A few photos, as 400 Lake Shore continues to grow.
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Lakeview Landing, the six-story affordable housing development at 835 West Addison Street in Wrigleyville, is really starting to come into view. Powers and Sons Construction has made big progress on the first four stories, and that blue sheathing contrasts well with the stark concrete cores. Probably wouldn’t look great as a finish, but it dresses up the work site nonetheless.
Fun Fact (at least some of us think it’s fun): Lakeview Landing is located at the intersection of Addison Street and Reva Avenue. This is the only block that exists of Reva Avenue. It starts at Cornelia Avenue at its south end (3500 North) and ends at Addison (3600 North) and now you know that, assuming you didn’t before. Because I didn’t.
OTR Housing is building 37 units here, all of them 575-square-foot one-bedroom apartments. The former Lake View Lutheran Church was demolished back in June to make room for the new housing. The church donated the land to OTR in exchange for ground-floor space in the new building to hold their services. Lakeview Landing is a design by Weese Langley Weese Architects. It will include 12 indoor parking spaces on the first floor.
It never ceases to amaze me how much sand was left behind when Chicago decided to move the shore of Lake Michigan eastward. Turns out, it’s easier to build on sand than on water. I still don’t know exactly how far west the lake used to reach (Ashland Avenue-ish, I’ve heard), but venture past a Lake View construction site and you’ll get an idea.
Such is the case at 3036 North Sheffield. Two multi-unit residences have just been demolished to make room for a new five-unit condominium development here. On October 10, both buildings still stood. Now, demolition contractor Land Enterprises has knocked them down, hauled off the rubble, and begun digging into the never-ending sand pit that will be the construction site. Think of ii like a sand box, without the fun. Or a sandlot, without the baseball and gigantic drooling dog.
The new project, a three-story building with a basement and a rooftop deck, will include a detached five-car garage at the rear of the property. Interestingly, the home that used to occupy the north half of the construction site, 3038 North Sheffield, was at the back of the lot, as if it was a coach house. But according to the demo team, there is no sign of any foundation or other remnants of a “main” residence at the front of the lot. It appears the driveway in front of this house had always been there.
And you know, I could have been wrong earlier. Maybe the dude operating the excavator *is* having fun in that sand box. The guy with the shovel? Maybe not.
Big shout-out to Barrett Homes for sending over renderings of their condo building currently under construction at 405 West Armitage Avenue in Old Town. The residences will rise on the highly visible six-point intersection of Armitage Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, and Sedgwick Street.
The four-story, six-unit project will include garage parking for 12 cars and storage space for 13 bicycles. Two ground-floor retail spaces will replace the commercial space lost when the previous building, most recently home to a CVS, was demolished in favor of the new development. One space will have its entrance on Sedgwick Street. The second storefront will be along Armitage, along with the residential entry. You like sunsets? Those west-facing terraces are perfect for you.
Barrett Homes is also the general contractor here, in addition to their developer duties. 360 Design Studio is the architect.
It’s a sea of rebar — a seabar — at 400 Lake Shore as we close out the month of October. I’ll let the photos explain, all taken Saturday, October 26:
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Aberdeen Crossing is the name of the residential development coming to 1100 West Grand Avenue in West Town, and it is now under construction. Rebar cages have been rolled on the site in preparation for caisson work, and Stalworth Underground has a rig on site to move that caisson equipment around.
Aberdeen Crossing is a project from developer Wildwood Investments. They are delivering 99 units to the neighborhood across a seven-story building designed by bKL Architecture. The will be 1,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 28 cars, plus storage space for 99 bicycles. Contemporary Concepts is the general contractor, with Adjustable Concrete Construction as the concrete contractor.
The project replaces a service station on the plat of land that includes Sterling Bay’s Grand Flag. A demolition permit for the former improvement was issued July 17 under the address of 540 North Aberdeen. Precision Excavation handled the razing.
Despite its modest seven-story height, Aberdeen Crossing will be adding a tower crane to Chicago’s construction skyline. A permit for that crane was issued on August 19. The caisson permit preceded that, with an issue date of August 10, while the full building permit came through on October 11. Wildwood Investments plans on welcoming their first tenants in 2025.
Thursday, the Chicago Plan Commission gave their approval for the two-tower development 1200 West Fulton in the West Loop’s Fulton Market District.
