Category Archives: 10-19 Stories

Touring the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center with Power Construction

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Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center

Northwestern University’s Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center.

Great big huge Thank You to Brian Tuffy and Power Construction for a tour Friday of the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center in Streeterville. Now topped out with the ceremonial purple beam in place, the 14-story Phase One can expect lots of curtain wall installation in the coming weeks.

As for those two tower cranes, they’ll be around for another month or so. Phase Two, which will see 16 additional stories added to the current phase, won’t begin anytime soon, and tower cranes ain’t free just because you aren’t using them.

Photos galore:

The beginning of the pedestrian bridge over Superior Street that will connect the S-Q Center to 320 East Superior.

Some of the work being done on the four below-ground levels.

Elevator shafts, from below and above. Taken with great bravery.

Tower cranes. They’ll be around a couple more months.

Views from inside the upper floors.

Finally, the massive generator on the ground floor that will power the entire facility in case of a power outage.

 

 

 

808 West Van Buren digs in to Greektown

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808 West Van Buren

Revcon moves caisson equipment around the lot at 808 West Van Buren in the West Loop’s Greektown sub-neighborhood.

The unsightly pit formerly known as a Greektown garbage dump has come alive with caisson work, as Revcon and Lendlease set about laying the foundation for 808 West Van Buren. bKL Architecture has designed a 12-story, 148-unit residential building here for Loukas Development that the City of Chicago permitted back in April. Also included will be 65 parking spots and some ground-level retail space.

Maybe some of that space will be a new bakery, to replace the beloved Pan Hellenic Pastry Shop, which closed earlier this summer. The website says “New Location To Be Announced” so, fingers crossed!

900 West digs in, and scores another permit

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900 West

Stalworth Underground drills caisson at 900 West in the West Loop.

900 West, the 10-story, 22-unit condominium building coming to the West Loop from Taris Real Estate, has permission to go vertical, after receiving its full-build permit Wednesday from the City of Chicago. (They thought they could trick me by using 904 West Washington Blvd as the address, but I catch on quick.)

In the meantime, Stalworth Underground continues to rip holes in the earth and then fill said holes with concrete. Then once they’re done with caissons, Power Construction will start bringing the Northworks Architects + Planners design to life, with the goal of a Summer 2018 opening.

And yes, Power Construction assures us there *will* be a tower crane at 900 West.

Sterling Bay gets a permit for offices at 210 North Carpenter

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210 North Carpenter permit

Behold, the almighty Foundation Permit, issued Monday for 210 North Carpenter.

Monday, the City of Chicago issued a foundation permit for the parking lot at 210 North Carpenter Street in the West Loop, allowing Sterling Bay to begin construction on a new 12-story, 200,000-square-foot office building. 210 North Carpenter is a design from Solomon Cordwell Buenz, and will also bring 12,000 square feet of retail space to the scorching-hot West Loop/Fulton Market area.

Leopardo Companies is the general contractor. (They’re putting the finishing touches on Fulton West just a couple blocks from 210 North Carpenter.) Adjustable Forms will be the masonry contractor.

At 12 stories, we smell a new tower crane for the West Loop!

Centaur Construction joins Chicago’s Tower Crane Party

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Centaur Construction is entering the tower crane count this weekend with their assembly of the crane at the Nobu Hotel Chicago site, and they’re relishing the moment.

Christina Pascente at Centaur took a bunch of great high-res images of the tower crane going up on Friday and sent them to us. So of course, we’re sharing them. Enjoy!

It’s tower crane time at Nobu Hotel

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https://twitter.com/JPGraziano/status/896001886859526144

Everybody’s talking about the new crane in town. Even purveyors of fine sandwiches.

As you read these words, Central Contractors Service and Centaur Construction are on the Nobu Hotel Chicago site in the West Loop, assembling the tower crane that will send the 11-story boutique hotel vertical. It’s also the reason you can’t drive on Peoria Street between Randolph and Lake. We’ve waited a long time for this one, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts. If it lasts. Now that Nobu will start going vertical, it won’t take long to stack its 11 floors on top of each other.

