Category Archives: New Construction

448 North LaSalle got its tower crane stub, and it doesn’t disappoint

Posted on by
Reply

You can’t hide from me.

Looks like the crew from Pepper Construction, the concrete contractor at 448 North LaSalle, was busy this past week. Just as we hoped, they’ve got a tower crane stub in the ground to get Midwest Property Group’s 13-story office building going vertical.

Lendlease is the general contractor on 448 North LaSalle. Generally, we only shout-out the GC for tower crane cred here. But since tower cranes are what we care most about, aside from a nice hot breakfast, it’s been decided the concrete crews should get a lil more love, too.

Back to stubs. This ain’t no ordinary stub. In fact, in my short construction-obsessed existence, I don’t remember seeing a tower crane planted with more that one section of tower before. Comparatively, this one’s huge. And yellow. She’s gonna be a pretty one when she grows up.

iPhone only for this visit. That fencing is high and tight. (That means I couldn’t get the real camera over or through.)

Chicago’s *newest* newest tower crane is ready to send Panorama vertical

Posted on by
Reply

Rush’s reign as newest tower crane was short-lived.

Panorama, at 3300 North Clark in Lake View, is on the board as the newest kid on the block, having completed assembly of its tower crane last week. Power Construction is the GC here; Adjustable Concrete Construction is doing the concrete.

 

167 Green Street drops its 2nd tower crane

Posted on by
Reply

The Banner waves as the West Tower Crane at 167 Green Street comes down.

With the removal of the second tower crane from 167 Green Street, Chicago now has no two-crane construction sites. There are a pair of three-crane jobs of course, at One Chicago Square and Cirrus/Cascade, but no pairs.

McDonald’s, Vista Tower, One Bennett Park, NEMA Chicago, Woodlawn Commons, and The Lincoln Common all recently utilized the double-tower-crane method to get stuff done. Now, 167 Green Street joins that list of completed missions.

Sunday, I took a quick walk around the West Loop site for one last look at the red Manitowoc MR608, affectionately known as West Crane, as crews worked on bringing it back to earth.

Progress Update: 800 Fulton

Posted on by
Reply

800 Fulton. It could be 300 North Halsted. Or 801 West Wayman. or 303 North Green. But none of those have the panache of 800 Fulton.

And 800 Fulton (that link includes an Oxblue webcam!) keeps sprouting up from this West Loop block, thanks to the efforts Lendlease and crew. Have a look:

An iPhone update at Union Station Tower

Posted on by
Reply

Goettsch Partners rendering of Union Station Tower.

Caisson work is ongoing at Union Station Tower, and it’s still pretty darn tough to get a good look anywhere but along Clinton Street. Sometimes you have to be satisfied with sticking your phone up to the gaps in the fence and snapping away.

So here you go: A February iPhone Update at Union Station Tower, with a few real-camera shots thrown in for good measure.

 

There is a Superior House in River North nearing completion

Posted on by
Reply

A rendering of Superior House from FitzGerald.

A Superior House with superior homes is coming this spring to River North. 34 of them, in fact.

Ascend Real Estate Group is developing the condominium building at 360 West Superior. Once existing structures were demolished, construction got started with a permit back in January of 2019.

Superior House is a design by FitzGerald. They’ve teamed up with Ascend previously on Niche 905 in Near North, among other projects. Power Construction is the general contractor.

The Balcony is Closed: A February update at Cirrus and Cascade

Posted on by
2

Twilight shot over Lake Shore Drive, courtesy of Derek Svehla up in the tower crane.

That means you, Daniel.

The last time Cirrus Condominiums and Cascade Apartments appeared on this blog, I pointed out the need to get as many photos as possible before construction rose above “theater level” from N. Harbor Drive. Well, here’s the thing about that. With construction looming so close to that elevated walkway, you can’t have construction nerds standing within an arm’s length of carpenters and iron workers, offering our advice on how work should be done. And so, the sidewalks have been (understandably) walled off to provide a safety buffer between pedestrians and professionals, limiting us tower crane enthusiasts to get shots where we can. Which is still pretty cool, tbh.

Construction has begun at 1125 West Van Buren

Posted on by
Reply

Dirt is being disrupted at 1125 West Van Buren. No glamour. Just heavy equipment doing the dirty work. But soon progress will be highly visible from the Eisenhower Expressway. It’s the start of what will be 20 stories and 200 apartments in a tower designed by Antunovich Associates for Tandem. For now, Keller NA has their distinctive blue & gold equipment on site, handling the caisson work.

A tower crane permit was issued February 6, followed by the building permit on the 11th. That means Tandem, acting once again as developer and CG, is good to go vertical. They hope to have 1125 open to residents next summer.

With caisson work complete, 448 North LaSalle goes on tower crane watch

Posted on by
Reply

Rendering of 448 North LaSalle from its website.

Did you blink? Then you might have missed caisson work at 448 North LaSalle. Revcon got out there, got at it, and got out already, leaving a clean site on which to start construction for Midwest Property Group’s 12-story, 175,00 sf office building. Now Lendlease can get to work on going vertical.

When this lot first starting showing signs of action, workers from Pepper Construction were on scene starting site prep. Pepper is also listed in the foundation permit as the masonry contractor. I think, in this case, that means they’re handling concrete duties.

According to 448’s brand-spankin’ new website, MPG plans to have offices open to tenants before 2020 is over.

So how about an eclectic collection of site photos from the month of February, right up through Sunday’s snow-covered, waiting-for-a-tower-crane empty lot:

 

Peoria Green tears up a parking lot

Posted on by
Reply

Tear. It. Up.

The Tetris-shaped parking lot that will soon become Peoria Green is no more. (Is Tetris-shaped a thing? I couldn’t come up with a better way to describe this site. It’s like a long rectangle that broke, and healed wrong. Or a long rectangle with seismic plates that shifted, rendering it askew yet still in one piece.) It’s a funky lot. But at least it isn’t pavement anymore.

Soon it will be a six-story, 25-condominium development from ZSD Corp. And according to the Peoria Green website, only three of those condos remain unspoken for. And now that ground has broken, we can look for some deeper digging soon.

Sullivan Goulette & Wilson is the design firm behind Peoria Green. General contractor duties will be handled by Maris Construction. They’ve teamed up previously in the West Loop on CA Washington.