A Hard-Hat Tour of 625 West Adams with Power Construction

Posted on June 29, 2017 by danieldschell

Luis Monroy, Project Engineer at 625 West Adams, discusses all things tower crane with Emily East and Rashad Young. All three work for Power Construction.

A huge thank you to Luis Monroy and Power Construction, who led me on a hard-hat tour of 625 West Adams on Wednesday. Power topped out the SCB-designed office tower back on May 22. Now, cladding is being installed and has reached the 11th-floor terrace.

Come take a walk with me.

The bracing you see in the photo above (also visible in the top photo) is part of the tie-off reinforcement for the tower crane. The steel braces run from the crane to the core.

Remember the oculus I’ve been showing you on the 19th-floor terrace? We’re now looking at it from eye-level, way off in the corner. This is taken on the 21st (penthouse) floor. Yes, it’s a 20-story tower with a penthouse for a mechanical floor.

This is Eddie. Eddie is a master at hanging glass panels. You can watch him work in the time-lapse video below.

Luis, Emily, and Rashad standing out on the soon-to-be terrace of the 19th floor. Behind them, the inverted tripod that supports the oculus. You may also notice the Sears Tower.

Marlowe utilizes its tower crane to rise upward

Posted on June 29, 2017 by danieldschell

Marlowe is starting to go high in River North.

Marlowe is the 15-story River North apartment development by Lennar Multifamily Companies, and also the proud owner of one of Chicago’s newest tower cranes. The project by Antunovich Associates, at 675 North Wells Street, got its start in early May with caisson work, and now Power Construction has things moving skyward.

When complete, Marlowe will have 176 rental units in studio, one-bed, and two-bedroom sizes, plus 11,000 square feet of retail space at ground level. Lennar plans to have it open for residents in 2018.

Addison & Clark has begun its climb into the Lake View skyline

Posted on June 27, 2017 by danieldschell

Addison & Clark on the rise in Wrigleyville.

No longer a large demolition and excavation site, old buildings and sand have given way to new construction, as Addison & Clark makes its way into the Lake View neighborhood.

Power Construction has gone three-dimensional across the sprawling, odd-shaped lot at — you guessed it — Addison and Clark Streets. SCB designed a mixed-use development for M&R Development and Bucksbaum Retail Properties that will include 148 apartments, 146,000 square feet of retail space, and enough parking for 400+ cars. (Remember, Wrigley Field is right next door, so 81 days out of the year, those parking spaces will be full.)

: Flyover.

: Pourover.

McDonald’s Headquarters nears the middle bun, awaits second beef patty

Posted on June 27, 2017 by danieldschell

The brand new McDonald’s HQ is poking up through the top of the West Loop.

In one of the most ridiculous comparisons to date, if the new McDonald’s Headquarters being built in the West Loop was a Big Mac, it would be somewhere between the second all-beef patty and the middle bun, with the bottom bun and first patty already in place. That leaves the special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions to go before the top bun is craned into place and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

In more technical terms, The McD HQ is up to the sixth floor, as crews from McHugh Construction continue utilizing two tower cranes to get the nine-story, 550,000-square-foot Sterling Bay development in high gear. The Gensler-designed home of the Golden Arches is slated to open early in 2018, which looks like a sure thing the way progress is going.

: McDouble Tower Cranes.

: Well sure, it’s new construction. What’s not to love?!

: From the air.

Construction Update: Elevate Lincoln Park getting literal as it hits the tenth floor

Posted on June 26, 2017 by danieldschell

Steven Vance at Chicago CityScape elevated high above Elevate Lincoln Park for this fantastic shot!

Elevate Lincoln Park, the ten-story, 191-unit apartment complex from Baker Development, has elevated just about as high as it’s ever going to get. McHugh Construction crews have reached the tenth floor just over one year after demolition started on the site. And as if that isn’t accomplishment enough, the first row of glass has begun installation.

Rendering of Elevate Lincoln Park.

