Category Archives: Residential

900 West lands a foundation permit

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900 West

The sweet smell of a foundation permit, fresh of the City presses. 900 West may begin.

The lot at Washington Boulevard and Peoria Street in the West Loop has been cleared, and now a foundation permit has been issued that allows 900 West to move into the site. The 10-story, 22-unit condominium development from Taris Real Estate has already made Chicago news, when Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s reported on the signed contract for one of the building’s two penthouse units for more than $5 million. In addition to the penthouses, there will be two-bed, three-bed, and four-bedroom condos.

Northworks Architects + Planners designed the new building. Power Construction has been tasked with putting all the right pieces in all the right places. Taris plans to have 900 West ready for residents in Summer of 2018.

1326 South Michigan scores its full-build permit

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1326 South Michigan

Column forms are starting to protrude from the ground at 1326 South Michigan.

1326 South Michigan full-build permit

The full-build permit, issued July 24, 2017.

On Monday of this week, 1326 South Michigan received its full-build permit from the city of Chicago. That means crews from Walsh Construction can keep right on working at a frantic pace and start sending this one vertical. To the tune of 46 stories, to be exact. And within those 46 stories? 500 apartments, developed in tandem by Murphy Development Group with CIM Group, and designed by SCB.

Twitter user @ChrisAHorney, who works as MDG and last month clued us in to the tower crane being erected on this site, tells us today we can expect a name change for 1326 South Michigan in the coming weeks. And we always look forward to that kind of news.

As for that permit, The Big Green W didn’t seem to take much time celebrating its arrival; 1326 South Michigan is frantic with activity today, as you’ll see in the time-lapse video and photos below.

Essex On The Park is Off Of The Ground

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Essex On The Park goes vertical

Essex On The Park is beginning its climb into the Michigan Avenue skyline.

Essex On The Park raised a tower crane earlier this month, and now work has begun going vertical along Michigan Avenue in the South Loop. Power Construction has 56 stories to stack atop each other, so there’s a whole lot of work to do. But that’s what tower cranes are for, right? Wait and see; this thing will be topped out in no time.

A few reminders for you as Essex On The Park begins to rise: It’s a development from Oxford Capital Group. It’s designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. As previously mentioned, Power Construction is the general contractor. 808 South Michigan Avenue is the address. There will be 476 apartments, 84 parking spots, and some ground-floor retail space. Oxford plans to have the apartment tower open to residents in 2019.

Caisson work is underway at Wolf Point East

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Wolf Point East caisson work

Kayakers get a close-up look at Wolf Point East caisson work.

Wolf Point East caisson work

Rendering of Wolf Point East from Hines.

Who’s ready for Wolf Point East? That’s rhetorical, because ready or not, it’s here.

Skyscraper nerds had already left the fork in the Chicago River for sites like Vista Tower and One Bennett Park, what with Wolf Point West, River Point, and 150 North Riverside all completed and open. But now, time will once again be split, and attention divided, as the next phase begins.

Hines is developing the 60-story, 700-unit apartment tower here, along with land-owners the Kennedy family. A collaboration between architect-of-record Pappageorge Haymes Architects and designer Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Wolf Point East is the second of the three towers slated for this corner of the river. There will be about 3,500 square feet of retail space as well, plus a whole bunch of parking spots. But don’t worry about eyesores; that parking will be located underground.

Case Foundation is there as we speak, drilling caissons into the ground. Walsh Construction is the general contractor. When their tower crane goes up (soon, please?) it’ll be Walsh’s second in Chicago, having just erected one at 1326 South Michigan, and removing one at Alta Roosevelt over the weekend.

 

 

 

Alta Roosevelt drops the tower crane

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Alta Roosevelt

This was the scene Saturday morning, as the Alta Roosevelt tower crane was turned parallel to Financial Place one final time, before beginning its descent to earth.

Always the saddest of positive milestones, Saturday marked the beginning of the end for the tower crane at Alta Roosevelt at 801 South Financial Place in the South Loop. Twitter user @GNWIII3 alerted us Friday to the pending dismantle. Then well into the evening hours, general contractor Walsh Construction, along with Morrow Equipment Company and Central Contractors Service, were pooling their talents to assure a smooth transition from towering crane to crane parts on trucks.

