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.
Looked out the window this morning, and there it was. Cook County Central Campus Health Center has a tower crane.
Before I took the time to post photos from Saturday of the tower crane stub at Cook County Central Campus Health Center, Clayco went ahead a put the darn thing up! That’ll teach me to procrastinate. (No, it won’t. It should though.) Not sure exactly which days saw work on the crane, but there it was outside the B.U.C. HQ window this morning, shining in the sunlight.
CCCCHC is now the 33rd active tower crane in Chicago.
This gallery contains 28 photos.
When the crane disappears behind its own building, that’s a good indication it’s coming down.
Chicago’s ever-fluid tower crane count has changed again, as Landmark West Loop begins to lower its crane at 1035 West Van Buren Street. Landmark topped out March 23, so we knew this day was coming. The loss of this shiny yellow Liebherr EC-12 Litronic model brings our count down to 32.
One South Halsted is waiting for a Liebherr, so…
Life can easily be divided into very distinct eras: The period of time before I knew there was a tower crane emoji, and the period after. The latter will be a time like never before.
https://twitter.com/BuildUpChicago/status/859847530108080128
https://twitter.com/BuildUpChicago/status/859847636131745794
Forgotten tower crane at the DePaul School of Music
The conversation with myself went something like this, as I stood on the Fullerton CTA platform Monday morning, waiting for a Brown Line train:
Me: “I’m kinda surprised the tower crane at the DePaul School of Music is still there.”
Also me: “The Depaul School of Music! I forgot the DePaul School of Music!”
So there’s one tower crane I’d forgotten to include. That brings the current (as far as I know) active count to 33. Generally moving north to south, they are:
At last sightings, we still had stubs in the ground at the Cook County Central Campus Health Center (1950 W Polk), and One South Halsted. There are tower crane permits for 4 properties that haven’t been planted yet:
Revisiting a very busy section of the West Loop.
In the foreground, the tower crane at the McDonald’s Headquarters site. To the left, a full view of the tower crane at 171 Aberdeen.
The banner yet waving is atop Venue One.
The water tank belongs to 1035 West Lake Street.
Have a great weekend, construction nerds!
The finished tower crane over the Wicker Park Connection, Monday evening.
It got started over the weekend, and by Monday evening it was completed. The Wicker Park Connection can begin going vertical, now that there’s a tower crane on site. We watched most of the erecting from the B.U.C. HQ, but a well-timed going-away dinner (Bon Voyage, Steve!) on Division Street meant a good look at the new kid on that block.
The brand new crane at the Wicker Park Connection Monday evening.
Turns out, tracking tower cranes in Chicago can be exhausting.
Tuesday, the crane was coming down from Optima II.
We were at 31 Sunday with the loss of 1001 West Chicago’s crane, but then 1101 South Wabash had its crane in the air, but under (my) radar, and the Wicker Park Connection, which had planted a stub, finished its crane. That made 33. For, like, an hour. Because yesterday I noticed the luffing crane coming down from atop Optima II in Streeterville. (That crane seemed to be there for about 9 years, didn’t it?)
Long story longer, I believe there are now 32 active tower cranes in Chicago. *This is an unscientific poll.
Remember, there are stubs planted at One South Halsted and the Cook County Central Campus Health Center that should be up and running soon. Essex On The Park, Aloft Chicago Mag Mile, and Nobu have been issued crane permits. But 3Eleven, the Landmark West Loop, and (I think?) 171 Aberdeen have topped out, so we could lose those cranes any day now.
Maybe in the next few days, we can speculate about which just-underway or soon-to-be-started projects will require tower cranes. You know, McDonald’s “vendor village”, Hoxton Hotel, 808 West Van Buren, and the like. What about 508 West Diversey? That’s 12 stories. Yeah, this seems like a conversation for another day.
A new tower crane hovers over 1101 South Wabash.
No longer just a large excavation pit, 1101 South Wabash now has a tower crane to help erect the 30-story hotel coming to the South Loop site. Apparently the shiny red crane has been there almost a week now, but I neglected it for a few days. Sorry, crane. Nothing personal. Ya know I love ya.
According to the CTBUH, this is a development from SB Yen management Group in Hinsdale, and will be the Hilton Homewood Suites and Wabash Suites Hotel.
Building Up Chicago 