Stuff That’s Done: 5252 South Cornell shines in Hyde Park

Posted on February 4, 2020 by danieldschell

5252, from the 55th Street Metra Electric Line platform, was made for sunny days.

I like that. Just numbers. 5252.

That’s the name of the recently-opened apartment tower at 5252 South Cornell in Hyde Park. This is a development by Mac Properties, the same folks responsible for bringing Solstice on the Park to this neighborhood. The two of them make a striking pair.

Linn-Mathes was the general contractor on 5252, just as they were on Solstice. Solomon Cordwell Buenz was the design architect, and I want to hi-five everyone there for this one. I lucked out and got here on a sunny day — I know, a sunny day in Chicago, right? — and the building looks fantastic in the sunlight.

The 26-story building contains 246 apartments, from studios to three-bedroom units. 5252 opened in Fall 2019.

Reliving The Great Vista Tower Concrete Pour of February 4, 2017

Posted on February 4, 2020 by danieldschell

Vista Tower, New Year’s Day 2020

Vista Tower will open this year. It’s a pretty big deal.

Today marks the third anniversary of The Great Vista Tower Concrete Pour of 2017. I’ve chosen to reminisce by way of a photo gallery from that day, plus a few shots from the day after, showing the finished mat pour.

Stuff That’s Done: 333 North Green

Posted on February 3, 2020 by danieldschell

333 North Green stands ready to welcome its first office tenants.

It’s just about time to fling open the doors at GR333N.

The 19-story, 555,000-square-foot office tower 333 North Green has completed construction, and the first tenants are expected to move in within the next several weeks, according to developer Sterling Bay. One of those tenants will be Sterling Bay itself, which confirmed to Crain’s Chicago in November that it will take up residence in its new building.

333 North Green is a design by Gensler. Power Construction (new website!) is the GC.

Stuff That’s Done: I welcome our bedtime-robot overlords at Avenir

Posted on February 1, 2020 by danieldschell

Crain’s Chicago visited the new Avenir apartment tower at 730 North Milwaukee Avenue in River West recently. The 23-story, 196-unit rental building opened to its first tenants January 16, per Crain’s.

Avenir is a design by Antunovich Associates. It was developed and built by Tandem.

Check out the article linked above by Crain’s. You’ll get to see a video about how livable a studio unit can be when a robot does the heavy lifting for you.

Fall 2016: Vista Tower Caisson Theater

Posted on January 31, 2020 by danieldschell

Vista Tower opens this year. It’s a pretty big deal.

McHugh Construction and Case Foundation put on a show during foundation work, drilling caisson after caisson with diameters the likes I’d never seen from such a good vantage point. From September through December of 2016, it was Caisson Theater.

Stuff That’s Done: Elevate Lincoln Park

Posted on January 31, 2020 by danieldschell

Elevate Lincoln Park, 930 West Altgeld in Lincoln Park.

Elevate Lincoln Park is an 11-story horseshoe-shaped apartment building along North Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. If you’ve ridden the Brown, Purple, or Red Line CTA trains between Fullerton and Diversey, you’ve brushed right up against it.

Developed by Baker Development and designed by SCB, it delivered 191 new apartments, plus 16,000 square feet of retail space and 160 parking spaces, upon its opening in July 2018. McHugh Construction was the general contractor.

Parkline meets The L

Posted on January 30, 2020 by danieldschell

Comings and goings at Parkline Chicago: A Brown Line train passes as the Orange Line approaches.

Lots of elevators have an LL button. That’s very similar, yet entirely different, from the L Level Parkline Chicago has reached in The Loop. For awhile there, Parkline was under The L. No longer.

Construction has risen above street level, and has now pulled even with the CTA’s elevated rail along North Wabash Avenue. That means if your train comes to an unexpected stop here, you’ll be able to hi-five the Clark Construction crew. Assuming you’re in a car with roll-down windows.

Darn Near Done: North+Vine approaches its opening

Posted on January 29, 2020 by danieldschell

North+Vine, at 633 West North Avenue in Old Town.

We don’t need another category of blog posts around here, but if we did, it would be Stuff I Didn’t Get To Until It Was Darn Near Done.

It’s hard to tell just walking by whether North+Vine is open yet. Sure, there’s work to be done inside, but are those the retail spaces? The lobby? Hmmm.

North+Vine, at 633 West North Avenue in Old Town, is a collaboration from developers White Oak Realty Partners, CA Residential, and GID. A design by West Loop firm FitzGerald, the 11-story rental building brings 260 apartments to the old Father & Son Plaza site. This is a Power Project, and again, it looks like the have it darn near done.

: My only tower crane shot, from August 2019.

740 North Aberdeen progressing in River West

Posted on January 29, 2020 by danieldschell

740 North Aberdeen is an 11-story apartment building coming to the River West neighborhood later this year. A development from Fifield Companies, it will include 188 rental units and 2,400 square feet of retail space.

FitzGerald is the design architect; McHugh Construction is on the build.

Not sure where North Aberdeen is in River West? Think Ogden and Milwaukee. This is a short block south-ish of that on Ogden.

: Tower crane shots, October 2019

: Playing peekaboo with Spoke.

Uncraning Day at Fulton East

Posted on January 28, 2020 by danieldschell

NOPE

The tower crane at Fulton East has done its duty, and is on the way down. I was happy to see I wasn’t the only standing out in the West Loop Monday watching and taking photos of the crane being disassembled. It’s not even about the crane; it’s more about the folks standing out on that thing, 16 miles above the surface of the earth. Kudos, guys. You’ll never have to worry about me trying to get up there and stealing your jobs.