Category Archives: New Construction

One Grant Park jumps the big tower crane as we wait for the little one

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One Grant Park tower crane jump

That’s a good looking group of recruits lined up for the One Grant Park tower crane jump.

Thursday was crane-jumping day at One Grant Park in the South Loop, as crews got ready to raise the tower crane to Phase Two. McHugh Construction got a permit tie in for phases 2-thru-5 back on August 4. How many tower-crane phases will there be for the 76-story tower? Well, that’s a question I wish I hadn’t asked, because I have no idea. Let’s pretend that sentence isn’t here.

The second tower crane permit, issued 08/24/17.

As for the “little one,” the City of Chicago issued a permit for a “FREE STANDING PECCO SN 160 TOWER CRANE” on the 24th of this month, then followed it up with a foundation permit for said crane on Tuesday of this week, the 29th. So yes, One Grant Park will have two tower cranes.

Construction Progress: Wicker Park Connection 

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Wicker Park Connection

A growth spurt at the Wicker Park Connection, 1640 West Division Street.

When last we dropped in on the Wicker Park Connection, Linn-Mathes had just erected a tower crane, and construction was starting to poke up out of the ground. My, how times have changed.

Foundation work seems to be completed on the Centrum Partners & Hirsch Associates project, and now steel and slab work is approaching the fifth floor, on its way to 15 stories and 140 apartments.

A mini Hayden West Loop completes construction

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Hayden West Loop

There’s a sexy model on display at the Hayden West Loop.

On the 8th of this month, the City of Chicago issued a foundation permit for the Hayden West Loop, a nine-story, 28-unit condominium building at 1115 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop. (I bet you’d already figured out the “West Loop” part, but I included it anyway. Clarity.) While the site, formerly part of the Harpo Studios campus, has been leveled in preparation for construction, we’re still waiting on work to begin.

However, what The Hayden has begun is a new sales office around the corner on May Street, featuring a model of the finished Booth Hansen project, complete with folks relaxing on their seventh-floor terrace. Proving, once again, that architectural models are cool, even when they aren’t skyscrapers.

**DISCLAIMER: Photos of the architectural model were taken, and are being used, with the permission of the staff at the sales center.

 

W.E. O’Neil erecting Chicago’s 31st tower crane at The Lincoln Common

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The Lincoln Common south tower crane

The Lincoln Common south tower crane makes its appearance in the Lincoln Park skyline.

It’s almost here.

Chicago’s 31st (and, eventually, 32nd) tower crane is just about ready to lift the heavy stuff at The Lincoln Common in Lincoln Park. W. E. O’Neil and Central Contractors Service have been on the site since Wednesday setting up the South Tower Crane. That means crew members are climbing around at scary heights, fastening what needs to be fastened, tightening what needs to be tightened. By the looks of progress, there’s no reason to believe Southy won’t be operational for work on Monday.

Still no sign of North Tower Crane, but I don’t want to sound greedy. We can just enjoy one for now.

1407 On Michigan is glassing up the South Loop

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1407 On Michigan

New glass of 1407 On Michigan hovers above the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant.

The newly-renamed 1407 On Michigan now has some newly-installed cladding to show off. The 15-story rental tower from Russland Capital Group looks to have reached the underside of the 15th floor, so it should be topping out very soon. Unless, of course, we missed a floor of the podium, and it already has topped out.

And that would mean Lendlease is that much closer to having the 199 apartments and 40,000 square feet of commercial space open. As you can see from the signage, Rush Primary And Specialty Care will be included in that space.

Russland originally planned to have 1407 On Michigan open before the year was out. There’s a lot of work to do in the next four months; we’ll see if construction extends into 2018, or if that goal will be met. Stay tuned.

Wandering Milwaukee: Will The Couture be Milwaukee’s next tower crane?

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The Couture Milwaukee

Signage proclaims The Couture’s arrival, as the newly-opened Northwestern Mutual Tower glimmers in the background.

Rumors are swirling around the Skyscraperpage forum that The Couture is about to begin construction on one of Milwaukee’s marquee corners.

