First Visit: Project H.O.O.D. is building a community center in Woodlawn

Posted on May 2, 2024 by danieldschell

The Robert R. McCormick Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center under construction.

Project H.O.O.D., established in 2012 by Pastor Corey Brooks, is going all out to provide the Woodlawn Community Area with a new state-of-the-art community center.

The Robert R. McCormick Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center will be a three-story, 85,000-square-foot mixed-use facility at the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and 66th Street in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The center, which broke ground in Fall 2023, will include an auditorium, a gym with an indoor swimming pool, plus multiple restaurants and a bank in its retail spaces.

New Beginnings Community Development Corporation is listed on the permits as the developer of the center. LR Contracting is the general contractor; Goebel Forming is the concrete contractor. BNMO Design is the design architect. Construction is expected to take 24 to 36 months. That means the center could be open by the end of 2025.

So far, permits received, with the address of 6623 South Martin Luther King Drive, have been issued for:
The full build on 09/08/2023
the tower crane on 09/13/2023
another full build changing the electrical contractor on 02/02/2024
the fire alarm system on 03/28/2024

Photos taken 05/01/2024:

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

Chicago begins May 2024 with 9 tower cranes in the air

Posted on May 1, 2024 by danieldschell

A pair of new luffers at UChicago Cancer Center in Hyde Park.

Chicago began May 2024 with 9 tower cranes operating on construction sites around the city. Nine tower cranes isn’t very many for Chicago, but it happens. The good news is, we’ve got a few on the way: at 220 North Ada (real soon), 400 Lake Shore (mid-May?), and maybe 1723 South Michigan (permit pending, but that’s just an idle, empty lot right now.)

More good news is that the Chicago Plan Commission will consider four projects at their next meeting — May 16 — that, if approved, will all require tower cranes: 700 West Chicago (multiple cranes over a multi-phase build?), 2031 North Kingsbury (355-unit apartment tower), 370 North Carpenter (29-story apartment tower), and 400 North Elizabeth (two towers, 724 total units.)

As for the nine we *do* have:

Four are building medical facilities (two at UChicago Cancer Center, one at Illinois Masonic,
and one at 4822 South Cottage Grove (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)
One parking garage (O’Hare Terminal Five)
One Cultural Center (Obama Presidential Center)
One community center (Project H.O.O.D.)
One Life Sciences facility (Hyde Park Labs)
One office building – 919 West Fulton

Community Areas represented:
Hyde Park – 3 (Hyde Park Labs and 2 at UChicago Cancer Center)
Woodlawn – 2 (Obama Presidential Center and Project H.O.O.D.)
O’Hare – 1 (Terminal 5 Parking Garage)
Lake View – 1 (Illinois Masonic)
Near West Side – 1 (919 West Fulton)
Grand Boulevard – 1 (Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center)

Here they are in pictorial form, from south to north:

Project H.O.O.D., 6623 South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard

The Obama Presidential Center, 6001 South Stony Island Avenue

UChicago Cancer Center South Crane, 5644 South Drexel Avenue

UChicago Cancer Center North Tower Crane, 5644 South Drexel Avenue

Hyde Park Labs, 5201 South Harper Avenue

Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center, 4822 South Cottage Grove Avenue

919 West Fulton (permitted as 217 North Sangamon Street)

Illinois Masonic, 900 West Nelson Street

O’Hare International Airport Terminal 5 Parking Garage

An ugly Lincoln Park lot finally gets a construction permit

Posted on April 29, 2024 by danieldschell

This is exactly what we talked about wanting to avoid on Sunday. A building gets demolished, then the lot sits empty for weeks or months or years before something new comes along. Such was the case at 2745 North Bosworth in the Lincoln Park Community Area. A demolition permit was issued here in December of 2021. I can’t say when exactly demolition work occurred, but the look of the lot (anyone need a double sink?), the overgrowth, the ragged fencing, tells me it’s been empty for far too long.