*** Centaur CEO Spiro Tsaparas called the B.U.C. to let me know a correction is in order on the Nobu project. I’ve reported that Walsh Construction was assigned the task of concrete work. That information, listed in Nobu’s building permits, is incorrect. Pepper Construction is, in fact, the masonry contractor for the Nobu Hotel.***

 

Marlowe going higher in River North

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Marlowe 169 West Huron

Marlowe, formerly of 675 North Wells Street in River North, now resides at 169 West Huron.

On the busiest block in River North, Marlowe (169 West Huron Street, according to its shiny new website, not 675 North Wells, where the permits are addressed) continues its rise toward its goal: to become a 15-story, 176-unit apartment building. While the east half of this block (bounded by LaSalle Street to the east, Huron to the north, Erie to the south, and Wells to the west) is occupied by work on The Ardus and The Bentham, Marlowe covers the entire west half of the block all by itself.

Antunovich Associates designed the building for Lennar Multifamily Companies, which will also deliver 11,000 square feet of street-level retail space when it opens next year. Power Construction is doing the heavy labor, with work having reached the underside of the fifth floor.

Speaking of that new website: it boasts of a “16th-floor amenity deck.” A 16th floor is a bit unusual in 15-story buildings. Does that mean the amenities will be on the roof? Or is Marlowe rising to 16 stories instead of 15?

Wandering Milwaukee: One last tower crane reigns above the east side

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Farwell Tower 1840 North Farwell Avenue

Like the Bat Signal, this distant tower crane led me to 1840 North Farwell Avenue on Milwaukee’s East Side.

If there are more than the five tower cranes I spotted in July around downtown Milwaukee (two at Marquette University, one at the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center, one at 7Seventy7, and this one at 1840 North Farwell Avenue) blame it on my feet, not my heart. I walked until I could spot no more.

I saved the most mysterious for last. According to this article from Urban Milwaukee, this project is called “Farwell Tower.” That’s believable; it’s on Farwell Avenue at Kane Place on the city’s east side. The tower crane gives a solid clue as to the general contractor; Stevens Construction. As for the developer and architect (I always try to include those three entities, CG, developer, and design architect in each story) I’m relying on the aforementioned Urban Milwaukee article, and you should too. Check that link not just for the team involved, but also for the building specs. They’ve also got some great photos, taken far more recently than my July 1st visit.

Find another great photo gallery from Milwaukee Independent, taken July 6 during the first big concrete pour, here.

Photos from July 1 follow:

The Simpson-Querrey Center shows off new glass

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Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center

Cladding installation has begun at the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center.

Out in Streeterville, the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center has climbed just about as high as it will go, with Power Construction crews now working on the 14th floor. That means Simpson-Querrey needs another feature with which to grab our attention: Glass. Shiny, curvy glass. It’s made its debut along the north elevation.

Are we gonna lose two tower cranes as the Perkins+Will project nears topping-out? I don’t have an answer to that. Yet. There’s a Phase Two for this project, when 16 additional laboratory floors will be added to the 600,000 square feet being built now. I vote to leave the cranes up there until whenever Phase Two starts. They’re a nice addition to the skyline.

 

 

900 West lands a foundation permit

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900 West

The sweet smell of a foundation permit, fresh of the City presses. 900 West may begin.

The lot at Washington Boulevard and Peoria Street in the West Loop has been cleared, and now a foundation permit has been issued that allows 900 West to move into the site. The 10-story, 22-unit condominium development from Taris Real Estate has already made Chicago news, when Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s reported on the signed contract for one of the building’s two penthouse units for more than $5 million. In addition to the penthouses, there will be two-bed, three-bed, and four-bedroom condos.

Northworks Architects + Planners designed the new building. Power Construction has been tasked with putting all the right pieces in all the right places. Taris plans to have 900 West ready for residents in Summer of 2018.