Belgravia Realty Group. You’ve seen their work in progress from the Brown Line train on Sedgwick at Locust. This time, Belgravia is building 3-bed, 3-bath condos in the heart of the West Loop.

Oh, and have you heard who the neighbor will be across the street? Multiple reports say McDonald’s will make its new home in the former Harpo Studios on the other side of Washington Blvd. Hmm. I wonder if that will drive condo values up at all?

A rendering of CA Washington from Belgravia Realty Group.

Soil sampling across the street at Harpo Studios earlier this month. Expect lots of activity.

111 South Peoria, By Any Other Name

Posted on June 9, 2016 by danieldschell

Illume (11ume?) Chicago, now with its own signage.

Would still be controversial?

Doesn’t matter anymore.

Never Forget

Try as they might (you can read all about the contentious road this project took here at chicagoarchitecture.com) to quash the project at 111 South Peoria, West Loop NIMBYs (mostly from the two adjacent condo buildings, then just one at the Plan Commission meeting) failed to prevent the brand new condominium development from happening in the current parking lot at the same address.

And now that the contentious plan has met the approval of 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett, Jr. and the Chicago Plan Commission, 111 South Peoria has a new name as it moves towards fruition: Illume. But fancy, with three 1s instead of an i and two Ls. But a small 1 and two big 1s. 111ume? Yeah, it’s hard to type it that way.

Illume Chicago was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission back in March. It gave the okay for 79 condos in a 115-foot-tall building. Designed by architecture firm Pappageorge Haymes Partners, Illume is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2017. Along with being the developer, LG will be the general contractor as well.

The rendering of Illume Chicago presented by LG Development at the March Plan Commission meeting.

This parking lot will soon be Illume Chicago.

The very same parking lot, as seen from the Up Chicago office.

1400 West Washington Getting a New Plumbers Training Center?

Posted on June 7, 2016 by danieldschell

A rendering of the new Plumbers Local 130 Training Center, from the W.E. O’Neil website.

Thanks to a heads-up from Twitter user @ponjeters, it appears the recently-demolished Plumbing Industry Center posted last night will be replaced by a new, state-of-the-art Plumbers Local 130 Training Center.

Another render from the W.E. O’Neil website.

According to the website of contractor W.E. O’Neil, they are tasked with building a 120,000-square-foot facility that will replace the one Heneghan Wrecking just finished tearing down. Per the website:

“The project is being designed as (a) teaching tool for apprentices and will incorporate state-of-the-art technology and plumbing training workshops.”

The O’Neil website lists Gensler as the architect, and Chicago Journeymen Plumbers as the client.

The website has no location information other than “Chicago,” which still has a few more spaces to fill in besides this one at 1400 West Washington Boulevard. I sent an email to O’Neil last night in hopes of verifying the project’s address.

The now-destroyed Plumbing Industry Center at 1400 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop.

1400 West Washington Blvd is a Hole in the Ground.

Posted on June 6, 2016 by danieldschell

A large hole in the ground where 1400 West Washington used to sit.

Hasn’t always been that way, of course. What used to be the “Plumbing Industry Center” (among other uses) building at 1400 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop was a nice looking structure. But someone wanted it gone, so down it came. No word on what, if anything, will take its place. Maybe they just needed more room for the Randolph Street Market next door.

Don’t judge it by this gloomy day; it was a handsome structure.

There were excellent columns out front.

And this fantastic piece, front and center, at the top of the building. I hope this was saved.

Heneghan Wrecking, working from the back of the building toward Washington Blvd.

It always feels like such an invasion of privacy to see a building laid open like this.

A brief look inside.

“PUBLIC” no more.

The death certificate, if you will.

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