Stuff That’s Done: Coeval

Posted on February 13, 2020 by danieldschell

Coeval has two addresses: 51 East 14th St. and 1419 South Wabash. Ave

I had surgery on a knee as a young adult. I was fascinated by the effects of anesthesia. One moment after drifting off to sleep, my eyes popped open in the recovery room. To me, the surgery happened faster than the snap of the fingers. Like time travel in Back To The Future.

Those questionable analogies are a means of explaining Coeval. I stopped by 14th and Wabash twice; once during demolition of 1415 South Wabash, and once as the rolling crane was being set up on the freshly-demoed lot. The third time I visited, this past week, Coeval was open. Heck, I didn’t even know it was called Coeval until now. If only construction could be instantaneous like that.

Coeval is a two-towered apartment development from CMK Companies. Consisting of a 14-story tower to the north, and a 10-story tower to the south, the project contains about 260 units in total. It was designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners and built by Clark Construction. It opened to residents last summer.

The tower crane I missed at Aspire is missed no more

Posted on February 12, 2020 by danieldschell

You all are The. Best.

Just a day after I posted about not making it to 2111 South Wabash in time to snap the tower crane, Robert Burke comes along and fills my inbox with photos. Crane going up, crane coming down, crane building a building, the whole sequence. Thank you, Robert!

All photos are from Robert Burke:

2111 South Wabash Aspires to be clad all over

Posted on February 11, 2020 by danieldschell

Aspire Residences, at 2111 South Wabash, glassing up the joint.

Our final project to top out in 2019 – congrats to the team at 2111 S Wabash on reaching the top elevation of their 24-story mixed-use tower! @PMAGetsIt @ujamaaconstruct @draperandkramer @scbchicago pic.twitter.com/LSLvXvtDxr

— Power Construction (@Power_Construct) December 16, 2019

That’s Power Construction in the tweet above, letting the world know about the topping out of 2111 South Wabash in the South Loop back in December. That same week, Draper & Kramer, the developer of 2111, announced not only the topping out, but also the project’s new name — Aspire Residences.

The 24-story, 275-unit apartment building took down the tower crane in late January. (A tower crane I saw, but didn’t get a photo of. I hate missing them.) Aspire is a design by SCB. It’s on schedule to open this summer.

Stuff That’s Done: Union West

Posted on February 10, 2020 by danieldschell

Union West is 357-unit apartment development in the West Loop. Its two 15-story towers occupy a large portion of the city block bounded by Washington, Sangamon, Madison, and Morgan, with part of its footprint touching all four streets. It was designed by bKL Architecture for ZOM Living. Power Construction was on the build.

Union West opened in Fall 2019.

: The crazy Union West footprint.

Tower crane permit signals the beginning of 1125 West Van Buren

Posted on February 7, 2020 by danieldschell

The tower crane permit for 1125 West Van Buren, issued Feb 6, is the first new construction permit issued for the future apartment tower.

To be fair, the demolition permit in March of last year was probably the real start of construction at 1125 West Van Buren, but a tower crane permit is far more glamorous. And that was issued yesterday.

1125 West Van Buren will be a 20-story, 200-unit apartment building from Tandem, who will also be performing general contracting duties. The tower is a design by Antunovich Associates. If that combo sounds familiar, this is the same team that just wrapped up Avenir in River West.

A rendering of 1125 West Van Buren from Antunovich Associates.

Taylor Excavating doing demolition work on the site in January.

Stuff That’s Done: Essex on the Park

Posted on February 7, 2020 by danieldschell

Essex On The Park, standing tall over Grant Park in Chicago’s South Loop.

This is Essex On The Park. Built at 808 South Michigan Avenue, the shiny new tower brought 476 new apartments to the South Loop. It stand 56 stories and 620 feet high, looming over the western edge of Grant Park. Essex On The Park opened to residents in March 2019.

The Team:
Developer — Oxford Capital Group
Design Architect — Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
General Contractor — Power Construction
Foundations — Keller NA
Demolition — Heneghan Wrecking

You’ll see all their work, in one form or another, in the gallery below, spanning from January 2017 to February 2020.