But not for much longer. On Tuesday April 23, a New Construction permit was issued by the City of Chicago for a three-story, two-unit building at 2745 North Bosworth. There will be a basement, as well as a detached two-car garage with a roof deck. But most importantly, there *won’t* be this eyesore of an empty lot.

The permit lists Bachula Development as the general contractor and Helen Liptak as the architect. Work, hopefully, will begin soon.

1450 West School Street gets a demo, new build permit within a week

Posted on April 28, 2024 by danieldschell

Demolition has begun at 1450 West School Street in Lake View.

You hate to see a building torn down, only for the resulting lot to remain vacant for weeks, months, and even years. Fortunately, that looks like it won’t be the case at 1450 West School Street in Lake View.

Two-unit buildings aren’t generally my theme here — I doubt this one will need a tower crane — but it was nice to see a New Construction permit issued the same week as the demolition permit. So I figured I’d go take a quick look. Plus I was in the neighborhood.

1450 West School is already being demolished, but just barely. Naturally, demo contractor Tir Conaill Concrete (they’re also listed as a masonry contractor for the new construction) is working from the rear, towards the front, and they’ve just gotten started on the residential structure; the garage is gone. The demo permit for both was issued Tuesday, April 23.

The permit for the new three-story, 2-unit home was issued just three days later, on April 26. V & M Development is listed as the general contractor. The permit calls for a detached two-car garage, plus two wood decks; one atop the garage, and one at the rear of the first floor.

Wish I had renderings for the new place, but I’ll assume two things: 1. That these will be condos. And 2. That this will be brick. Because why wouldn’t they be brick, and the inclusion of two masonry contractors. Though to be honest, I have no idea whether that correlates to how the building is constructed.

Photos from Saturday, April 27:

That looks like a wrap on caisson work at 400 Lake Shore

Posted on April 25, 2024 by danieldschell

It looks like caisson work is complete for the North Tower at 400 Lake Shore. Lots of equipment being loaded up on trucks, no more caissons (or precious few) still poking up out of the ground, no caissons being drilled. You know, all the tell-tale signs.

There are a whole bunch o’ steel sheets waiting to be driven into the ground, with some already in place right next to the cofferdam. (Note: It seems cliché at this point to refer to the cofferdam as “The Old Chicago Spire Hole.” I’m going to miss that name.) According to Alderman Reilly’s email to constituents and anyone else who wants to read it last week, those could very well be “tower crane sheeting.” So yeah, this *might* be an indication that the tower crane (or one of them? Still don’t know) will be right next to the old Spire Ho—sorry. Next to the cofferdam.

In fact, here are all the 400 Lake Shore-prudent tidbits from the alderman’s email:

Week of 4/22:

Continue Installation of tower crane sheeting
Demobilization of caisson equipment
Delivery of mobile crane for concrete operations
Begin excavation of site at Ogden slip and under inbound LSD ramp
Begin installation of concrete walls inside the cofferdam

Week of 4/29:

Continue excavation at Ogden slip
Begin installation of concrete walls inside cofferdam
Begin pouring of cofferdam walls and tower crane foundation

This may shock you, but I took a few photos while I was visiting on Thursday, April 25. They kinda look like a sandbox full of toys. Really cool toys. Here’s proof:

919 West Fulton continues trending upward in the West Loop

Posted on April 24, 2024 by danieldschell

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A post shared by Skender (@skenderbuild)

An overhead view of 919 West Fulton from Skender on Instagram.

As you can see from Skender’s Instagram post above, Fulton Street Companies‘ latest development, 919 West Fulton, an 11-story office building in the heart of the West Loop/Fulton Market District, continues its progress. All work is above street level now.

Photos were taken Monday, April 22:

Little remains of Ryan Field. So let’s get ready for construction

Posted on April 22, 2024 by danieldschell

A neighbor’s perspective of Ryan Field demolition.

There’s talk in Chicago about building a new football stadium (for the Bears.) There’s also talk in Chicago about building a new baseball stadium (for the White Sox.) Truth is, we might see one or the other, or we might not see either of them. To be honest, I only care about watching construction, not if either team gets new digs.

