Construction Progress: 625 West Adams

Posted on April 21, 2017 by danieldschell

625 West Adams, as seen from the B.U.C. HQ.

625 West Adams, the 20-story office tower from co-developers White Oak Realty Partners and CA Ventures, continues adding steel beams in the West Loop. After watching the elevator core shoot skyward well ahead of the rest of the building, the main floors are catching up now, so expect to see the core start growing again soon. As of today, Power Construction crews are adding beams to the 17th floor, while concrete gets poured onto the 11th. The SCB-designed tower is on schedule to open in Spring 2018.

: 625 West Adams rising in the West Loop.

: Core and Crane.

: Cold steel.

: Setting a beam in place Thursday morning.

: Stairs.

As McDonald’s progresses, Sterling Bay pitches @1045 retail space

Posted on April 11, 2017 by danieldschell

The McDonald’s HQ in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago.

Along with construction progress at the new McDonald’s Corporation Headquarters in the West Loop comes signage for available retail space, which Sterling Bay has dubbed @1045. An homage to its north frontage at 1045 West Randolph Street, @1045 is 48,000 square feet of ground-floor space, divisible to 2,000-square-foot parcels.

But enough of the real estate talk. What matters here is that McHugh Construction continues to push off the ground and into the sky. The @1045 signage is a nice touch, but construction is the real attraction.

: The Golden Arches have arrived on site.

: 7

: The Two Cranes.

625 West Adams holds its first day of glass

Posted on April 10, 2017 by danieldschell

A car parked along Adams Street is reflected in the shiny new curtain wall at 625 West Adams.

625 West Adams reached another construction milestone last week, installing the first few panes of the curtain wall facing Adams Street. As if all that steel above the podium wasn’t distracting enough, now I have all this glass to look forward to. Thanks, Power. Now I’ll get even less done around here.

: Night vision.

: A blue car passes by…

: Crews celebrated the new glass by installing a second hoist.

That really cool tower crane at 151 North Franklin is coming down

Posted on April 9, 2017 by danieldschell

Eye-to-eye as the tower crane comes down at 151 North Franklin.

An email from Alderman Reilly’s office confirmed what we already knew; the tower crane at 151 North Franklin is coming down this weekend. Randolph Street between Lake and Franklin is closed as crews from Central Contractor Services use the roadway to load up red tower crane parts and haul them off to their next assignment.

Initial confusion over what kind of crane would be utilized at 151 North Franklin soon turned into joy, as Lendlease engineered a spectacular steel frame over the Randolph Street sidewalk, in effect floating the tower crane above pedestrians’ heads. A luffer rather than a fighter, it made the Best Of 2016 list, served its purpose, and now moves on. Chances are good we see that same crane pop up downtown soon, on another site.

: Lendlease celebrated like they normally do; by hanging more cladding.

The topped-out 151 North Franklin drops the tower crane

Posted on April 4, 2017 by danieldschell

Those skies on Saturday! You almost don’t notice the tower crane has sunk below the top of 151 North Franklin.

You knew 151 North Franklin had topped out; The John Buck Company told us when they tweeted from the ceremony a month ago. And now comes the next sign that the future CNA Center is getting closer to completion: the tower crane started coming down this past weekend.

Luckily, a tower crane permit was issued yesterday for Eight Eleven Uptown, so things will even out soon. We’ve also got cranes on the way for One Grant Park (planted), 1101 South Wabash, and One South Halsted.

: I hope that’s wind damage, and not someone who thinks they’re good with a brick.

: Ditto

Looking down on 625 West Adams progress

Posted on March 24, 2017 by danieldschell

Nope, that’s not a misplaced beam. The angle will help form the 11th-floor terrace at 625 West Adams.

You get a good look at the 11th-floor terrace in this rendering from the 625 West Adams website.

Maybe it won’t be called the 13th floor, depending on the superstitions of those in charge of such decisions, but 625 West Adams is up to the 13th floor these days. Along with all the iron beams and metal flooring being added to the 20-story office tower, the 11th-floor terrace is taking shape, what with its angled beam overhead. The word from Power Construction is to watch for another terrace at the 19th floor.

By best guestimate, the core looks to be stuck at about the 17th floor, but that will be rising soon as well. Co-developers CA Ventures and White Oak Realty Partners plan on having 625 West Adams open for tenants to start moving in their fax machines and dot-matrix printers and setting up shop in March 2018.

: Bright flashes are common. Watch your foot though.

: Core work.

: The Adams Street facing.

: From the Monroe Street 7Bridge.

Sterling Bay’s C.H. Robinson HQ taking shape at 1515 West Webster

Posted on March 22, 2017 by danieldschell

At left, 1515 West Webster. In the foreground, the Chicago River. In the background, that magnificent Chicago Skyline.

Construction progress has already reached the third dimension at Sterling Bay‘s development at 1515 West Webster Avenue on the western edge of Lincoln Park. The four-story, 207,000-square-foot facility will be the new headquarters of third-party logistics juggernaut C.H. Robinson. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Sterling Bay expects to have the new office digs open in mid-2018. For now, that’s up to Power Construction, who look to be making good headway toward that goal.

: Rendering of 1515 West Webster from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

: Rendering of 1515 West Webster from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

: The south — or “boring” — end of the site.

McDonald’s goes three-dimensional. And I’m lovin’ it

Posted on March 22, 2017 by danieldschell

The second floor is showing at the new McDonald’s Headquarters in the West Loop.

Life happens quickly. What did you expect from two tower cranes?

To no one’s surprise, the new McDonald’s Corporation Headquarters in the West Loop has lifted off the ground. After weeks of attending to ground-level matters (they’re still at it) McHugh Construction has started going vertical. That mostly good news, because now we can see what’s going on above the perimeter fencing, but bad news because no one with an adjacent balcony or rooftop has offered their vantage point to me for looking downward onto progress. Stuff is harder to see as it gets higher, you know.

The John Buck Company’s 151 North Franklin tops out

Posted on March 3, 2017 by danieldschell

Watching the beam rise at today's #151NFranklin topping out pic.twitter.com/ctX999RXrw

— The John Buck Company (@TheJohnBuckCo) March 2, 2017

And there it goes. Thanks to The John Buck Company for sharing news that 151 North Franklin topped out, and for capturing the moment the final beam rose skyward in photos. I stopped by Randolph and Franklin later in the afternoon to find Lendlease celebrating the event by hanging more glass.

You can see more photos from TJBC’s on its Facebook page here.

Surprise! West Crane is first to be erected at McDonald’s HQ

Posted on February 21, 2017 by danieldschell

A piece of West Crane is hoisted into place at the new McDonald’s HQ in the West Loop.

East Crane went into the ground first. So obviously it gets set up before West Crane even gets planted. Right?

Wrong. Crews from Central Crane are busy Tuesday erecting a tower crane on the west side of the McDonald’s Headquarters construction site, leaving pour ole East Crane to watch and wait its turn.