A joint effort between JDL Development and Fulton Street Companies, 1200 West Fulton is likely to be built in two phases, although the developers’ goal is to build the entire project at once. If phased, Phase One would see the shorter of the two towers built. The 37-story, 465-foot-tall North Tower will stand at the northeast corner of the site and contain 521 units, at the intersection of Racine and Carroll Avenues. The West Tower, Phase Two, will rise mid-block on Fulton. It is to be 43 stories and 545 feet tall, with 558 units.
A total of 1,079 residential units are included in the two towers, with 20% of those (216 units) set aside as affordable. The shared podium will include 440 parking spaces, nearly 125,000 square feet of commercial space, and one bicycle storage space per residence. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect, as they are for another recent JDL development, One Chicago.
Flora, the brand-spankin’-new apartment tower at 1114 West Carroll Avenue in the Fulton Market District, is getting ready for its big opening on Tuesday, October 15. If you’ve been to the website to check on availability for studio, one-bed, two-bed, and even three-bedroom floor plans, you know that’s the day you can move in to your new pad.
The 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower, includes a below-grade 95-space garage and storage for 185 bicycles, is a sharp-looking addition to the westward-spreading West Loop. And there’s more coming to the neighborhood soon. Very soon. And Flora is one great reason to add a station to the Metra lines that don’t stop between Western Avenue and the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Not that this should ever be a barometer for good or bad from a development, but this one lives up to its renderings. Congratulations to the Flora team, including developer Trammell Crow Company, design architects ESG Architecture & Design, and general contractor Power Construction. May your units fill up quickly. I’d happily live here, and I have a birthday coming up (next year) if anyone wants to gift me a one-bedroom.
Power got their first permit for Flora back on January 9 of 2023 with the issuance of the foundation permit. Several more permits followed, including the tower crane two weeks later, the full building permit on March 7, 2023, and permission to install four passenger elevators on October 26 of last year.
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A New Construction permit was issued September 17 by the City of Chicago for the property located at 3037 North Lincoln Avenue in Lake View. Said permit allows for the construction of a four-story, 15-unit residential building with a 16-car garage and retail space on the ground floor. Demolition work for three buildings (3037, 3029, and 3027 North Lincoln) being torn down to make room for the development is nearing completion, after all three of them got demo permits on July 22. So the new build should get started here very soon.
PLD Homes (Promised Land Development) is both the developer and general contractor, with Hanna Architects listed on the permit as the building’s designer. They have included balconies on all three residential floors, as well as a shared rooftop deck for all residents. I haven’t seen any renderings for this one, but I’ve been looking.
Some photos of what used to be here, and their demolition status as of 09/18/2024:
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An historic two-story brick building at 37 South Ashland Avenue in the Near West Side Community Area is getting new life, thanks to a renovation from ZSD Corp. Built in 1904 as the West End Woman’s Club, it became the home of the United Electrical Workers in 1948. ZSD purchased the building from the union in March of this year for $1.65 million; they’re in the midst of overhauling it into apartments. In keeping with the original name, it has been dubbed West End Club. They hope to welcome their first tenants in summer 2025.
A permit was issued by the City of Chicago to make the office-to-residential conversion to the building, located on the northeast corner of Ashland Avenue and Monroe Street, on May 15, 2024. It calls for a two-story addition atop the two existing levels, while lowering the original basement, and adding a rooftop deck. There will be 22 rental units here: 16 one-bedroom, 4 three-bedroom, and 2 four-bedroom apartments. An elevator will be added, and the front of the building will feature a sunken patio. The main entrance will be placed along Monroe Street. There will be no parking spaces included in the development.
Before gutting the interior, yeoman’s efforts were made to remove and preserve a painted mural on the walls throughout the building’s interior. UE is leasing office space at the Chicago Teachers Union building at 1901 West Carroll Avenue, and the mural will be on display there. You can read more about those preservation efforts at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.
According to ZSD’s Zev Salomon:
“We’re proud to be restoring the facade of this historic building and we’re happy to collaborate with the seller to ensure the preservation of the Solidarity mural.”
ZSD Corp, along with developing West End Club, is also acting as their own general contractor. The design team includes Andrew R Wang as the Architect of Record, Philadelphia firm IS Architects as the Design Architect, and SK Design Group as the Interior Designer.
The photos below include some taken on the first of September when scaffolding covered the west façade. That has since been removed and reassembled for work on the south wall.
Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
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