Stuff That’s Done: Solstice On The Park

Posted on February 6, 2020 by danieldschell

Solstice On The Park, from the park.

The last time I visited Solstice On The Park, it was *almost* done. That was close to a year ago. Now, it’s finished, and being lived in. And still very very cool. I’ll attempt to prove that opinion with the two dozen photos included below.

The basics about Solstice On The Park:

Design Architect – Studio Gang

Developer – Mac Properties

Builder – Linn-Mathes

26 stories, 250 apartments, stunning views from, and of, Hyde Park.

Darn Near Done: The Venn eyes a 2020 opening in the West Loop

Posted on February 6, 2020 by danieldschell

GREC Architects render of The Venn, 845 West Madison.

The Venn, a residential development from The John Buck Company, continues making progress toward its projected opening this summer.

Once the site of the H2O skincare brand at 845 West Madison, The Venn brings 586 rental units, in two 17-story towers, and 14 townhomes to the West Loop neighborhood. There will also be 10,000 sf of retail space and about 280 parking spots, to be split 45/55 between public and resident use.

Demolition of H2O started in December 2017, courtesy of Heneghan Wrecking. The site sat empty for awhile; groundbreaking for The Venn took place a year later, in December 2018. Lendlease is the general contractor; GREC Architects designed the project.

Signage on site announces pre-leasing beginning in Spring. I did the math, and that’s coming up fast. The Venn must be darn near done. It certainly looks it, from the outside.

What follows are some demolition photos, a few shots from April of construction progress, and The Venn in its current state.

: The former H2O building.

: Heneghan at work, December 2017.

: Two tower cranes at The Venn.

University of Chicago getting Woodlawn Residential and Dining Commons ready for 2020-21

Posted on February 5, 2020 by danieldschell

Is this rendering from U of C, the Woodlawn Commons is to the left.

A 16-story tower and a zig-zagging maze of a 7-story building comprise the new Woodlawn Residential and Dining Commons. It will include, as you may have guessed, housing and dining facilities for University of Chicago students, as well as amenities and outdoor spaces.

The Woodlawn Commons is a joint development between the University and Capstone Development Partners. It is being built by Turner Construction, as is the David M. Rubenstein Forum going up one block east.

The design is by Boston’s Elkus Manfredi Architects. The firm’s CEO and founding Partner David Manfredi earned his masters degree here at U of C.

Here’s some uchicago news you can use to learn more (lots more) about Woodlawn Commons. The University expects to have it open for the 2020-2021 school year.

Checking out U. of C.’s David M. Rubenstein Forum in Woodlawn (corrected)

Posted on February 4, 2020 by danieldschell

We have a winner for Most Unique Construction Project in Chicago right now.

The David M. Rubenstein Forum is being built by the University of Chicago on its Hyde Park campus. **Most of the campus may be in Hyde Park, but this particular project is south of the Midway Plaisance, placing it in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Sorry, my mistake.** It’s part Jenga tower, part shipping container park. There’s a lot of concrete, a ton of glass, and when it’s finished, it will have lots of ways for U of C students to utilize it.

The school describes it, in part, this way:

The ground floor includes the main lobby and a restaurant, with stairs leading to the building’s largest multipurpose event space, capable of accommodating groups up to 600. Immediately above the base is a 285-seat auditorium. The top floor of the tower features a flat-floor multipurpose space, which can accommodate meetings of 75 and other events.

The Rubenstein Forum is a collaboration between design architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro out of NYC, and Chicago’s own Brininstool + Lynch. On the build is Turner Construction. I’m grateful to them for the Facebook photo of the tower cranes included in the photo gallery. (The bird joke is theirs, not mine.) I didn’t get down to Hyde Park when they were still in the air.

If you click on all those links I’ve provided above, not only will you find everything you need to know about the Rubenstein Forum, but you’ll also see a ton of great renderings, plus some stellar drone footage.