What’s next for the Pappageorge Haymes-designed apartment tower to achieve? Let’s guess the completion of cladding installation, as glass has moved within three levels of the top. Then it’s just a matter of finishing a mere 496 individual units, and folks can start moving in before winter hits Chicago.

 

The Ronsley takes the gold at Taste of River North

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The Ronsley Taste of River North

The Ronsley provides a colorful backdrop as revelers twist the weekend away at Taste Of River North.

Whether you’re looking for a new home or not, if you made it to the Taste Of River North over the weekend, you couldn’t help but notice The Ronsley. The renovation at 676 North Kingsbury Street is an undertaking of LG Development (LG Construction is the general contractor) with design work by Antunovich Associates. The party vibe during the festivities could only be enhanced by the bright yellow building materials that dominate the north and east elevations.

 

One Grant Park is blueing up the South Loop

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One Grant Park blue forms

The Big Blue Forms of One Grant Park.

Many legal-types will tell you to fill out your forms in blue. Which is exactly what McHugh Construction is doing at One Grant Park. Eschewing the usual yellow forms you see throughout Chicago, McHugh has opted for blue on Rafael Viñoly Architects’ 76-story apartment tower in the South Loop. And with Lake Michigan just a couple blocks away, why not? Working blue can be a bad thing for a comedian, but not for a construction company. Your children can watch. Blue screen of death? Nah, that’s for your old laptop. These are Blue Screens of Safety.

One Grant Park, a development from Crescent Heights, will stack 792 rental units atop 12 levels of parking. Work began on the lot at Roosevelt, Indiana, and Michigan back in December.

New Neighbor Eleven40 continues to rise in the South Loop

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Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

A little project I’m working on in the back yard.

Of course, Eleven40 isn’t the new neighbor; I am. But so far, the new apartment tower from the CA Ventures – Keith Giles team doesn’t seem to mind its new spectators, as Lendlease keeps pushing the project skyward. The tower crane is still doing tower-crane things, and the cladding is starting to wrap around a fourth level.

A Spring 2018 arrival date for the 320-unit, SCB-designed South Loop tower fast approacheth, so don’t expect activity to slow down anytime soon.

Vista Tower takes a new angle

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Vista Tower July

The WOW Factor just kicked up a notch at Vista Tower.

There’s an age-old axiom in architecture that I just made up that says “You can’t build frustums without angling some columns.” And it makes a lot of sense, if you don’t give it much thought.

Vista Tower frustums

Frustums on frustum in this Studio Gang rendering of Vista Tower.

It’s happening now at Vista Tower. McHugh Construction has the beginnings of four concrete columns sticking out of the north elevation at an impossible-not-to-notice angle, to which they’re adding rebar and concrete forms, making an already photo-worthy work site nearly impossible to walk away from. It’s also what Paul Simon was referring to in You Can Call Me Al with the lyric “angles in the architecture, spinning in infinity…” That is, *if* you happened to get liner notes with typos in them.  (**Graceland reference due entirely to Paul Simon concert in Milwaukee over the weekend. I won’t make it a habit.**)

Those cool new beams (that’s what the teenagers say all the time: “Cool beams!”) should keep Vista Tower construction very entertaining as they’re repeated throughout the process. Not that any of us needed another reason to keep going back. But we’ll take it.

1136 South Wabash gets a name change. Meet Eleven40

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Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

New signage introduces Eleven40 to the South Loop. 

In the midst of ongoing progress at 1136 South Wabash comes new signage announcing a new name: 1136 is now Eleven40. Follow that link to a whole bunch of shiny new renderings of the SCB-designed tower, as it continues upward toward its ultimate 26 stories. The CA Ventures – Keith Giles production will have 320 apartments and is being built by Lendlease. Spring 2018 is the projected opening.

Eleven40

Eleven40 continues its rise in the South Loop. 

Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

1136 South Wabash has been renamed Eleven40. 

Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

Rooftop rendering of Eleven40.

Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

Nighttime rendering of Eleven40.

Eleven40 1136 South Wabash

Pool rendering of Eleven40.