Category Archives: New Construction

Construction Update: The McCormick Place Event Center

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McCormick Place Event Center

The McCormick Place Event Center under construction.

It’s surely a combination of blue steel and red crane, but the construction process at the McCormick Place Event Center in the Prairie District of the South Loop is as much fun to watch as any building site in Chicago. And with the rooftop garden at McCormick Place accessible for Open House Chicago this weekend, you can climb up there and take in the view for yourself. (Make a point to check out the vegetables and herbs as well, just to have a memory of being in a garden on a roof, but you’ll be swept in by the construction.)

Quickly, before you’re deluged by a huge gallery of photos: The McCormick Place Event Center will be a 10,000-seat arena designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli serving as the home court for DePaul basketball, as well as a host to concerts, conventions, business meetings, and other sporting events. Clark Construction is the general contractor.

Excavation complete, DePaul School of Music has begun composing its new facility

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DePaul School of Music

The bass-ment has been dug, and now tuba-fours are being hammered into place, as the DePaul School of Music begins to take shape in Lincoln Park. Though the new facility will crescendo to just three stories in height, “sprawling” would be a good word to describe the footprint of this construction site. Hence the extra-long tower crane. It’s no reach to say reach is critical on this project.

 

Construction Update: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Near North

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LSD Meetinghouse

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Meetinghouse in Near North.

Construction is above street level at the new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Meetinghouse at 822 North Clark Street in Near North. The 7-story church, designed by Dixon + Associates of Utah, began construction back in May. The full building permit was filed on the first of August. McHugh Construction is the general contractor.

Construction Update: Sedgwick Development’s 1325 North Wells

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1325 North Wells

1325 North Wells, by Sedgwick Properties.

1325 North Wells is new mid-rise apartment building coming to 1325 North Wells Street in Old Town. It’s being built by multi-tasker extraordinaire Sedgwick Development, which serves as architect, designer, developer, and general contractor on the project.

1325 North Wells broke ground back in March. When complete, it will provide 60 luxury 1, 2, and 3-bedroom rental units, 30 parking spots, and about 3,200 square feet of ground-level retail space. As you’ll see in the photos below, construction crews have just risen above street level.

 

Tower Crane Update: Centrum Hubbard and 412 North Wells

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Centrum Hubbard 412 North Wells tower crane

The tower crane is real. And it is spectacular.

The stump has been planted, the foundation poured and cured, and all the parts are assembled in mid-air. The tower crane at Centrum Hubbard and 412 North Wells is ready to go.

That single tower crane will erect both the 9-story office building (412 North Wells) and the 23-story, 193-unit residential tower (Centrum Hubbard) in the lot at Wells and Hubbard. Both buildings were designed by next-door neighbor Hirsch Associates. And with it now in place, it’s time for digging some foundations. Not by the tower crane though. The excavation equipment will handle that task.

Gallery I: Tuesday assembly

Gallery II: The finished crane and the foundation dig.

 

Atrium Village plants Fields of Gold, and it Stings so good

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Atrium Village

There’s gold in them there excavations!

I don’t know quite what to make of the yellow field Onni Group has put down in its Atrium Village construction site, but I know I like it.

This is Phase One of the Atrium Village project, which will be a 31-story apartment tower designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architects. It will have 400 rental units, ground-floor retail, and some 300+ parking spaces.

Riverline mega-development begins caisson work in the South Loop

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Riverline Building B

Caisson work for Building B at Riverline is underway at 720 South Wells.

Everything has to be massive these days. Now you know that. Granted, some of the things we’re all referring to as “massive” lately are quite large, but we’re about two days away from ruining that word.

Anyway, the quite-large Riverline development CMK Companies is building along South Wells Street, in the lot just to the north of River City condominiums, is in full caisson mode these days. Case Foundation crews are out in full force, with the usual array of tools and equipment, drilling holes into the earth that will eventually support the weight of “Building D,” as the first of five phases is affectionately known. Per the permit on file, at least.

Building D will get Riverline started with a 27-story residential tower, containing 452 units and 246 parking spaces. It’s a design by Chicago’s Perkins+Will. Lendlease is the general contractor.

 

Construction Update: 165 North Desplaines

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165 North Desplaines

165 North Desplaines is still in the foundation phase. That’s 156 North Jefferson in the background. 

Power Construction continues working at ground level on 165 North Desplaines. You remember 165 North Desplaines, right? Gerding Edlen is developing 199 apartments within the 14-story tower designed by GREC Architects. The existing building at the “back” of the lot, at 156 North Jefferson, is also being renovated into dwelling units as part of the project. That portion of the project has its own permits; one for renovation was filed in August.

The foundation permit for 165 North Desplaines was filed in June. We’re still waiting for the full building permit that will allow the tower to start going vertical.

 

Prairie Court starts going vertical in the South Loop

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Prairie Court

Prairie Court won’t rise high, but it will indeed rise.

The nine buildings that comprise 55 four-story luxury townhomes of Prairie Court from Golub & Company and Sandz Development Company have started to rise from the South Loop soil. Summit Design + Build got started on the project after permits were filed back in March. The townhomes will vary in size from 2,800 to 4,500 square feet, in 3 or 4-bedroom configurations. Completion will occur in stages, with overall construction lasting about 30 months.