The Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center
They had to dig for what seemed like an eternity, but excavations have long been complete, and now the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center has risen above street level in Streeterville.
Having ceremoniously broken ground on the first of the month, Elevate Lincoln Park has begun celebrating yet another milestone; a tower crane is being assembled on the site of the future rental development. It’s a shiny yellow one too, the best kind. And you’ll be able to see it next to the elevated tracks when riding the Red, Brown, and Purple Line trains. It more than makes up for not getting to watch people play tennis atop the old Lincoln Centre condos, right? Wait. Did anyone ever play tennis up there?
Moot point. What’s important here is this: Elevate Lincoln Park, a Baker Development project, will feature 191 apartments, three levels of parking, and ground-floor commercial space, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz.
520 West 28th, designed by Zaha Hadid, under construction along the High Line in West Chelsea.
I knew I’d see a lot of construction along New York City’s High Line elevated park; I also know I’d wish for more time. (All these photos are from atop the High Line itself; there wasn’t time to walk 360 degrees around construction sites.)
A standout of that construction? 520 West 28th Street in West Chelsea, from Related Companies. Designed by the late great Zaha Hadid along with Ismael Leyva Architects, 520 West 28th brings 39 uber-luxurious condos over 11 floors, right next to the High Line, in a modern, curvy building. Stay away from the $50,000,000 penthouse on the top three floors though; I’ve already committed to buying that one.
P.S. The High Line is a glorious place. I can’t wait to get back.
The lot is ready at 1411 South Michigan.
A foundation permit was filed Monday by the City of Chicago, allowing construction to begin at 1411 South Michigan Avenue in the South Loop. It may be one of the wordiest foundation permits in recent history:
DIRECT DEVELOPER SERVICES. SCOPE OF WORK : CAISSONS, CAISSON CAPS, GRADE BEAMS AND SUPERSTRUCTURE OF FLOORS 1 TO THE TOP OF 6TH FLOOR SLAB. THE GROUND FLOOR SLAB IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE SCOPE OF THIS PERMIT. PROJECT DESCRIPTION : NEW TYPE 1-A 15-STORY , FULLY SPRINKLERED BLDG. WITH NO BASEMENT, MIXED -USE OCCUPANCY WITH 141 PARKING SPACES ON LEVELS 1-3, MEDICAL OFFICE TENANT ON LEVELS 1,4 & 5 AND 199 RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS (68 EFFICIENCY UNITS + 131 DWELLING UNITS)
1411 South Michigan will be a 15-story residential tower from Chicago developer Russland Capital Group. Designed by the architecture firm of Boarman Kroos Vogel Group, 1411 South Michigan will have 199 apartments ranging from studios to 3-bedroom units. 40,000 square feet of commercial space is included in the plans as well. Lendlease will serve as the general contractor.
Flat glass cladding? Not here at the Viceroy Chicago.
If you’re like me, you enjoy going from construction site to construction site, telling crews what they’re doing wrong.
Just kidding. Don’t ever do that. It wouldn’t be appreciated.
The Viceroy Chicago Hotel going up at 1118 North State Street in the Gold Coast has been showing some cool geometric concrete flooring of late, shapes that I assumed would disappear once cladding was put into place. Luckily, architects like Goettsch Partners and contractors like Power Construction know more about what they do than I. Because the best way to to compliment those patterns is to use glass that mocks them.
Glass is going up rapidly at The Viceroy, but this is no ordinary pane. (Sorry, Stevie.) These pieces of cladding come angled. But you’ll see what I mean when you look at the photos.
30 East has topped out at 30 East Balbo in the South Loop.
Enjoy the tower crane at 30 East while you can. The 16-story apartment building has topped off, meaning the crane has accomplished most of what it came here to do. 30 East will have 134 apartments ranging from studios to 4-bedroom units, all of them fully furnished. Gilbane Development Company has designs on filling the tower with the large student population in the South Loop. And speaking of designs, SCB is responsible for drawing up 30 East. Power Construction has been taking care of construction.
Gilbane’s goal is to open in time for Fall 2017 classes.
1001 West Chicago, with an impressive photobomb by Saint John Cantius, which I hope you visited during Open House Chicago.
1001 West Chicago is rising on the site of the old Gonnella Baking Company site, which is the yeast of the bread puns I could have made. Developed by Bond Companies and Morgan Holdings, designed by Fitzgerald Associates, the dual-tower project will deliver 363 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Power Construction is on the build.
The forst section of tower crane is added to the stub at 171 Aberdeen.
Two tower crane permits. An additional foundation permit to add more caissons. Both scenarios conspiring to delay the assembly of a tower crane for 171 Aberdeen, the 11-story mixed-use apartment project in the West Loop.
But that’s all in the past. Tuesday, Central Crane Service was on site putting the crane together at long last. By the end of the day, the main shaft was up, with the cab sitting atop it. Expect the boom Wednesday, and an operational crane no later than week’s end.
Videos and photos follow:
At the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, construction continues on the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center. As the video above from Northwestern illustrates, work has been ongoing for over a year now. You know all about the two tower cranes on this job. What you should also know is the two-phase project will eventually provide 1.2-million square feet of research and support space next to the existing Lurie Medical Research Center at 303 East Superior Street.
Now that the digging, and more digging, and the last of the digging, are complete, those two tower cranes are starting to divvy up materials so Power Construction crews can get the 14-story tower of Phase One in the air. Designed by Perkins+Will, Phase Two will eventually bring 16 additional stories to the project, according to the SQBRC fact sheet.
Northwestern plans to have Phase One completed before the end of 2018. Here now, a few photos of progress.
The tower crane foundation at 171 Aberdeen is poured and set.
When last we checked on 171 Aberdeen, there was a freshly planted tower crane stub. So freshly, in fact, that there was no foundation around it. But not to worry. A quick perusal Tuesday shows a completed foundation, and I expect full assembly is still on schedule for Monday the 10th. I’ll miss it; I hope one of you can stop by and capture a few photos.
Last week’s tower crane, in the buff.
Building Up Chicago 