In addition to residences, Elevate Lincoln Park will include ground-floor retail space and three levels of parking. As you can see in the above photo from @ChiBuildings, the SCB design fits perfectly into the odd-shaped lot bounded by Lincoln Avenue, Altgeld Street, and the CTA’s elevated tracks.

Crane-less Zachary Hotel glasses up the joint in Lake View

Posted on June 26, 2017 by danieldschell

The Hotel Zachary,, from inside the brand new Cubs Store in the brand new Cubs office building just outside the ballpark.

It’s time for less crane, more pane, at the Hotel Zachary next to Wrigley Field in Lake View.

The tower crane came down about a month after Walsh Construction topped out Hickory Street Capital’s 7-story, 175-key hotel. At about the same time, window installation began on the third floor, and continues to wrap all the way around the building.

Eight Eleven Uptown, you may now build to completion

Posted on June 26, 2017 by danieldschell

Going up? Eight Eleven Uptown is, thanks to the full-build permit received Monday the 19th.

Dateline 19-June-2017:

***DIRECT DEVELOPER SERVICES*** FULL BUILDING PERMIT FOR A PROPOSED 27 STORY RESIDENTIAL BUILDING WITH 373 DWELLING UNITS; GROUND FLOOR RETAIL; 278 PARKING SPACES; ALL AS PER PLANS.

And so it came to be that Eight Eleven Uptown, the newest residential tower from JDL Development and Harlem Irving Companies, was permitted by the City of Chicago to continue, and complete, construction in the Uptown neighborhood. That’s good news for Lendlease, who’ve shown no signs of slowing down while waiting on that permit. Eight Eleven Uptown, a design from Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, will include a Treasure Island food store and 6,000 square feet of additional retail space.

1326 South Michigan is getting into the tower-crane game

Posted on June 24, 2017 by danieldschell

https://twitter.com/ChrisAHorney/status/878399659307347968

Shout-out to Twitter user @ChrisAHorney from Murphy Development Group, who let us know the tower crane stub spotted at 1326 South Michigan on Thursday, was planted on Friday. He also let us know full assembly will begin on Monday.

We’ve all seen Walsh Construction’s work around town, so it was pretty obvious they know a horizontal stub wasn’t gonna do them much good when building a skyscraper, but it’s nice to have photo confirmation anyway.

Walsh will put that tower crane to work erecting the SCB-designed 46-story, 500-unit tower that Murphy Development Group is bringing to the South Loop in partnership with CIM Group.

: The tower crane stub, wearing special lil booties, waiting to be planted.

: Yep, it’s a shiny yellow Liebherr.

: That’s a formidable tower crane foundation.

Essex On The Park plants a tower crane

Posted on June 23, 2017 by danieldschell

Essex On The Park has a Stub In The Ground.

Chicago’s tower-crane count is back down to 32, and Essex On The Park won’t stand for it. Thursday, Power Construction planted a stub in the South Loop ground. Surrounded for now by rebar, the foundation will soon (today?) be filled with concrete, which will cure before the full tower crane can be assembled. Let’s watch the middle part of next week for that.

Throwback Thursday: London’s One Blackfriars

Posted on June 22, 2017 by danieldschell

One Blackfriars rises along the River Thames in London. This photo was taken from the Monument to the Great Fire of London, a great way to see the city.

One month ago we were in London, marveling at architecture old and new. And there’s a whole lot of new on the way. One of those projects is One Blackfriars. Like much of what’s being built right now around London, it is very distinctively shaped, and gorgeous.

One Blackfriars is a development from Berkeley Group. The 50-storey (no stories here; this is London, after all) glass tower will have 274 apartments and 161 hotel rooms along the south bank of the River Thames. The design is by the architecture firm of SimpsonHaugh and Partners. The general contractor (seriously, as I wandered London and saw this name on lots of new construction, I thought each one would include a large movie-theatre complex. Silly tourist.) is Multiplex. Multiplex is not a place to watch films and eat popcorn; Multiplex is a massive global construction company.