Got a surprise in my Instagram feed today, when this post popped up from Sterling Bay:
This is what The Dylan looked like last week, as the exterior nears completion:
Got a surprise in my Instagram feed today, when this post popped up from Sterling Bay:
This is what The Dylan looked like last week, as the exterior nears completion:



A week late, but here’s a whole mess o’ photos of the first level of glass installation at Cassidy on Canal, taken Wednesday May 10.








































1114 West Carroll, the 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower from developer Trammell Crow Company, is beginning to go 3-D from its excavation site in the Fulton Market District. On the site where once stood a Ryder truck-rental site, GC Power Construction has been digging out space for the below-grade 95 parking spaces for several weeks. But now, the core is rising.
Designed by ESG Architecture & Design, who also teamed with Trammell Crow on the Fulton Labs project on the north side of the Metra tracks, 1114 West Carroll will add retail space at ground level. Below-grade parking + ground-level retail = no parking podium, if my math is correct.
To date, 1114 has received the following building permits:
foundation issued 1/9/23
tower crane issued 1/23/23
full build issued 3/7/23
hoist issued 4/25/23
I got over here a couple times while the digging was still being dug — you’ll see photos from those visits in the gallery, including shots from Craning Day in March — but verticality is always a nice milestone. Those pics were taken May 7.


































Leaps and bounds in the Futon River District, as McHugh & McHugh continue upwards at Cassidy on Canal.
























Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

Turn your back on these kids for two seconds, and I’m telling you, they grow out of control.
160 North Morgan is a development from Sterling Bay
A creation by bKL Architecture.
A project for The Big Green W.
It will be 30 stories tall.
It will have 282 apartments.
It will contain parking for 89 cars.
It will have 2,657 square feet of retail space.
It will sit right in the middle of my favorite neighborhood.
It still has a tower crane.
It has a lot of curtain wall installed.
It looks like it’s reached the 23rd or 24th floor.
Progress photos, taken January 29, 2023:


























Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

It’s pretty easy to remember when I was last at Cassidy on Canal; just scroll back a couple pages. In mid-September, caisson work had just begun on The Habitat Company’s 33-story, 343-unit, SCB-designed apartment tower where Cassidy Tire once stood in the Fulton River District.
Now, McHugh & McHugh have reached the underside of the fifth floor. Have a look at their progress on a cold, cloudy January ’23 Sunday (I love having the Fulton House condo building as a backdrop):




























Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

The first permit has been issued for Cassidy on Canal, the 33-story apartment tower from The Habitat Company, and crews are on site ready to drill into the earth. I’m told caissons aren’t quite ready to go into the ground just yet, but you can see rebar cages being prepped, so they’ll be ready when shafts start drilling. That process is expected to begin Monday.
I learned some fascinating things this week about those old freight tunnels running under the city, including this site. Caissons can be drilled through the tunnels, but not until the tunnels themselves are filled. Bulkheads are framed and filled at each end of the tunnel, and then the entire tunnel is filled with grout. (It’s a lot of grout.) Once the grout sets, then the caissons can be drilled & filled.
Anyway, that’s what Stalworth Underground is up to. I guess when you put the word “Underground” in your name, you’re prepared for anything and everything that pops up beneath the surface.















Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

The City of Chicago issued a foundation permit Wednesday for 350 North Canal. That means The Habitat Company’s plan for apartments on the lot where Cassidy Tire once stood is ready to roll. An empty lot, a clean slate, at the beginning of the month, McHugh Construction and McHugh Concrete can begin laying the groundwork for the 33-story, SCB-designed tower. Stalworth Underground will assist with caisson work.
The permit indicates 343 apartments, 123 parking spaces for cars (no below-grade parking here. There will be a parking podium on levels 2-4) and 185 bicycle spaces. I’ll be staring at the permit site, waiting for the tower crane to arrive.





bKL Architecture has designed a great-looking residential tower for the West Loop. And even though we’re still in the early stages of construction on 160 North Morgan, one of the coolest aspects of the design is already visible.

If this were Roman numerals, it’d be 3. Because two I’s in front of a V would be 2 less than 5. But we all know III is the Roman numeral for 3, so this is actually 7, or VII, but we’re looking at it from the back.
I’m rambling. Check it out for yourself.












Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

A month ago, 160 North Morgan got its hoist permit. Its skip permit. Its construction elevator permit. Its “red thing right there in front” permit. And it’s newly-installed since the last time I dropped by mid-month. I don’t often point out hoist permits, but maybe I should. Besides, now I know what a dual-car Tornborg FC8000 Per/Mat counter-weight hoist tower looks like, so I can point them out to folks on the street when I see them.











Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.