Here comes the Wicker Park Connection

Posted on December 21, 2016 by danieldschell

The Permit. Let The Wicker Park Connection begin!

A permit filed Tuesday by the City of Chicago signals the beginning of the Wicker Park Connection. Another project from the combined forces of Centrum Partners and Hirsch Associates Architects, the Wicker Park Connection will fill the surface parking lot at 1640 West Division Street.

The Wicker Park Connection will be a 15-story building, bringing 140 residential units with 52 parking spaces, along with ground-floor retail. Linn-Mathes has been hired to be the general contractor.

: Rendering of The Wicker Park Connection from Hirsch Associates.

: Rendering of The Wicker Park Connection from Hirsch Associates.

: Rendering of The Wicker Park Connection from Hirsch Associates.

: The Wicker Park Connection will be the new neighbor of Centrum Wicker Park, another Centrum/Hirsch collaboration, seen here under construction back in August.

: Bye bye, surface parking lot. And a really ugly one at that.

: Looking through the soon-to-be-gone surface parking lot. That’s Centrum Wicker Park in the background.

Illume Chicago has broken ground, literally and ceremoniously

Posted on December 21, 2016 by danieldschell

Truth.

Controversial? Contentious? How about “underway”?

Illume, the condominiums for the West Loop from LG Development, has started tearing up the parking lot at 111 South Peoria Street. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on December 5, then two days later, the City of Chicago issued the building permit.

Designed by Pappageorge Haymes, the 10-story building will contain 79 condos, and include parking in the basement and first floor. Norcon has been signed on as general contractor.

https://twitter.com/PappagHaymes/status/805875985069510656

A rendering of Illume from Pappageorge Haymes.

The Permit.

A permit makes it official: Motor Row is getting a new hotel

Posted on December 20, 2016 by danieldschell

Fresh off the presses, Monday’s permit for 22 stories and 466 units at 123 East Cermak Road.

Last week, a permit to prep the lot at 123 East Cermak Road was filed by the City of Chicago, and it appeared at the time there would be a new hotel coming to the north end of Motor Row. Now it’s official.

A permit was filed Monday, allowing for:

466 UNITS, 22 STORIES, MIXED USE-HOTELS, ASSEMBLY AND MERCANTILE, NO PARKING

As mentioned last week, McHugh Construction owns the lot, and they’ll serve as their own general contractor. Antunovich Associates handled design duties.

Now that construction can begin, it’s time to crowd-source a name. The Hughtel?

Return to New York City: Hudson Yards

Posted on December 20, 2016 by danieldschell

I will spend absolutely no space here trying to explain the scope of Hudson Yards, on Manhattan’s Far West Side. Suffice it to say, it’s a project of mind-boggling proportions, underway since 2012, that could continue until 2025. What I will do, however, is compile the following list of online resources, should you decide you’d like to explore Hudson Yards on your own. And, show you the photos from our October visit to Hudson Yards and the High Line.

Hudson Yards (all the fun, juicy statistics here)

New York YIMBY (lots of construction coverage)

6SQFT (heavy on Real Estate news)

Wikipedia? (Sure, why not)

Hudson Yards Development Corporation

Curbed New York

And now, photos:

LG Development writing a new story for the West Loop

Posted on December 19, 2016 by danieldschell

https://twitter.com/LGDevelopment/status/808687914926411777

If it seems there’s construction on every block of the West Loop, it’s probably because there’s construction on every block of the West Loop. But it’s not all fancy corporate HQs and boutique hotels.

At 177 North Morgan Street* (that’s the address according to the building permit. As you can see in the tweet above, LG Development refers to the property as 185 North Morgan.), LG Development is erecting a single-story retail building at the foot of the Morgan Street CTA L station.

Construction Update: 151 North Franklin

Posted on December 16, 2016 by danieldschell

The tower crane that isn’t a tower crane at 151 North Franklin still soars high above Randolph Street.

I missed the memo that said 151 North Franklin would be growing like a weed in spring, despite Chicago heading into winter. On the lot that only yesterday still seemed to anchor that worn-out old Walgreen’s store, the future CNA Center already appears to be about 18 stories into the sky. You can credit Lendlease for that miracle growth, for even in Thursday’s inhuman temperatures, there was still a construction crew on site. That’s not just a core shooting up through the center of The John Buck Company’s 820,000-square-foot office tower, that’s hard-core.

Here are a few shots on 151 North Franklin, which has outgrown all the adjacent parking garages, and their prime vantage points.

: Lendlease. Still Flying The W!

: last time we stopped by here, there were tower crane pieces awaiting assembly.

At 412 North Wells, a hole. At Centrum Hubbard, a whole lot more.

Posted on December 16, 2016 by danieldschell

Construction progress continues at Centrum Hubbard in River North, the 23-story, 193-unit residential tower in River North from Centrum Partners and Hirsch Associates Architects. 412 North Wells, on the other hand, the accompanying 9-story, 41,000-square-foot office building next to it, still redeems itself as a convenient material-staging site for the apartment tower construction. To be honest though, it’s easier to observe and keep tabs on one project at a time, don’t you think?

: With train.

: Without train.

Composition of DePaul School of Music continues in Lincoln Park

Posted on December 15, 2016 by danieldschell

McGaw Hall is a distant memory, and the new DePaul School of Music is getting closer to completion. (I used up all my music puns in a previous post, so just know Bulley + Andrews is still hard at work building the 3-story, 185,000-square-foot facility.)

1411 South Michigan starts driving piles into the South Loop

Posted on December 14, 2016 by danieldschell

Those are H-piles that have been driven into the ground at 1411 South Michigan.

If you’re within a 4-to-6-block radius of 1411 South Michigan Avenue in the South Loop, then you’re fully aware that piles are being driven into the ground as work has begun on Russland Capital Group’s 15-story apartment tower. That’s where we’ll see 199 new units, along with 40,000 square feet of commercial space, opening late in 2017. The ever-busy Lendlease is the general contractor for the Boarman Kroos Vogel Group-designed project.

: The foundation permit, filed October 24.

: The former home of the Chicago Department of Children and Family Services, demolished to make way for the new apartments.

Punch Bowl Social picks up a spare, right up their alley

Posted on December 14, 2016 by danieldschell

The restored facade of ~~Brooklyn Bowl~~ Punch Bowl Social in the West Loop.

All the work that went into preserving the historic facade at West Fulton and North Peoria in the West Loop’s Fulton market District isn’t for Brooklyn Bowl, as it turns out. The space, which looks nearly complete, will now be occupied by Punch Bowl Social.

That’s the news we got from Eater Chicago last week. A quick walk around the facility this week shows a venue that looks close to being open; the Punch Bowl Social website says to expect it in 2017. And remember, 2017 is less than three weeks away.