Category Archives: South Loop

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

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One Grant Park

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

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!

One Grant Park

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

 

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

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Essex On The Park

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!

1326 South Michigan lands a foundation permit in the South Loop

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1326 South Michigan

Rendering of 1326 South Michigan from CIM Group.

1326 South Michigan, the new 500-unit residential tower from Murphy Development Group along with CIM Group, scored a foundation permit Wednesday from the City of Chicago. The permit calls for a 47-story building, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz. Walsh Construction is named as the general contractor.

The surface parking lot at 1326 has been closed for a couple weeks now, in anticipation of work on the tower beginning. Expect to see the approved foundation work get started very soon.

1101 South Wabash digs deep

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1101 South Wabash

Foundation work, getting down and dirty, at 1101 South Wabash.

There’s a hotel being built at 1101 South Wabash in the South Loop. And besides it being at the corner of Wabash and 11th Street, behind the Best Western Grant Park Hotel, that’s about all I can tell you of it. Sure, the original foundation permit tells us it will a 30-story hotel. But now there’s a revised permit, which calls for a 30-story mixed-use building.

Okay, not huge news. But there’s more; the revised permit now names Skender Construction as the general contractor, where Lendlease held that distinction on the original permit. Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture remains the architect of record.

With the former two-story parking garage a distant memory, the foundation is being dug and shored up. A tower crane permit was issued February 22, so we have that to look forward to.

One Grant Park plants a tower crane

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One Grant Park tower crane

Scratch One Grant Park off the tower crane waiting list.

https://twitter.com/PDNAChicago/status/847801738648268800

Thanks to that tweet from Twitter user @PDNAChicago, we now know One Grant Park has begun installing a tower crane. The crane permit was granted (heh…Granted) way back on February 1, so it’s been a long wait.

The highly-anticipated Rafael Viñoly Architects design for Crescent Heights is delivering 76 stories and 792 apartments, plus 12,000 square feet of retail space, to the South Loop intersection of Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue.

Soon, McHugh Construction will have a new tower crane with which to begin sending One Grant Park into the sky. Hopefully, it won’t be a two-month wait like we had for the seedling. (Spoiler alert: It won’t be.)

 

 

Riverline levels continue to rise

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Ancora at Riverline

Ancora represents the first phase of the Riverline development in the South Loop.

Progress continues at Ancora, the first phase of the huge Riverline project CMK Companies is building along the Chicago River in the South Loop. The 29-story tower is barely above street level, yet somehow it already appears to be soaring. With the help of Pepper Construction on concrete work, Lendlease has reached the third floor on some parts of the site.

The Perkins+Will design will bring 452 apartments to this first phase of Riverline. Future phases will ultimately bring nine more buildings, 16,500 square feet of retail space, and a new riverwalk to the neighborhood.

One Grant Park is officially on tower-crane watch as caissons wrap up

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One Grant Park

Case Foundation breaks down a caisson rig Thursday at One Grant Park in the South Loop.

Down at One Grant Park in the South Loop, Case Foundation has disassembled most of its caisson equipment and hauled it away. And while I’m no math genius, I couldn’t count more than one caisson on site that still awaits its concrete filling.

Now B.U.C. crews will be monitoring the lot at Roosevelt and Michigan 24/7, watching for tower crane parts to arrive. The City of Chicago issued that permit on February 1st, so somewhere there’s a free-standing Potain MD 485B seething to get into the game. It’s March Madness time; I say BRING IT ON.

It’s Craning Day at the Triple Hilton McCormick Place

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Hilton McCormick Place tower crane

Thursday morning, this tower crane cab rolled past the B.U.C. HQ. On its way to the Hilton McCormick Place? Sure seemed like it.

Last week, we found the makings of a tower crane at the Triple-Branded Hilton Hotel at McCormick Place. That always means to be on high alert for assembly. Now, I can’t prove the crane parts I watched being driven down the Kennedy to the Dan Ryan this week were headed to McHugh Construction’s site, but it sure added up. A peek out the window Thursday morning confirmed that the crane was being set up down in the Prairie District. And field trip ensued, resulting in the following photos. Best guess is, assembly will be completed Friday.

Hilton McCormick Place tower crane

Way off in the distance, tower crane set-up has been spotted. Time to head to the South Loop.

The Big Green W warns of a tower crane jump in Alta Roosevelt’s future

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When the Big Green W talks, people listen. Especially skyscraper nerds and construction junkies. Even more so when they use your photo and give you a shout-out.

Walsh Construction promised a tower crane jump at Alta Roosevelt on their Instagram feed, and since Sunday’s brunch was only a block away (PLUG: I highly suggest you all head to Sociale sooner, instead of later) I stopped by 801 South Financial. I didn’t catch the jump, but they’re certainly prepared for it.

Below, you’ll find a video, and then a photo gallery. The video was intended for you to hear the sounds of the wind howling through the construction site. It was magically musical; alas, all you’re likely to hear is the wind whipping through my phone.

Quick Look: Tower crane action in the West Loop and Prairie District

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The McDonald’s headquarters is erecting the first of its two tower cranes, while the triple-branded Hilton Hotel at McCormick Place planted a tower crane seedling in the South Loop.