Category Archives: River North

HUGO begins to show above street level along Chicago Avenue

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No longer two large excavation sites, HUGO is beginning to sprout like two spring flower beds in the 400-block of West Chicago Avenue. That’s all thanks to developer-slash-general contractor LG Group, whose task it is to bring this two-sided NORR design to life.

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Say the word, and 311 West Huron will start tearing up the parking lot

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An overhead view of 311 West Huron. (The Brown Line is my drone.)

There’s a new office building coming soon to the River North neighborhood, and equipment stands at the ready to dispense of the current surface parking lot and start construction on 311 West Huron.

311 West Huron is a joint venture between North Wells Capital and Urban Innovations. The 15-story building, designed by NORR, will include about 145,000 rentable square feet, and have 130 indoor parking spaces. Chicago Yimby has lots of details. And Crain’s reported in February that there’s already an anchor tenant lined up.

There are ground-breakers from Quality Excavation standing at the ready as we speak, with construction fencing all around the parking lot. It sure looks like they’re expecting to get started soon. Site prep and the first building permit seem imminent.

HUGO begins rising from its dual excavation sites

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An active day at 411 West Chicago, the east “half” of HUGO

Foundation work is complete at River North’s HUGO residential development, and now developer-slash-general-contractor LG Group is beginning the groundwork for the two nine-story buildings designed by NORR.

The west half of this project, 751 North Hudson, got a hoist permit Wednesday; the 411 West Chicago side got one a day prior. Building permits were issued (751) July 14 and (411) August 5, 2021.

You can see photos of work at both sides of the HUGO equation below, along with the Pesky Building In The Middle (previously known as 415 West Chicago) they’ll surround.

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HUGO digs a pair of foundations in River North

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That is a looooooong tower crane.
The pesky 415 W Chicago via Google Streetview

What do you do when there’s a building in your way? HUGO around it.

That’s what LG Group is doing at HUGO in River North. There’s a pesky three-story structure at 415 West Chicago Avenue that LG won’t let get in the way of this dual-building development.

On the east side is 411 West Chicago. On the west side is 751 North Hudson. The two roughly-L-shaped nine-story buildings will combine for 227 apartments and 19,000 square feet of retail space. NORR is the design architect, while LG Group is doing their own build. Yep, a double-duty tower crane and a double-duty developer/GC. HUGO, LG!

Full building permits were issued for each half of HUGO: 411 West Chicago got one on 8/5/2021, and 751 North Hudson on 7/14/2021. The tower crane permit came through on 2/9/2022.

Foundation work is in progress, as evidenced the two large holes in the earth on either side of aforementioned existing structure.

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Yes, of course I took more Salesforce Tower pics

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An office in Salesforce Tower, and an apartment next door in Wolf Point East, is still the dream. For me, at least.

Salesforce Tower Chicago
Hiding behinf the old BUC HQ

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A Salesforce Tower over(mostly)view

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This past weekend, Open House Chicago gave the public access to the 55th floor of 110 North Wacker. That’s a vantage point most of us rarely see without ponying up the dough to visit an observation deck.

Very few of you will be surprised to learn I took advantage of that vantage by snapping a ton of pics of Salesforce Tower. (I took a few from the ground too.) Hey you go.

They grow up so fast, One Chicago Edition

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I remember you when you were little.

It doesn’t seem that long ago, when the parking lot across State Street from Holy Name Cathedral was being torn up, and foundation digging began.

Now, One Chicago is almost to that point where, if you want to see what’s happening with construction, you have to go inside.

Once again, this is your One Chicago team: JDL Development, with a hand from Wanxiang America, is the developer. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Goettsch Partners shared design duties. And Power Construction is the general contractor.

There are only a couple floors of curtain wall left to install on the east tower, but we still have one tower crane to savor here, so let’s make the best of the rest of our time together. (Cue dramatic music)

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Glass update at Salesforce Tower

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This update on Salesforce Tower is simple: Walsh Construction continues their curtain wall installation at Hines’ 60-story office tower at Wolf Point on the Chicago River, all while the tower keeps shooting skyward. I see about 30 levels of steel, and 36 levels of core. (Not a scientific poll.)

And now, photos:

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More glass, more bridge lifts, more Salesforce Tower

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Why not. It’s been a couple weeks.

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A Sunny-day update from Salesforce Tower

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The first row of glass. A bridge lift for the spring boat run. Sunshine and blue sky with a few wispy clouds. Wednesday had it all. Salesforce Tower continues to put on a show.

If you can’t make it to the Riverwalk (the big comfy chairs are back on the lawn!) here are a few photos to get you caught up on Walsh Construction’s progress. (LOL. “a few”)

  • Lots more glass on site.

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