The earth is turning under 1326 South Michigan

Posted on April 19, 2017 by danieldschell

That’s a serious hunk of concrete.

There’s no mistaking the former surface parking lot at 1326 South Michigan for a current surface parking lot. That’s because Walsh Construction is on the scene with Zenere Companies, excavating the site for the 46-story, 500-unit tower from Murphy Development Group and CIM Group.

There’s enough topography on site now to make for a decent par-three golf course, what with the undulating mounds of soil, piles of rock and debris, and deep bunkers. There’s also a giant concrete block right smack dab in the middle of the lot that could present quite the hazard should you slice your tee shot.

: Rendering of SCB’s 1326 South Michigan from CIM Group.

: Rendering of SCB’s 1326 South Michigan Murphy Development Group.

Eight Eleven Uptown puts a tower crane in the ground

Posted on April 17, 2017 by danieldschell

Eight Eleven Uptown alters the skyline with a new tower crane.

Planted, sprouted, and in full bloom, there’s now a tower crane high above Eight Eleven Uptown.

The 27-story apartment tower from JDL Development and Harlem Irving Companies at 811 West Agatite Avenue got its permit on April 3, so that’s an impressive jump to action from Lendlease.

Hideous Greektown hole soon to be filled by bKL tower

Posted on April 14, 2017 by danieldschell

808 West Van Buren will be built here, at the northwest corner of Halsted and Van Buren Streets in Greektown.

Greektown garbage will have to find another hiding place.

The hole in the ground at the corner of Halsted and Van Buren Streets has a permit to be something more than a landfill. Loukas Development of Uptown, who’ve had a sign on the fence around the vacant lot for almost forever, received a foundation permit Thursday for a 12-story residential tower at 808 West Van Buren. Designed by bKL Architecture, the tower will have 148 units, 65 parking spaces, and ground-floor retail. If, of course, that permit is to be believed.

Lendlease will be the general contractor. That gives Lendlease three big jobs in this corner of the West Loop, joining One South Halsted and the Landmark West Loop.

Look, I don’t mean to pick on this little corner lot. But it’s been collecting trash for years now, and it’s fantastic to see construction will finally get moving.

Architectural rendering of 808 West Van Buren courtesy of bKL Architecture.

: Garbage out, construction in.

: The Foundation Permit.

It’s Marlowe time. 675 North Wells lands a permit

Posted on April 13, 2017 by danieldschell

Architectural rendering of Marlowe, 675 North Wells Street, from Antunovich Associates.

Are you ready for Marlowe? Because it’s ready for you.

The surface parking lot at 675 North Wells Street in River North that’s been closed off for several weeks will soon open up again. To construction equipment. Lennar Multifamily Companies (LMC) is the developer for the 15-story apartment tower that received a foundation permit from the City of Chicago on Wednesday. (You may know about Lennar from their Gateway West Loop building. It has pretty lights on the rooftop pool, so you know.)

Designed by Antunovich Associates, Marlowe will have 176 studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom apartments across its 15 stories, plus 11,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. Power Construction will be the general contractor.

The office of Brendan Reilly 42nd Ward has all the info you care to know about Marlowe, plus lots of pretty renderings of floor plans and such. You can see it all here.

The Foundation Permit, issued Wednesday April 12.

3Eleven has topped out, endangering yet another Chicago Tower Crane

Posted on April 12, 2017 by danieldschell

The top of the topped-out 3Eleven, at 311 West Illinois Street in River North.

Word came down from Power Construction that 3Eleven, the 25-story apartment tower from The John Buck Company, topped out this past Friday. Sure, that’s mostly good news. Good news in that the 245 apartments in the FitzGerald Associates-designed tower will are that much closer to being inhabitable. Good news in that the 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space can soon open to new businesses. Good news in that parishioners at Assumption Catholic Church will soon have parking again, after the church parking lot was removed to make room for 3Eleven.

But the topping out also means we lose another tower crane in Chicago. One of the pretty yellow ones, too. And you know how much I love those. Who else remembers August of last year, when the stub was first planted, like a newborn baby coming home from the hospital? Sigh. I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry….