On land that used to be the Milwaukee Transit Center, Barrett Lo Visionary Development is building the 44-story, 537-foot-tall residential tower in an ideal location between the Milwaukee Art Museum and Henry W. Maier Festival Park, home of Summerfest. Designed by the Milwaukee firm of Rinka Chung Architecture, The Couture will bring 600 new units to the lakefront location.

J.H. Findorff & Son is the general contractor. We just checked out some of their work at Marquette University, and we stayed in the newly completed Westin Milwaukee, last month. (We also profiled the Westin’s construction back in 2016.)

Curtis Waltz at Aerialscapes sent over two great overhead shots of the site from the past, when it was still the MKE Transit Center, and the site now, which is a bare concrete slab. We noticed the empty slab, and The Couture signage, back in July. Here’s hoping that tower crane will still be there during Summerfest 2018!

First of two tower cranes begins at The Lincoln Common

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The Lincoln Common south tower crane

The south tower crane starts to rise at The Lincoln Common, seen from the Fullerton “L” platform.

On the red, purple, or brown line today? Take a look to the east from the Fullerton station, and you’ll see the first of two tower cranes being erected at The Lincoln Common. That’s where I spotted it from, because for some reason, I wasn’t staring at my phone as we pulled up. I jumped out and walked over to take a look.

And Twitter noticed. Users @kgburke3 andi @ChiBuildings (too early for a #FollowFriday? You should be following Chicago Cityscape for all things Chicago development) pointed out the street closure of North Lincoln Avenue between Belden and Fullerton Avenues through Friday for the big event. 

https://twitter.com/ChiBuildings/status/900581897985810432

https://twitter.com/kgburke3/status/900526288670216192

There’s still a lot of foundation work going on for this dual-tower, 540-unit mixed use project. W.E. O’Neil is the general contractor, and they’ve got a busy site in the works. You’ll see that in the photos below. No word yet though on when to expect the north tower crane to arrive.

With lofty expectations of 18 stories, the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile goes vertical

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Aloft Chicago Mag Mile hotel

The first of 18 floors is rising at the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile hotel in Streeterville.

The Aloft Chicago Mag Mile hotel has started poking up from the ground at 243 East Ontario Street in Streeterville. Tishman, the developer and general contractor, has work on the elevator core rising just above street level. The 18-story, 336-room hotel got rolling in January, with a demolition permit for the former Museum of Contemporary Art building.

Demo occurred in February, after which Tishman broke ground and began work on the new project. Foundation and tower-crane permits followed in March, with the full-build permit coming through in June. Tishman hopes to have the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile open in Winter 2018, which could be just over, or just under, one year from the start of demolition. That will depend on the actual opening date.

Renelle On The River begins prep work in River North

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Renelle On The River

The plaza park has given way, making space for Renelle On The River.

More than a year after the City of Chicago issued a renovation permit for demolition of the small plaza park at 403 North Wabash Avenue in River North, and a second reinstatement of said permit later, site prep has begun for Renelle On The River.

Designed by bKL Architecture, Renelle On The River will be a 17-story tower featuring 50 3-bed and 4-bedroom condominiums. There’s been quite a sales push for Renelle in recent months, and a banner on site boasts that 40% of the units have been spoken for.

Belgravia Group, which also brought us the still-spectacularly-yellow CA Washington in the West Loop, is the developer. McHugh Construction will handle general contractor duties. As of August 22, no construction permit has been issued. Let’s hope for one soon; we’d love to see a tower crane fill that little space.

Renelle On The River

The park was still visible in April, but the Fence Of Doom made it clear the future was limited.

GEMS World Academy Upper School begins work next to its famous neighbor

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GEMS World Academy Upper School

No longer a staging area for Vista Tower, site prep is underway for GEMS World Academy Upper School. It will fill the space between to Vista and Coast.

As if we didn’t have enough to watch along East Wacker Drive.

A couple weeks back – on August 4 to be precise – GEMS World Academy Chicago announced the start of construction on the Upper School, which will be built right up against the underway Vista Tower. (You may have heard of that.) Designed, as was the original GEMS building, by bKL Architecture, the Upper School will be a 17-story, 240,000-square-foot facility accommodating more than 1,400 students.

For now, site prep is underway, with Power Construction serving as general contractor.

You can read the August 4 press release from GEMS here.