Westerly is an 11-story, 188-unit apartment building at 740 North Aberdeen in River West that welcomed its first tenants in Fall 2020. A development from Fifield Companies, it includes 188 rental units and 2,400 square feet of retail space.
CTA and Metra fares, Uber rides, Zipcars, Divvy bikes, camera lenses, and durable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses with a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
There are few things construction nerds look forward to more than caisson work. It marks the unofficial “official start” of skyscraper construction, people are digging in the dirt, heavy machinery dances around each other, and loud noises bounce off neighboring buildings. You might not think it’d be fun to watch, but it’s mesmerizing. Which is why some of us stand there and take dozens of photos.
Last week marked the beginning of caisson work at 354 North Union. Big shout-outs to Stalworth Underground and Onni Group for providing the entertainment. Here are dozens of photos:
354 North Union Caisson Fest, April 2021
CTA and Metra rides, Zipcars, Divvy bikes, camera lenses, and solid walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses with a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
The first row of curtain wall is being installed at 1400 West Randolph in the West Loop. Meanwhile, overall construction looks to have reached the 15th or 16th level. Have a look at at Power Construction’s handiwork:
CTA and Metra rides, Zipcars, Divvy bikes, camera lenses, and solid walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses with a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
A stub awaits its tower crane at The Gateway Apartments.
“Fellas, you’re gonna want that cowbell.”
To paraphrase Bruce Dickinson (yes, *the* Bruce Dickinson) you’re also gonna want that tower crane.
The Gateway Apartments at 2050 West Ogden in the Illinois Medical District got its full-build permit last week, several weeks after planting a tower crane in the ground. Alas, that tower crane has yet to be erected, but I’m willing to assume Global Builders knows what they’re doing out there. It’s what they do. I just get a little anxious when our tower crane count dips near single digits. We’re gonna want that tower crane.
A design by Avondale’s Piekarz Associates, Gateway Apartments will bring 161 rental units atop ground-floor retail space to its 11 stories.
Early-stage construction at The Gateway Apartments.
Metra and CTA rides, Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and good walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation.
Screengrab of W.E. O’Neil’s drone video at One Oak Brook Commons.
I don’t have a drone. Don’t feel bad for me though. Feel bad for me because I also lack a small airplane, a helicopter, and a dirigible. But you know who *does* have a drone?
W.E. O’Neil, that’s who. And they’ve put it to good use recently, flying up and over One Oak Brook Commons for a look at construction progress. They shared it on their social media platforms, so you might want to follow them so you don’t miss the next one.
Here are some links to the video. Choose your favorite platform. Choices are good. While you watch these, I’m gonna tie a bunch of balloons to my house and go for a ride.
It doesn’t have a tower crane, but it was right there in the parking lot of Oakbrook Center, so it’s hard to miss.
Graycor is building a new, stand-alone RH (you may remember that as Restoration Hardware) store out in suburban Oak Brook. The Chicago Tribune was all over the story last year. I took a photo. That is all.
On what used to be the McDonald’s HQ (which now stands proudly in Chicago’s very own West Loop neighborhood) in Oak Brook, One Oak Brook Commons has risen out of the demolition rubble on its way to being the first phase of Oak Brook Commons.
One Oak Brook Commons will be a 17-story, 250-unit apartment tower next to what suburbanites know as the Oakbrook Center shopping mall. A design by Chicago firm Antunovich Associates, OOBC (the cool kids call it that) will also include a whopping 420 parking spaces. (It’s the suburbs; relax.) W.E. O’Neil is on the build.
Future phases of Oak Brook Commons will include condominiums, a hotel, “creative” office space, medical office space, and a public park. Yep, there’ll be activity on this site for quite some time.
I borrowed my nephew’s self-balancing electric skateboard and headed to the western burbs for a look-see, as proven by the following photo gallery:
One Oak Brook Commons, April 26, 2021
Here are Hines’ words on Oak Brook Commons:
Hines is developing Oak Brook Commons, a premier mixed-use community of retail, residential, office and hospitality centered around a half-acre public park in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Located on the former McDonald’s world headquarters site, the development will be directly adjacent to Oakbrook Center shopping mall. Hines and Antunovich Associates have prepared a master plan for the site, and Hines will be responsible for developing the multifamily and office components of the project.
At completion, Oak Brook Commons will consist of 250 Class A residential rental units, 210,000 square feet of creative office, 80,000 square feet of medical office, 52 residential condos, a 250-key hotel, and five retail/restaurant pads.
And this is what Antunovich has to say:
One Oak Brook Commons will be a 17-story, Class-A high-rise building with 250 luxury apartment homes and 420 parking stalls within a secured private parking deck. The community is located at the epicenter of the 16.5-acre Oak Brook Commons mixed-use master plan also being developed by Antunovich Associates and Hines. The community will sit directly adjacent to a new public park named The Pitch.
The residences will average a gracious 1,055-square-feet and will offer upscale finishes and fixtures that will set a new standard for quality in suburban Chicago. The project will also offer an elevated resort-style amenity deck, featuring a heated pool, cabanas, outdoor kitchens and public lawn, as well as a high-end private fitness center, club room, library, expansive dog run, modern package facilities and significant bicycle storage.
Your donation will help offset transportation and equipment expenses, and is greatly appreciated.
I was only (mostly) kidding about daily updates on RaveLaw, but permits are milestones, and Ravenswood & Lawrence got two more of them Thursday.
The first permit will tear down the old Chase Bank building at the corner of Lawrence and Wolcott, and the other allows construction to begin for the second portion of the development. Precision Excavation will do the demolition honors.
The actors know their lines, the set is decorated, and the curtain is about to go up at 354 North Union. The Stalworth Underground Drill Team has been standing by patiently waiting for their moment to shine. That moment is now. Let the caissons begin!
Building Up Chicago 