Streeterville has a new tower-crane stub, thanks to the lovely new seedling sprouting up at the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile at 243 East Ontario Street. Just a little more sand left to dig out of the lot, and Tishman’s 18-story hotel can start going vertical.
The tower crane at 3Eleven has been lowered below the top of the building. You know what that means.
Having served its city well, the tower crane at 3Eleven (311 West Illinois Street) is on the way down. The John Buck Company’s 25-story apartment building topped out in April, and the cladding has nearly reached the top of the tower. Now the work is done for this pretty yellow Liebherr 316 EC-H 12 Litronic tower crane.
Where will it end up next? Well, this is purely speculation, but the tower crane permit for the Nobu Hotel at 854 West Randolph Street in the West Loop calls for the exact same type of Liebherr crane. “Hmmm,” you might say.
There it is, finally! One South Halsted put up a tower crane for me.
Old Glory, and a Glorious Golden Tower Crane.
The shiny yellow tower crane stub that tantalized us for so long at One South Halsted has finally blossomed into a full-blown Liebherr 316-EC-H 12 crane, spreading joy and heavy materials throughout the Greektown neighborhood of the West Loop.
Twitter user @iYarn let us know last week while we were enjoying the Tower Cranes of London that assembly had started, and the tower crane was completed and operational upon our return. Sorry to have missed it, but the hours of entertainment it’ll provide will more than make up for that disappointment.
Off in the distance stands one of Chicago’s newest tower cranes, at the Moxy Hotel site.
Tower crane parts are delivered the first week of May.
We knew there’d be a crane at the Moxy Hotel site in River North, but when the parts showed up, I asked someone on site and was told it really wasn’t a “tower crane.” But a piece of paper can make all the difference in the world, and as you can see, the City of Chicago’s building permit says it’s a tower crane:
ENGINEERED SUPPORT FOR A LEIBHERR 81 K.1 TEMPORARY SELF ERECTING TOWER CRANE SUPPORTED ON A BALLASTED BASE AND CRANE
Yeah, Liebherr is the correct spelling, but that’s not important. What matters is that this contraption with the weight stack that looks like the bench-press machine from high school goes in my official book as another tower crane for Chicago.
There were similar cranes to this one spotted during a visit to Phoenix this winter, but they were operated from the ground. Since the Moxy Hotel crane requires an operator to make the climb up to a cab, that gives it even more legitimacy. Count it.
Many thanks to Adebayo Onigbanjo (Twitter user @iyarn) for keeping me up to speed on the tower crane at One South Halsted. These photos are from Thursday; alas, the excitement of London got the better of my attention span, so by now, I presume the crane is fully assembled and lifting the heavy stuff.
You think Chicago has tower cranes? Okay, yes it does. Chicago does have tower cranes. But London has tower cranes like they’re being given away. Every direction you look, cranes. Turn the corner, another crane. Look to the left, you might see 10 tower cranes. On one site. There might be too much home work to do here, but for now, just have a few photos. If I figure out what the words should be, I’ll post ’em later.
Chicago’s a big city, with a pretty good transportation system. But it’s hard to get to, say for example, 32 tower cranes all in one day. Which is why Skydeck Chicago was built at the Sears Tower. All of the tower cranes, all in one place. With a couple exceptions. I missed a few, like Vista Tower, One Grant Park, and 1101 South Wabash, which can’t be seen, and 8 East Huron and Wicker Park Connection, which I simply brain-lapsed on.
https://twitter.com/SigAlfano/status/863160123841294336
Shout-out to Twitter user @sigalfano who let me know, after some guesswork, that a tower crane stub had been planted at No. 508 (508 West Diversey Parkway) on Friday. It joins One South Halsted in the stub group, with full assembly likely while I’m in England. So take pictures and videos of it going up and send them the blog’s way.
This is the only tower crane in the Chicago skies right now for Macon Construction Group, the general contractor tasked with building the 12-story, 53-apartment Pappageorge Haymes design.
I’m putting you on tower-crane watch, Chicago.
Even though we leave for London Wednesday, it’s very likely construction will continue here without me, and that means you’ll need to be my eye on the skyline. You can print out this little cheat sheet of things to look for if you’d like.
Chicago’s newest tower crane is coming to 508 West Diversey.
There are permits issued for the following tower cranes, which could spring up any day:
The following is my Endangered Tower Crane list. Some have topped out, while others “might” be near the end of their use. This is neither an official not scientific list:
Which tower crane will be completed first, One South Halsted or 508 West Diversey? Who’ll take tower cranes down first, Power Construction (Apple Store, 3Eleven) or Novak Construction (171 Aberdeen)? I won’t know; I’ll be in England. (Maybe Paris too!)
Pay attention, Chicago, and share photos with each other. Or send them to the blog (buildingupchicago@gmail.com) and I’ll be sure to post them. Then, we’ll see you back Stateside at the end of next week.
I hear there are tower cranes in London, so don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine.
Putting the Ill in Illume…The tower crane at Illume Chicago needs some repairs.
Expect a street closure Thursday in the 100-block of South Peoria Street, as a street crane sets up to make repairs on the tower crane holding court above Illume Chicago. Weather permitting, repairs shouldn’t last more than a day, and Peoria Street will be back in business Friday.
