One Grant Park pushes upward into Thursday’s fog.
That headline isn’t meant to be a play on developer Crescent Heights’ name; it is only to say that One Grant Park is going to be really tall.
We’re still awaiting the arrival of the first pieces of curtain wall to the exterior of the Rafael Viñoly Architects creation at 1200 South Indiana, McHugh Construction keeps stacking floors on top of each other, on their way to 76 levels in total. We’ve captured photographic evidence, naturally.
There’s a gorgeous new rendering of The Paragon Chicago at theparagonchicago.com
1326 South Michigan is now The Paragon Chicago!
That news was delivered to us this evening by Murphy Development Group, which hinted about a name change for the SCB-designed tower way back in August, then kept us in suspense until now. This was the second big news we got Thursday about 1326 South Michigan, the first being the discovery of all that new glass on the front facade.
That glass, plus the height the core has risen to, proves Walsh Construction has been busy in the South Loop this winter. The 47-story Paragon Chicago, a co-development from Murphy and CIM Group, will deliver 500 luxury apartments to the neighborhood. “Luxury” means you should expect all the high-end amenities today’s rental construction demands, including an outdoor deck with swimming pool, a dog park, fitness center, cabanas, grill stations, and a library. The 47th floor will also include a fitness center overlooking Lake Michigan, and an entertainment room.
You’re going to have to wait a little while before moving your stuff in though; The Paragon Chicago is slated for a Spring 2019 opening. Be patient though; it sure looks like it will be worth the wait.
Now, let’s get you some photos, from a very foggy Chicago morning, of what The Big Green W has been doing these last few months…
A quick L ride to the South Loop and back revealed a couple new developments (no pun intended) in Chicago’s tower crane landscape on Tuesday. The crane building No. 508 (508 West Diversey) in Lake View was being taken down, and the crane at Ancora at Riverline (720 South Wells) in the South Loop has also begun its final descent.
Sorry I have no photos of the dis-assemblage for now. My phone was ready at Diversey as our train stopped at the platform, but a perfectly-timed northbound Brown Line train blocked my view. As for Ancora, that one surprised me as we went around the bend off Wells Street onto Van Buren. The least I can do is remind you what those two tower cranes looked like when they were still in service.
No. 508 back in August. Macon Construction still has one tower crane in Chicago, at Hayden West Loop.
Ancora at Riverline in December. Lendlease has plenty more around town.
You don’t need to me to tell you about the progress McHugh Construction is making with Renelle on the River; just tune in to the bKL Architecture Twitter feed at this link right here.
Of course, I took a few shots, from ground level, too; you can see them now.
It has been occurring to me more and more over the last couple of weeks how much I miss Australia. No doubt this Chicago weather has something to do with that, but by golly, what a joyous trip that was.
I returned Stateside with photo files of 75+ construction sites and individual buildings/skyscrapers. The building boom Down Under is real, and it is spectacular. You may have noticed “some” overage of it on these pages near the end of 2017. In case you need a refresher, click the links for posts from the following cities:
Aurora Melbourne.
Lendlease had seven tower cranes in the air at Darling Square in Sydney.
Brisbane Skytower on the right; the completed Abian Botanic Gardens on the left.
The 5-crane masterpiece that is Jewel Residences, on the beach in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.
This shiny new tower crane recently debuted above 61 East Banks in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
There’s been a lot of activity out at 61 East Banks since we went by the site in December. Caisson work is a distant memory, and Chicago’s newest tower crane looms above the future 8-story, 60-unit apartment development. Pretty sure this is Chicago’s 33rd tower crane of 2018 (remember, we started the year with 30 already in the sky.)
61 East Banks is a project from Draper & Kramer, with designs from Booth Hansen. Leopardo Companies (sure, you know them. They’re building their new offices over at 210 North Carpenter) is the general contractor. You may notice McHugh Construction signage on the tower crane; that’s because McHugh is the concrete subcontractor, and therefore responsible for assembly of the crane.
Old Glory waves triumphantly at the foot of 727 West Madison in the West Loop.
It’s only reached about half of its eventual height, and already 727 West Madison is cutting quite a figure along the Kennedy Expressway in Greektown. The FitzGerald-designed apartment tower, like most under-construction skyscrapers, is best seen on a sunny day, and that was the case on Tuesday when we strolled over to the West Loop for a peek.
This gallery contains 12 photos.
Vista Tower continues to rise along the Chicago River.
We’re long overdue for a few shots of the progress McHugh Construction is making at Vista Tower. This thing has grown like mad since our last visit. Sorry to have missed so much. Without further ado, here are the latest shots from the soon-to-be 94-story hotel-and-residential combination.
And don’t miss out on the newly-updated Earthcam shots from Lake Point Tower. You’ll want to check it out at night, for sure.
The tower crane at No. 9 Walton is slowly lowering itself to the ground, one segment at a time.
If you thought No. 9 Walton at 9 West Walton Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood topped out months ago, and that it seemed strange how long that hammerhead tower crane remained aloft, you were on to something. While we can’t confirm anything, we’ve got our suspicions that the $58.5 million sale for the top four floors may have had something to do with the longevity of the crane. (Dennis Rodkin over at Crain’s Chicago had the scoop back in January.)
The stub was planted at No. 9 Walton in March of 2016, after getting its permit on the first of February. By my calculations, that’s about two years ago. That’s a long time for a tower crane to be on a job site, especially one that’s “only” 38 stories high.
No. 9 Walton is a project from JDL Develoment. You may recall hearing that JDL’s president and founder, James Letchinger, had set aside a unit in this tower for himself. That’s a pretty good indication he’s paid very close attention to every facet of its construction.
The design was by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. Lendlease handled the GC duties.
Expect No. 9 Walton to be open in 2018.
Building Up Chicago 