Category Archives: Demolition

As Old Town Park rises, more of Atrium Village comes down

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Old Town Park at Atrium Village

Old Town Park rises beyond the rubble of Atrium Village.

The circle of life continues at Atrium Village, as all but the 207 units of 300 West Hill Street have now been reduced to rubble, even as Old Town Park rises on the northeast corner of the development. The first of tower in the rebuilding of the development, Old Town Park has reached the 21st of its ultimate 32 stories. Onni Group, the developer and general contractor, is flying along at better than a one-floor-per-week pace.

Meanwhile, demolition is all but complete, with only rubble to remove, on the remaining buildings of the complex, save for the previously mentioned 300 West Hill, which is staying. **Serious question: At what point will everyone look around at all the new, amenity-laden buildings, look back at this old one, and say “yeah, let’s tear it down after all”? Anyway, the slate will be clean in plenty of time to begin work on the second tower, hopefully in early fall.

Old Town Park at Atrium Village

This overhead shot from Curtis Waltz at Aerialscapes shows the Old Town Park tower, with Atrium Village demolition at lower left.

Demolition permit at 4646 North Damen Avenue clearing the way for a new TOD?

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4646 North Damen Avenue

As you can see in this photo from the Damen Brown Line platform, 4646 North Damen Avenue is very close to the Damen Brown Line platform.

A demolition permit issued Tuesday by the City of Chicago for the property at 4646 North Damen Avenue in Ravenswood may be the sign of a new Transit Oriented Development.

Chicago Cityscape had the story (with help from Eric Rojas) back in February. Drawings on the 47th Ward website show a 4-story, 9-unit building with ground-level retail space.

If you’re not familiar with the TOD, know that the basic criteria is to be in close proximity to a CTA L or Metra stop. 4646 North Damen is within roughly 30 feet of the Damen Brown Line, so yeah, it qualifies.

4646 North Damen Avenue

4646 North Damen Avenue. I use this station 10 times each week. I’ve been watching for this one. 

4646 North Damen Avenue

The Demo Permit

4646 North Damen Avenue

900 West Washington begins to crumble ahead of 900 West

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900 West Washington

Demolition at the corner of Washington and Peoria signals the start of 900 West.

The modest one-story building at 900 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop no longer has much to hide, as a demolition crew from Tierra Services of Frankfort, IL tears it to shreds, exposing it for all the world to see. They’re clearing the site for the beginning of 900 West, a 10-story, 22-unit condominium development from Taris Real Estate.

Designed by Northworks Architects + Planners, 900 West made news earlier this month 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. There will be two-bed, three-bed, and four-bedroom condos, plus that second, aforementioned penthouse unit. Taris plans to have 900 West ready for residents in Summer of 2018.

With site cleared, St. Ignatius can begin its new athletic center

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St. Ignatius College Prep Athletic Center

1001 West Roosevelt, site of the new St. Ignatius College Prep Athletic Center, seen from Skydeck Chicago.

At the corner of West Roosevelt Road and South Morgan Street, Heneghan Wrecking has hauled off the last remnants of the former Provision Theater, making space for St. Ignatius College Prep to get started on its new athletic center.

Permitted for demolition on March 13, the site at 1001 West Roosevelt is a blank canvas now. Not much information is available yet for the new facility, but the coveted building permit will spill all the secrets as soon as it’s issued, likely in the very near future.

 

 

Demolition tears up 1133 West Randolph Street in the West Loop

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1133 West Randolph

This is what 1133 West Randolph used to look like. Now, it’s being mashed like a Hot Potato.

You may have heard this already, somewhere, and likely from a reliable source, but property in the West Loop/Fulton Market District is a hot commodity. Chances are, by the time you get your table at Au Cheval, another deal has been made and another building is being decimated to make room for new development.

1132 West Randolph

1132 West Randolph, demolished Winter 2016.

And no properties have been hotter than those that used to be Hot Potato Distributors. Once a presence on both sides of West Randolph Street, the south side buildings at 1133 and 1139 are in the process of being demolished as we speak. 1132-36 was demoed in 2016, and is now an ugly vacant lot.

According to the demolition permits (and the sign on the fence) 1133 is being developed by the DiCosola Group of South Canalport. Demolition is being done by a “Viewpoint Services.”

Demolition Update: Grant Park Packing gives way to the Hoxton Chicago

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Tuesday morning:

Monday morning (with sunshine):

It’s an Old Town Teardown as O’Brien’s meets the wrecking claw

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O'Brien's 1528 North Wells Street

When this shows up at your table, you better hurry and clean your plate.

Tuesday was Last Call at O’Brien’s Restaurant at 1528 North Wells Street in Old Town, as a crew from Heneghan Wrecking went about making space for a future hotel on the site. Permitted for demolition in March, O’Brien’s closed in late August, but plan to be back in business as part of the new boutique hotel slated for the site. That hotel, approved by the Chicago Plan Commission in June 2016, will be 13 stories high with 188 guest rooms, and, teamed with four single-family homes, will include demolition of the building next door, at 1520 North Wells.

Rubble marks the spot where Rush has demolished former student-housing buildings

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Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t go visit properties permitted for demolition, you could miss them.

https://twitter.com/BuildUpChicago/status/836567594782048258

February 27 saw a total of 13 demolition permits issued for buildings owned by Rush University Medical Center that had been previously used to house students. The buildings, all on the north side of the street in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of West Harrison Street, were soon torn into by Brandenburg Industrial Service. Sure, I may have looked out the window a time or two in that direction, but a real visit this past weekend yielded nothing but rubble.

According to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business back in 2015, Rush has plans for a 9-story, 620,000-square-foot outpatient center on the site. But of course those plans could have changed in the year-and-a-half interim.

Of note in the midst of the rubble is one building that remains at the east end of the demolition area, still standing, yet surrounded by construction fence. Air conditioners galore make it look lived-in, but with all those barriers, that doesn’t seem possible. But will that structure remain?

One final fade to black for the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion

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Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion

The former Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion is a sandlot.

The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, which stood at 700 West Fullerton Parkway as part of the old Children’s Memorial Hospital for roughly eight decades, is now an empty lot awaiting its next life. The handsome 7-story brick edifice is a distant memory now, to be replaced by a handsome 7-story brick senior-living edifice.