Sensational Headline To Over-Dramatize A Situation To Make It Sound Much More Serious Than It Really Is [UPDATED]

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110 North Wacker

Probably not telling you anything you haven’t figured out on your own here…

On July 10, this website will go dark.

Or maybe it won’t; maybe it will still be available to read, but will just be harder to find. Point is, the blog costs money to maintain whether or not I post content here, and since I am no longer consistently posting content, it doesn’t make sense to keep putting money into it. So on July 10, my website expires, and I won’t be renewing. I’m not sure what WordPress does with a domain when it goes back to being an unpaid site; we’ll see in a few weeks.

It was fun to take construction photos around Chicago when I lived in the midst of all the action. Now all the action is a train ride away. And I no longer find myself interested in the construction goings-on that used to fascinate me so much. I no longer enjoy aimlessly wandering the city looking for tower cranes. I no longer enjoy weeding through 100s of images from my camera to find the dozen or so that turned out well enough to share. I no longer enjoy trying to come up with a couple or three sentences to explain what the images captured. When a hobby is no longer fun, it’s work. And when the work doesn’t provide an income, it’s a waste of time. My blog has become a waste of my own time.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for scrolling through photos. Thank you for asking me what was what, what was where, and what would be done when. It was fun sharing answers when I knew them.

Thank you to all the architecture firms, construction companies, and developers who shared their resources, time, and knowledge with me. Special shout-out to everyone at Power Construction, for letting me inside two of your projects as they were going up. I’m still amazed, and forever grateful, for the access you gave me. And to you, FitzGerald, for taking the time to sit down with me on multiple occasions when I had questions.

Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up where I’ve left off someday. But I’ve tried that a couple times already, and it hasn’t worked out. We’ll see.

Thank you again, everyone. Sincerely. Knowing people were reading was the only reason to do this.

Dan

***August 26, 2019: Nothing happened. It’s all still here. I have no idea what I was paying for. Google Analytics, I guess…

I’ve missed a lot; Milieu West Loop Edition

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Milieu on the Park

Milieu (on the Park?) has risen to its full height at Adams & Peoria (205 S. Peoria) in the West Loop.

The last time I walked around Milieu in the West Loop, Power Construction had just set up the tower crane. Now, the tower crane is gone, and Milieu (Is it Milieu on the Park? That’s what White Oak Realty Partners calls it. I kinda like it.) is up. The FitzGerald-designed apartment building is slated to open this summer.

 

110 North Wacker at night

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110 North Wacker

110 North Wacker is rising along the Chicago River on the former site of the Morton Salt building.

Want to know what I did last weekend?

Yep. I went to 110 North Wacker and snapped some photos in the dark. Haven’t been here since it was barely more than a hole in the ground. Nice work on the build so far by Clark Construction.

Have a look:

I’ve missed a lot

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Took a train downtown this evening. Even lugged the tripod along with me, since it’s been almost forever since I’ve tried to take a night shot. And discovered that what little I knew about taking photographs, I’ve mostly forgotten. Couldn’t even tell that most of the shots were badly out of focus. Oh well.

Here’s one of Wolf Point East, Merchandise Mart (during Art on the Mart), and whatever that kite/hammock contraption is along the Riverwalk.

Wolf Point East

The Bentham gets a permit to begin construction in River North

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The Bentham

A hearty welcome to Chicago to The Bentham. We were a little worried about you. (Rendering from Sedgwick Development.)

The Bentham is happening.

We were getting worried about the empty lot at LaSalle and Erie in River North. It had been quite some time since the old Erie and LaSalle Body Shop had been demolished to make room for a new residential tower, but The Bentham’s website never went offline, a good sign of hope that the project was still alive.

Sedgwick Development is building this condominium tower, not only as the developer, but as the general contractor and designer as well. They got a tower crane permit way back in September of last year, and yesterday, a foundation permit was issued. That permit calls for 15 stories and 31 condos, plus 53 parking spots and 3,132 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Congrats go out to Sedgwick Development. I bet they’re champing at the bit to get going.

Tank and tower in the West Loop

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727 West Madison Morgan MFG

727 West Madison stands stoic behind the painted water tank at Morgan Mfg.

I like construction. I like Chicago Water Tanks. So it made me slightly giddy to see 727 West Madison lined up perfectly with the delightful water tank atop Morgan Mfg at 401 North Morgan Street in the West Loop. I thought I’d share it.

727 West Madison Morgan MFG

Hey! There’s no more tower crane at Hayden West Loop

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Sometimes we lose track of topped-out buildings. So we rely on your eyes to see what’s slipped our memories. Twitter user @West_Looper let us know on Saturday that the tower crane was coming down at Hayden West Loop, so we headed over there to watch some of the action.

Hayden marked the only crane in the sky for Macon Construction, but its removal means big progress on Sulo Development’s 28-condo project. Hayden’s website shows 80% of the units sold, so you better make your move soon if you’re hoping for new digs in the Booth Hansen-designed building. Sulo plans on having your condo ready for move-in before 2018 comes to a close.

And now, as we’re known to do around here, more photos of a tower-crane disassembly than you’ll ever need: