A Deeper Look at 151 North Franklin Foundation Work

Posted on June 27, 2016 by danieldschell

Foundation work is on and ongoing at 151 North Franklin.

It looks like the digging is done dug at 151 North Franklin, The Loop’s latest 35-story office tower from The John Buck Company. Gone are the backhoes and front loaders, replaced by rebar. Lots and lots of rebar.

As a reminder, those are Lendlease crews you see gettin’ stuff done at the future CNA Center, a John Ronan Architects design.

: The pool looks almost done.

: I should have gone into rebar sales.

: Pumping in cement.

: It was all hands on cement Saturday. There were eight cement mixers on site.

: Along the watchtower.

: Peeks can be sneaked from ground level.

: It gives a much better perspective of how deep the foundation is.

: The Mayor was pleased to see me at the groundbreaking ceremony in April.

: A well-earned break.

: Someday soon (fingers crossed) this will be a tower crane.

: There may still be a tiny bit of digging left to do.

: A field of rebar.

: “I don’t think this is supposed to be—oh wait, there it is. Okay, we’re good!”

: 215 West Lake rises in the background.

8 East Huron Digs Down, Shores Up

Posted on June 23, 2016 by danieldschell

Foundation work is ongoing at 8 East Huron in River North.

With two buildings torn down at the northeast corner of State and Huron Streets, a new residential tower is starting to grow.

8 East Huron is a 26-story, 105-unit building being developed by CA Ventures. (That’s CA as in Campus Acquisitions, not something from California. CA Ventures is the new branding, as of 2012.) There will be ground floor retail as well, and 30 or so parking spaces on levels 2-4.

8 East Huron is designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates. Clark Construction is on the build. Or, under the build, as you’ll see from the photos below.

: Down and dirty at 8 East Huron.

: Iron shoring.

: Foundation workers at 8 East Huron.

: Digging.

: And more digging.

: You’ve painted yourself onto an island.

: The Permit.

: Quality Excavation demolishes 4 and 8 East Huron.

: After demolition, touch-up work on the Consulate General of Ukraine, 10 East Huron, which remains.

: 4 and 8 are gone. 10 East Huron, to the right, remains.

: They were handsome structures.

More Photos Than I Know What To Do With: Optima II

Posted on June 23, 2016 by danieldschell

Talk about multi-tasking.

This is Optima Chicago Center II. Designed by David Hovey of Optima. Optima is also the developer, and the general contractor. Keeping it in-house to the extreme.

Located at 220 East Illinois Street in Streeterville, Optima Chicago Center II will be a 54-story, 381-unit apartment tower. It sits next to Optima Chicago Center, next door at 200 East Illinois Street. The first Optima tower stands 42 stories tall, and is also a rental building, with 325 apartments. It opened to residents in 2013.

: Site prep, all the way back in December of 2014.

: May 1, 2015, and not much had been accomplished.

: A shot from April, with really good light.

: An April crane shot.

: Optima Chicago Center II, from Cityfront Plaza Drive.

: This will be the “front” and main entrance of the building.

: “Is it really gonna be green and red?” people have asked. Well, there’s your red glass.

: And there’s your green glass.

: The “back” of the building, along Grand Avenue.

: Gratuitous tower crane shot.

400 West Huron Continues Growth in River North

Posted on June 22, 2016 by danieldschell

400 West Huron is a 15-story condo building coming to the River North neighborhood at 400 West Huron Street. The Berkelhamer Architects design will have just 26 units, all condominiums. Smithfield Properties is playing the roles of both developer and general contractor on this one.

: Looking east along Huron Street.

: A big red machine.

: Gratuitous tower crane shot.

: That’s always the hardest spot to get.

: Out on the edge.

: Looking west from Franklin Street.

: Looking west from Huron Street.

: Both 400 and 410 West Huron were demolished for the new 400 West Huron. Here, Heneghan Wrecking takes down 400, as 410 awaits its fate next door.

: The demo permit for 400 West Huron.

: And the demo permit for 410 West Huron.

: The full building permit for 400 West Huron.

Clybourn 1200 Piecing Together Nicely

Posted on June 22, 2016 by danieldschell

Clybourn 1200 is being pieced together by a massive ground crane, like an out-of-hand game of Tetris.

Clybourn 1200 is a new mixed-use, mixed-income apartment project from Brinshore Development. Depending on your perspective, it’s in the Gold Coast neighborhood, the Goose Island area, the Cabrini-Green neighborhood, or the Near North.

The V-shaped building, designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners to fit in the triangular lot at 1200 North Clybourn Avenue, will have 77 apartments for people, a whole bunch of roof-top hives for bees, and 17,000 square feet of space for retailers, including a day-care center for children.

McShane Construction is on the build, a notable site for its massive red crane parked in the middle of the lot.

: The “front” of Clybourn 1200, facing Division Street.

: This facade faces North Clybourn.

