Category Archives: New Construction

No tower crane? No worries for Hayden West Loop

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Hayden West Loop

The Hayden West Loop tower-crane stub stands amidst erected steel, waiting for the rest of its parts to arrive.

Unless that’s a Magic Tower Crane Stub planted at 1109 West Washington, Hayden West Loop is erecting an impressive amount of steel on the site at Aberdeen and Washington without the use of a tower crane. That should change very soon, as the tower crane, permitted way back on September 7, should be erected within the first few days of the new year. Hayden West Loop will be Macon Construction’s second tower crane in Chicago, joining No. 508 at 508 West Diversey.

There won’t be much competition to be first in 2018; the only other permits outstanding are for Wolf Point East, which has a bit of digging left to do and hasn’t planted a stub yet, and The Bentham in River North, which has gone eerily silent.

Caisson equipment arrives as site prep is underway at 61 East Banks

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61 East Banks Gold Coast

Back those caissons right on in here! It’s go time at 61 East Banks.

The 8-story, 60-unit apartment building at 61 East Banks is in site-prep mode, and caisson equipment is starting to pour into the lot. The Booth Hansen design is parking itself on the former surface parking lot at Banks Street and Lake Shore Drive, assuring spectacular Lake Michigan views for some lucky tenants.

According to Booth Hansen, expect two-story townhomes on the first two floors, with one, tow, and three-bedroom apartments on the levels above. A shared amenity terrace will adorn the green roof, and parking will be added below grade.

Draper & Kramer is the developer of 61 East Banks; Leopardo Companies is handling general contractor duties. Expect to see Stalworth Underground out there in the cold starting caisson work very early in 2018.

Glass is in session at Seven-Two-Seven

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727 West Madison cladding

5 degrees in Chicago, but some still insist on having the windows open.

As if being curvy wasn’t enough, 727 West Madison is gettin’ all glassy now too. The first two levels of curtain wall above the podium are complete, and a third level has been started. Overall, it looks like Lendlease has progressed up to about the 20th story. Almost halfway home!

 

 

 

 

The tower crane comes down from Illume Chicago

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We told you last week that Illume Chicago had topped out over in the West Loop. And topping out always means certain doom for tower cranes. Sure enough, over this past weekend the crane came down from the construction site at 111 South Peoria. We all got an up-close look from Instagram user @skyboom150 that you see above.

Then first thing Monday morning, Twitter user @WestLoopTom tweeted the photo below, showing the tower crane has been completely removed. Here’s hoping it finds another gig soon.

https://twitter.com/westlooptom/status/940227771502071808

One Bennett Park nears the top

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With that Instagram photo, One Bennett Park  posted a selfie and announced last week that Lendlease crews have reached to within five floors of topping out the 69-story residential tower.

The Related Midwest project is combined design of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and GREC Architects, bringing a mix of 348 apartments and condominiums to the Streeterville neighborhood. Completion is scheduled for 2019 move-ins, so there’s still a lot of work to be done. But topping out soon will be a big milestone, even if it means the beginning of the end for One Bennett Park’s two pretty, yellow tower cranes.

Atrium Village gets a permit for Tower #2

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Atrium Village 202 Hill Street permit

The permit, issued Friday, for 39 stories at 202 West Hill Street.

We don’t know much, but we do know there’s a brand-spankin’-new permit for the second tower at Atrium Village in the Near North neighborhood. Just as Onni Group appears ready to take down the tower crane at Old Town Park, the City of Chicago granted a permit on Friday to begin foundation work on the second tower, at 202 West Hill Street, of the Atrium overhaul.

This one will be 39 stories high, with 428 units above a six-story podium, and some ground-floor retail space. As with Old Town Park, Onni Group will be their own general contractor, and Hartshorne Plunkard is the design architect.

Sure, we look forward to another tall building, but we’re more anxious to see Onni light up another tower crane!

Chicago’s 62nd (and final?) tower crane of 2017 is up at Belmont Village

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Belmont Village tower crane

This shiny red tower crane is ready to lift heavy stuff at Belmont Village.

Unless you’re a big Tunch Ilkin fan, the number 62 might not mean all that much to you. But it’s somewhat of a landmark here in Chicago, as we’ve reached 62 tower cranes for the year.

And while we still have a stub planted in the ground (at Hayden West Loop) we don’t have a date on that tower crane going up, so Belmont Village may very well be our final tower crane of the year.

Chicago surpassed its all-time high (heh — high) in tower cranes back in September, when the Mayor’s office announced we’d erected our 54th crane of the year. But we didn’t stop there.

The crane at Belmont Village, the 7-story senior living facility being built at 700 West Fullerton, marks the third tower crane for The Lincoln Common, GC W.E. O’Neil, and for Lincoln Park. They make a handsome trio.

If indeed this is our final tower crane of 2017, it deserves a big photo gallery of assembly. So here you go, taken over the course of three days (Dec 6-8)

A December update at Vista Tower

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Wanda Vista Tower at night

Night time is the right time to see Vista Tower.

This thing is gonna be HUGE.

Vista Tower continues its climb along East Wacker Drive and the Chicago River. And the more it grows, the more it’s visible from new vantage points. For instance, you can now stand on the Chicago Riverwalk and look straight up and see construction. It may be a little too cold to stand there for long, though.

Even at night, 465 North Park is still topped out

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Because it’s tradition in some parts of the world — a tradition I just invented — to celebrate the topping out of a building three times, here are more photos of the newly-topped 465 North Park. This time, taken on a gorgeous Chicago fall evening that felt like spring. Enjoy.

The Oval on the Expressway, 727 West Madison, is rounding into form

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727 West Madison

That’s 727 West Madison over there, across the Kennedy X-Way, looking all curvy and rounded.

There are lots of curve puns, oval jokes, and round remarks to be made about 727 West Madison, the 44-story apartment tower from Fifield Companies and F&F Realty. And that’s a good thing; it means the unique shape of this 492-unit apartment tower along the Kennedy Expressway in the Greektown section of the West Loop is coming into clear view. The ellipse eclipses all those squares and rectangles out there. We need some of this variety in our new architecture.

We’re counting Lendlease’s progress at about 15 stories to date. A little simple math tells you that puts them about one-third of the way to the top of the FitzGerald-designed building. And the thought of stacking two more of what’s already built gives you an idea of just how tall 727 West Madison will really be.