Here are some photos of the topped-out 3Eleven. Look at them, while I try to compose myself.

: What a beautiful baby you were. Never forget.

: Rendering of 3Eleven from FitzGerald Associates.

: Selfie.

No. 508 slowly putting down a foundation in Lake View

Posted on April 11, 2017 by danieldschell

No. 508, at 508 West Diversey Parkway in Lake View, sets a foundation.

Rendering of No. 508 from Broder Properties.

The luxury apartment tower from Broder Properties at 508 West Diversey Parkway continues its foundation work in Lake View, albeit slowly. Our last look back in January showed some pretty deep digging and shoring, and now considerable concrete has been poured on the site. Designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners, No. 508, as dubbed by Broder, will rise to 12 stories, have 53 units, and, according to the renderings, include some ground-floor retail. Completion of No. 508 is slated for this year, so the crew from general contractor Macon Construction Group has their tasks cut out for them.

: The foundation permit, issued way back in August 2016.

: Rendering of No. 508 from the office of the 44th Ward.

One Bennett Park, Two Tower Cranes

Posted on April 10, 2017 by danieldschell

There they are! The two tower cranes of One Bennett Park.

A little over a week ago, One Bennett Park finally added to the tower crane stub that’s been planted on the west side of the growing tower for months. And now, I can confirm that second tower crane, West Crane, if you will, is up and running on Grand Avenue in Streeterville. Running and lifting.

One Bennett Park joins the Simpson-Querrey Biomedical Research Center, also in Streeterville, Wanda Vista Tower on the New East Side, and the West Loop’s McDonald’s Headquarters in the Two-Crane Club.

: Sneak peek between buildings of West Crane.

: East and West, together at last.

: East Crane.

: West Crane.

One Grant Park puts up One Grand Crane

Posted on April 10, 2017 by danieldschell

That’s most of the One Grant Park tower crane in the distance, but don’t worry. I’ll get you closer.

Accumulating tower crane parts hinted at a full-fledged assembly. And sure enough, One Grant Park added a tower crane to its arsenal over the weekend. One week after planting the stub in concrete, Central Contractors Service (that’s the ALL Crane folks; they know tower cranes) was back on South Loop soil, installing the shiny red Potain MD 485B (yep, I can still read a permit.)

: The tower went up Saturday, as seen from the Illinois Medical District.

: Getting a little closer now.

: Inspection fly-by.

: Still some epic foundation work going on, even on Sunday.

One Grant Park Update: Readying for a tower crane, working below the street

Posted on April 7, 2017 by danieldschell

Sections of tower crane are readied for assembly at One Grant Park.

The crane-building crane is on the scene.

The highs and lows of One Grant Park include below-grade core work, and preparations for building a tower crane. The tower crane base was planted Friday of last week, so the foundation has had time to set up properly. If I had to guess, I’d say they’ll put it together over the weekend. There’s plenty of room to work within the site, so street closures don’t seem likely.

Meanwhile, grab a stepladder and go watch the work at the east side of One Grant Park. Workers are deep down working on the elevator core. And they’re using fire!

Working down low on the core. Do you see fire?

Permit in hand, Case Foundation takes over Essex On The Park

Posted on April 6, 2017 by danieldschell

Case Foundation assembles a caisson rig at Essex On The Park, 808 South Michigan Avenue.

The pool, garage, and everything else that was next door to the Essex Inn is gone now, and work is revving up to replace it with Essex On The Park, the latest Chicago project from Oxford Capital Group.

The City of Chicago issued a foundation permit on Monday, and Case Foundation is now on the scene (you thought I was gonna say “on the case, didn’t you?) setting up caisson equipment. Power Construction is the general contractor here, tasked with stacking 56 stories atop one another. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture did the design work on the 476-unit apartment tower.

The South Loop is a very busy place. Essex On The Park joins One Grant Park, 1411 South Michigan, and 1101 South Wabash as already-in-progress joints, while 1326 South Michigan just received a foundation permit as well this week, and there’s lots of buzz about 1000 South Michigan (1000M) firing up soon. Get the lawn chairs and coolers ready, SLoopers. It’s going to be a fun summer!