: McShane Construction personnel atop Clybourn 1200.

: The big red crane doing what big red cranes do.

: It picked it up, now it’s setting it down.

: Come on, admit it. That’s an amazing piece of machinery.

: Getting kinda personal, shooting it from the back like this, but you can see the counterweight required for heavy lifting cross a large site like this one.

Ground Already Broken, 851 West Grand Gets a Permit

Posted on June 22, 2016 by danieldschell

With a building permit in hand, look for more than two people working on 851 West Grand very soon.

There’s a new building permit on file with the city of Chicago for the site located at 851 West Grand Avenue in River West.

Monroe Residential Partners broke ground for the FitzGerald Associates Architects design back in May. There have been something called “reaction piers” installed on the site, according to a FitzGerald Facebook post, but other than that, 851 West Grand has been a relatively quiet lot since.

Not anymore. Expect lots of action now that a permit is on file with the City of Chicago. Summit Design + Build is the general contractor tasked with erecting the 6-story, 36-unit apartment building. Monroe plans like to have 851 West Grand ready before the 2017 is out.

: A rendering of 851 West Grand from Monroe Residential Partners.

: The Permit.

: The big equipment started showing up in early June.

: You can see those “reaction piers” just in front of the tarp. Someone smarter will have to explain what they do. Besides react.

: The Lot

DePaul Tuning Up for New School of Music

Posted on June 21, 2016 by danieldschell

There’s no tower crane yet, but THEY’RE MAKING SQUARE REBAR TUBES!!

Chicago construction company Bulley & Andrews is erecting a new DePaul School of Music out in Lincoln Park. Designed by Antunovich Associates, the new facility will be on the site previously occupied by McGaw Hall, which was demolished early this year.

You can learn all you need to know about the new School of Music by going to DePaul’s site. As for me, I’ll skip the words and share a few photos instead.

: Excavation work is ongoing.

: And ongoing.

: Digging out the corners and shoring them up.

: A pretend tower crane is getting things done. For now.

: It’s got pretty good reach.

: Want to learn more about the DePaul School of Music? Read the fence.

: Those square rebar caisson cages though.

: They are epic.

: The “church” stays.

: Seriously, the tower crane was permitted in March. Where’s my tower crane?!

One Bennett Park Caisson Work Rolls Along

Posted on June 21, 2016 by danieldschell

An overview of caisson work at One Bennett Park.

One Bennett Park, a 69-story, 836-foot-tall residential tower coming to a Streeterville neighborhood near you, has already ripped out the park it’s to stand on (don’t worry, it will be back, bigger and better) and is well into the caisson-drilling process.

A rendering of One Bennett Park from GREC Architects.

Designed by New York’s Robert A.M. Stern Architects, with a boost from executive architect GREC Architects of Chicago, One Bennett Park will have a mix of condominiums and apartments. Related Midwest, known recently for building 500 North Lake Shore Drive, and for turning OneEleven from a half-finished, recession-busted skeleton of cement and steel into a gleaming new rental tower, plans to have One Bennett Park finished in 2019. General contractor Lendlease will see to that.

: The construction site from Illinois Street.

: Looking across what will be Bennett Park to what will be One Bennett Park.

: Caisson stuff.

: Tube.

: No, *you’re* hands were shaking when you took this.

: The foundation permit.

30 East Continues Ground Work in the South Loop

Posted on June 21, 2016 by danieldschell

A bird’s eye view (if the bird parks its car) of construction work at 30 East.

Smack dab in the middle of all the murals in the Wabash Arts Corridor, Power Construction crews are hard at work on 30 East, a 16-story residential tower coming to the South Loop at 30 East Balbo Avenue.

Gilbane Development Company has its eye on the growing student population in this neighborhood. In that respect, 30 East will have 134 apartments ranging from studios to 4-bedroom units. Every unit will be furnished, ideal for student rentals. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, 30 East will also have 8,000 square feet of retail space at the ground level. Gilbane expects to have the tower ready for Fall 2017 classes.

: 30 Balbo is surrounded by fantastic mural art.

: There’s even a mural on the job site itself.

: The best way to not forget which tower crane goes with which construction site is to put a banner on them.

More Photos Than I Know What To Do With: The Byrne Flyover

Video

The newest section of the Jane Byrne Flyover.

I cannot recommend enough that everyone live where construction is right outside your window. Quiet construction. Relatively un-dusty construction.

Like the Jane Byrne Flyover, for example. Close enough to be mesmerizing, yet far enough away that nary a peep can be heard.

They’re building a new ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway to the outbound Eisenhower Expressway. As soon as I see equipment amassing inside the Circle Interchange (as it used to be known) I get the coffee hot and the Red Bull cold for optimal night-work spectating. That’s when McHugh Construction lifts the beams into place that form the roadway. Usually. They did some day-time work this time around, as well.

The photos that follow are from two phases of work: One from June 6-8, and just this past weekend, June 17-19.