You’ll now be able to see River North from your room, as Home2 SUites installs windows.
The 17-story Home2 Suites in River North has grown to exactly 17 stories. And to top off that topping off, M.A. Mortenson has also started adding windows to the exterior. That means two things (at least): Interior work can start ramping up in earnest, and that tower crane will probably come down very soon.
A rendering from CRG of Sheridan & Wilson, coming to 4555 N Sheridan in Uptown.
A foundation permit was issued Wednesday for 4555 North Sheridan Road in Uptown. Developed by CRG, Sheridan and Wilson will be a 12-story tower containing 149 apartments. Included will be 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and outside parking spots for 29 cars.
This is a real in-house development. The design architect, BatesForum, and general contractor, Clayco, are both integrated companies with CRG under the Clayco brand. (You may recall this team from the Cook County Central Campus Health Center build.) Because when you want something done right, sometimes it’s best to do it all yourself.
As you can see in the photos, site prep is underway. No word yet on an anticipated opening date.
GEMS World Academy Upper School rises on the south bank of the Chicago River.
Not many words needed for this one. Just showing you a few photos of Power Construction’s progress on the new GEMS World Academy Upper School in Lakeshore East. We tend to give a lot more attention to its supertall neighbor (that seems to be okay with GEMS’ neighbor bKL Architecture, the firm behind designs for both buildings), so let’s make sure GEMS gets its due too.
Construction fencing and Clark banners went up around the surface parking lot at 14th and Wabash in April.
CMK Companies has something big happening at the corner of 14th Street and Wabash Avenue in the South Loop. Maybe not Riverline big, but still big. And kinda mysterious.
Back in April, on the 19th and 20th, two separate foundation permits were issued by the City of Chicago for this site. The first called for H-Piles to be pounded into the earth to support a 10-story, 62-unit building at 1419 South Wabash. Then another permit was issued calling for more H-Piles at 51 East 14th Street, but these would be for a 14-story, 199-unit building. The permits show both structures to be Pappageorge Haymes Partners designs, and Clark Construction is named as the general contractor for both.
On May 16, a demolition permit was issued to wreck and remove the single-story mural-covered building at 1415 South Wabash that used to belong to Columbia College. (CMK bought that building back in October. Crain’s reported on it here.) And that work has indeed begun, courtesy of American Demolition.
The tower crane’s tower rises up from the GR333N construction site.
333 North Green (or GR333N if you prefer), the 19-story office tower Sterling Bay is putting up in Fulton Market, has Chicago’s newest tower crane working hard, as progress starts to push its way off street level. The lot at Green and Wayman Streets (yep, 333 North Green’s address for permit purposes is 810 West Wayman) is no small site, so the crane’s reach comes in handy as work spreads out. That’s Power Construction in charge of the goings-on. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise; Power is very busy in the West Loop.
***This tower crane snuck up on me. I knew there was a permit issued, but I didn’t know the stub had been planted until after the rest of the crane had been erected. So I have no stub photos. Sorry if I let you down, loyal readers.
With 6 other West Loop tower cranes playing back-up-singer roles, 333 North Green’s crane stands tall along N. Halsted Street.
Demolition is complete at the corner of Adams and Peoria Streets in the West Loop, leaving just a silky-smooth lot with which to begin Milieu, the 275-unit apartment project from co-developers White Oak Realty Partners and Crayton Advisors.
It looks like Stalworth Underground will hit the site first, as they’re equipment is already on the lot. They’ll help take care of foundation work for GC Power Construction, tasked with sending Milieu up to its desired 19-story height. Designed by the West Loop’s own FitzGerald, Milieu brings 13,000 square fete of retail space, as well as parking spots for nearly 200 cars.
For now, Power has a permit to build up to the 5th floor. Soon they’ll get a tower crane permit as well, then the full-build will follow. Milieu is expecting a Summer 2019 opening.
A train goes by as a crane goes bye-bye at 210 North Carpenter.
“Why is that big tall street crane in my shot?” I said to myself as I aimed the camera over the Chicago River into the West Loop. I knew I was looking at tower cranes from the Hoxton Chicago hotel and 210 North Carpenter, but couldn’t figure out what construction site I had missed that would have such a big crane. Then I zoomed in. Noticed the people up on top of the more distant crane. And realized 210 North Carpenter was, in fact, on its way down.
See? Those are people up there, removing the counterweights from the counterjib.
I had just been in the West Loop earlier in the day, and that street crane wasn’t erected yet. So this came as a surprise. Plus, it meant I had to walk all the way back over there to check things out. Central Contractors Service was on site with GC Leopardo Companies and concrete contractor Adjustable Forms starting to dismantle Manitowoc MD485 (don’t be impressed; I copied that info from the permit.) Leopardo is now one step closer to finishing their new headquarters.
***Whilst in the area of the West Loop Saturday, I stopped at the new McDonald’s HQ and had a go at those new Australian bacon-cheese fries everyone’s been talking about. I suggest you try them.
Is a tower crane still a tower crane if only the cab remains on the tower? I think not.
It was only November when Renelle on the River made news by erecting Chicago’s 60th tower crane of 2017. It took McHugh Construction and that tower crane just six months to erect the 18-story bKL Architecture design that will soon contain 50 of the city’s newest, nicest condominiums. last week, it came down.
Don’t worry though, there’s still a lot of work to be done here. Only one level of curtain wall has been installed so far, so we’ll have that to watch before all that’s left to do is interior work on those 50 condos.
For someone whose facade is being saved from destruction, you could look happier.
There isn’t much left to see at the corner of Clark Street and North Avenue in Old Town, save for a few blue shipping containers and the facade of the old Village Theater. Those two features, of course, are there for a reason, as one supports the other while the block comes down around them.
Fifteen Fifty on the Park, a 10-story condominium tower being developed by Golub, CIM Group, and Avoda Group, will soon begin construction. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Fifteen Fifty will boast 32 new condos, with parking for 66 cars, and 2,600 square feet of ground-level retail space.
Power Construction will be the general contractor. They got a foundation permit on May 3, so they can start work as soon as demo work is cleaned up.
https://twitter.com/McHughConstruct/status/993580821100613632
Yep, we just shared two tweets with you. That’s because Renelle on the River celebrated two important milestones: The first pieces of glass, and the last piece of steel.
As you can see in the video shared by bKL Architecture principal Thomas Kerwin, the first level of cladding installation is underway on the bKL-designed tower. And McHugh Construction was kind enough to share with the world that Renelle’s steel has topped out. That means the next milestone will be the sad one, when the tower crane comes down. And then all that’s left for Renelle on the River to accomplish is to open those incredible condominiums to residents, and that’s expected to happen early in 2019.
Building Up Chicago 