June must be 50s month in Chicago; Essex on the Park reaches another milestone

Posted on June 19, 2018 by danieldschell

46…47…you do the math. But that’s *at least* 50 where I was schooled.

Must be something in the water. All the spring rain, perhaps. Whatever it is, 50 seems to be a popular number in the Chicago skyline these days, as our population of new skyscrapers continues to grow up.

A close look at the numerals stenciled into the front of Essex on the Park show that it too, along with recent 50-achievers Vista Tower and NEMA Chicago, has reached the 50th level. For a 56-story apartment tower, that’s pretty darn close to topping out.

Congratulations to the team of Power Construction, Oxford Capital Group, and Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, on achieving the milestone. Just a handful of floors to go.

Three Sixty West is making big progress in River North

Posted on June 19, 2018 by danieldschell

Progress continues upward at Three Sixty West, the new condo development from Belgravia.

The only problem I can find with this building is that it’s right up against another structure to the east, so you can’t walk a 360 around it.

Growth galore in River North, where Three Sixty West, the 11-story condo tower from Belgravia Realty Group, has climbed to the seventh floor.

In the GREC Architects-designed building where there will soon be 38 brand-spankin-new condominiums, Maris Construction is more than halfway up in progress at 360 West Erie Street. What that could mean is we might see glass installation beginning soon.

: Three Sixty West rendering from GREC Architects.

: Three Sixty West rendering from GREC Architects.

: Three Sixty West rendering from GREC Architects.

Chicago’s newest tower crane (for a few days) has risen at Milieu

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

Glamour shots pic.twitter.com/XPqAufvOL9

— Alex Katz (@AT_Katz) June 15, 2018

If, as is rumored to be the case, the tower crane at 145 South Wells begins assembly today, then Milieu won’t have Chicago’s newest tower crane for very long.

But it’s The New Kid for now, after rising at 205 South Peoria in the West Loop last week. Power Construction will utilize it to build the FitzGerald-designed Milieu, a 19-story, 275-unit apartment development, for White Oak Realty Partners and Crayton Advisors.

Shout-out to Twitter user Alex Katz (@AT_Katz) for letting us know on Friday that the crane was up and running.

: Pool’s almost ready.

You can kiss the tower crane at 727 West Madison goodbye

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

A patriotic ending to Lendlease’s tower crane at 727 West Madison in the West Loop.

Harrison Hall glasses up the joint at UIC

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

Pepper Construction works on both the north-facing and south-facing facades of Harrison Hall at UIC.

Chalk up another milestone for Pepper Construction at UIC, where they’ve started putting windows on Harrison Hall. (This is neither the time nor place to argue that a university’s academic hall should be using Macs instead of installing Windows)

I don’t know why I didn’t make a “glass is in session” pun in the headline for this, but I more than made up for it with the Windows thing, dontcha think?

Anyway, topping out the concrete in late April and removing the tower crane last month are two other recent achievements Pepper can be proud of at Harrison Hall. Of course, the one that counts the most will be having the 151,000-square-foot, SCB-designed facility open for UIC students in the fall.

145 South Wells has planted a tower crane, which should be blossoming any minute now

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

The tower crane stub (and wading pool?) is ready to go at 145 South Wells.

Today is expected to be the first day of assemblage for the tower crane at 145 South Wells, the 20-story boutique office tower Clark Construction is building for Moceri + Roszak in The Loop. We’ve waited a long time for a tower crane in what amounts to Chicago’s Central Business District. (We don’t call it that here, but I’ve always liked the way that sounds. Lots of other cities use it; why not us? Is it like putting ketchup on a hot dog? Doing the wave at Wrigley? Riding a bike on the sidewalk? Oh wait…everyone does that here.)

So here’s a quick look at that stub before it becomes a full-grown tower crane.

: Kinda looks like a mug shot with that background.

McHugh Construction Instagrams NEMA Chicago’s 50th

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by McHugh Construction (@mchughconstruct)

There was another Golden Anniversary of sorts to celebrate last week, as McHugh Construction posted the above photo to their Instagram page announcing the start of Floor #50 at NEMA Chicago. The South Loop tower by Rafael Viñoly Architects, which started life as 1200 South Indiana, became One Grant Park, and has now settled in as a member of Crescent Heights’ NEMA franchise, will eventually grow to 76 stories.

: This will always be my favorite view of NEMA.

Centaur Construction has their groove back at the West Loop’s Nobu Hotel

Posted on June 18, 2018 by danieldschell

Taking a loooong look at the Nobu Hotel, from Peoria Street over the Eisenhower Expressway.

In May, Centaur Construction got back to work at Nobu Hotel, and it didn’t take them long to hit their stride again.

With Pepper Construction’s help on concrete, progress on the hotel has jumped up to the fourth floor since we last stopped by just a couple weeks ago, while the core continues to grow toward its 11-story goal.

In the meantime, the Chicago version of the Nobu Hotel has changed ownership, with new permits listing NHC, LLC of Coral Gables, Florida as the new entity. The address comes up as the AIC Hotel Group, which lists other Nobu Hotels, and Hard Rock Hotels, among its properties.

GEMS World Academy Upper School gets permission to complete its latest assignment

Posted on June 14, 2018 by danieldschell

With a permit issued Wednesday, the GEMS World Academy Upper School has official permission to complete its 13-story building in Lakeshore East. That allows Power Construction to continue their progress on the bKL Architecture-designed facility. Students are expected to start using the Upper School in Winter 2019.

You can watch progress for yourself by following this link to the youtube construction cam; the cam is also accessible from bKL Archtecture’s GEMS World Academy Upper School page linked above.

: bKL Architecture renderings.

: bKL Architecture rendering.

: The Full-Build Permit.

: GEMS World Academy, the original.

Progress Update: Columbia College Student Center

Posted on June 13, 2018 by danieldschell

It’s time to check in with Pepper Construction on their progress in the South Loop. That’s where they’re erecting the Gensler-designed Columbia College Student Center at 8th Street and Wabash Avenue. The 114,000-square-foot facility is slated for opening in 2019.