There’s glass on them there walls of 56 West Huron

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56 West Huron May 2018

56 West Huron glasses up the River North neighborhood.

56 West Huron, the 13-story, 10-unit condominium tower from Kiferbaum Development Group, has topped out in River North, and now Gilbane Building Company has started installing the curtain wall on the building’s exterior.

Designed by Studio Dwell, the tower will include 10 full-floor condominiums, plus one duplex penthouse unit topping them off. Completion is anticipated in Fall 2018.

Skender plants a tower crane stub for the new West Loop Hyatt House

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Hyatt House West Loop

Skender has planted a tower crane in the West Loop as they begin construction on Sterling Bay’s Hyatt House.

Very soon, we’ll be adding another name to the Chicago Tower Crane Survey. Skender has planted a stub at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and May Street in the West Loop, where they’re erecting the new Hyatt House hotel.

Sterling Bay is developing the 16-story hotel, conveniently located less than a block from the new McDonald’s HQ they’ve just built. Designed by Chicago firm Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Hyatt House will bring nearly 200 guest rooms to the neighborhood, which you may have noticed is quite busy with construction. And that means people visiting new offices, and dropping in on residents of all those new apartments, will need a place to stay. Hyatt House will be ready for them.

Three Sixty West rises above the River North street

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Three Sixty West May 2018

Maris Construction is using this tower crane to build Three Sixty West in River North.

Maris Construction has one, and only one, tower crane in the skies over Chicago. And they’re making it count.

Three Sixty West, the 11-story condominium tower at 360 West Erie Street in River North from Belgravia Realty Group, has risen a floor above street level. The 38-unit, GREC Architects-designed development got its initial building permit back in November, and a tower crane permit this past January.

Those condos should be ready for move-ins early next year.

Progress Update: Home2 Suites rising in River North

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Home2 Suites River North will be a 17-story hotel being developed by Akara Partners and designed by NORR.  M.A. Mortenson Company is in town from Wisconsin to erect the 200-or-so-room tower at 110 West Huron Street in River North, and it looks like they’re just two or three levels from topping out. This is Mortenson’s one and only tower crane on our list.

A sunny day at Vista Tower

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Sunny Vista Tower

Vista Tower rises in Lakeshore East under the watchful eye of the topped-out One Bennett Park.

I know you just saw a ton of Vista Tower photos only a few days ago, but that was about the new curtain wall being installed on the exterior. We got lucky and were in Lakeshore East when the sun was out last week, and Vista was irresistible. So here you go.

Renelle on the River is topped out and ready for glass

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Renelle on the River went up in a hurry. Now, the concrete is topped out, and without any glazing yet, it looks kinda skeleton-like. But that will change soon, as McHugh Construction focuses on getting the outer skin installed and interior work begins. (Then again, maybe that’s what they’re calling an “open floor plan” these days. No windows, no cladding, just you and the elements and your living room.)  The bKl Architecture design brings 50 new condos to the River North neighborhood across 18 stories.

Progress Update: Atrium Village Phase II (Old Town Park 2?)

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Atrium Village Phase II? Old Town Park 2? 202 Hill Street? The second tower Onni Group is constructing in Near North doesn’t have an official name yet, but it does have a tower crane and a building permit. And those are the important things. That permit calls for a Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed 39-story tower, including a 6-level parking podium, with 428 apartments. Onni Group is once again the developer and general contractor, just as they are next door at Old Town Park, and The Hudson a few blocks away.

The Pickard Chilton Boathouse we didn’t get

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Pickard Chilton Boathouse

Rendering from Pickard Chilton of a proposed boathouse at River Point.

An innocent Wednesday-morning tweet led me down a rabbit hole, and I eventually climbed out through the website of Pickard Chilton, the New Haven, Connecticut-based architecture firm known in Chicago for designing River Point and 300 North LaSalle, plus one of my out-of-town favorites, the Northwestern Mutual Tower in Milwaukee.

One item on the Pickard Chilton projects page in particular caught my attention; The Boathouse. A proposed development for Hines, The Boathouse was designed to go where River Point Plaza stands now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all unhappy with either River Point or its plaza, but this boathouse would have been an awesome addition to the Chicago River. Maybe another location? It could look marvelous down on the South Branch too.

All of the following images of The Boathouse are from Pickard Chilton.

River Point Plaza

River Point Plaza, where The Boathouse would have been built. (B.U.C. image)

A sunny day at 727 West Madison

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727 West Madison April 2018

727 West Madison on sunny April day in the West Loop.

This is still a fun building to watch, even though the B.U.C. HQ is no longer across the Kennedy. This FitzGerald-designed apartment tower for Fifield Companies and F&F Realty will rise to 44 floors before all is said and done. That’s Lendlease out there doing the heavy lifting.

727 West Madison will deliver 492 new apartments with 375 parking spaces to the Greektown section of the West Loop. The tower will share amenities with the Crowne Plaza Hotel next door, upon whose former parking lot its being erected. It is expected to open late in 2018.

Do soil sampling rigs signal the start of Equis of Old Town?

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No. No they do not. Permits would signal the beginning of Equis of Old Town. But soil sampling rigs are a great sign. Heck, one is a good sign. Two must mean the condominiums on the former site of Noble Horse Theater and Stables are very close to beginning.

LG Development Group (Illume Chicago, The Ronsley) is bringing 1, 2, and 3-bedroom condos and residences, 175 units in total, to the now vacant lot bounded by Sedgwick, Schiller, and Orleans Streets. There are no permits yet, so we don’t know when construction will actually begin, but this is one to keep an eye on.