What we do know, for sure, is that Northwestern University is building a new football stadium up in Evanston. And let me assure you, I plan to photograph the HECK out of that construction. I was in Pittsburgh when both Heinz Field and PNC Park (ask me about the two-way mirrors in the men’s room) were built, but I didn’t even have a camera then, much less an interest in chronicling the construction process. I’m not missing out on this one. And we’ll just have to wait and see what happens for the Bears and Sox.

There isn’t much left to see up at Ryan Field. Even the goal posts are gone now, along with (what I thought was) that gorgeous willow tree that stood right inside the main construction entrance. It’s firewood now. The tree, not the entrance. They’re also grinding up the parking lots, so it’s like demolition and road construction in one project.

Alpine Demolition. thank you for your hard work. You did indeed Knock It Down. Turner Construction, The Big Green W, and Central Street Consortium, I’ll see you again soon for construction. Maybe even the groundbreaking ceremony?

Anyway, here are likely my last photos of demolition at Ryan Field, taken Monday, April 22. I knew there wasn’t much left to see when I headed up there, so I convinced myself not to spend too much time and take too many shots. I took 120….

Glass goes up, tower crane comes down, at 633 South LaSalle

Posted on April 8, 2024 by danieldschell

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A post shared by Carl Simmons (@life_in_da_rustbelt)

Carl, working high atop the South Loop, taking down the tower crane.

There’s glass, but alas, the tower crane has passed. And so 633 South LaSalle attains a couple milestones of progress.

Friday and Saturday were the crane-removal days, as you can see in Carl’s Instagram video above (give him a LIKE). That’s Central Contractors Service’s rig out there wrapping up the dismantling. As for glass installation, that’s been going on for a couple weeks now.

As a reminder: Q Investment Partners and Melrose Ascension Capital are adding 358 beds (apartments and co-living units) to the South Loop, next to Metra’s LaSalle Street station. As long as all goes to plan from here on out, those beds should be sleep-in-able early in 2025.

Photos were taken on the second day of crane removal, April 6:

Two Questions at 400 Lake Shore

Posted on April 3, 2024 by danieldschell

These caissons are awfully far from the pit of despair.

Question #1. Are we getting two tower cranes here?

Question #2. There are a few caissons well to the south of the Spire hole. Is the footprint of the North Tower that large? Or are some of the caissons for the South Tower being drilled now?

Photos were taken March 29, 2024:

400 Lake Shore North Tower construction — II In One Contractors rig

Chicago University Collegiate Institute of the Art of Architectural Criticism graduates 78,000 more architecture critics for Class of 2024

Posted on April 1, 2024 by danieldschell

Tower cranes in the West Loop erecting buildings this year’s CUCIAAC graduates will hate.

This weekend, the Chicago University Collegiate Institute of the Art of Architectural Criticism on the city’s far northeast side will graduate its largest class of seniors since the pre-pandemic era. While most graduates, the majority of them having earned a degree in Constructive Criticism, will attend ceremonies in person, not all are welcome at the off-campus festivities, as they’re either too tall (or not tall enough) for the neighborhood, or simply don’t fit in with their surroundings. Of course, any student deemed too dense won’t be graduating at all.

Ima Haeder, Dean of Education at the CUCIAAC, laments the current lack of architecture critics in Chicago. “Sadly, only 67% of our population are qualified to nitpick every little detail of Chicago’s designed environment. Without this year’s graduating class, that percentage would easily have plummeted closer to 66%. We need our students to be out of the classroom and into the online forums and community meetings, where their input and expertise can be heard by anyone with internet access who thinks they know what good design should look like. Besides, I’m getting really tired of listening to them complain about the dorms” he added.

“Well, would you want to live here?” one graduate, who didn’t want us to use his name until he had his diploma in hand, responded to the dean’s comment. “It’s like no thought at all was put into this place. Even the cafeteria is lame. Have you gotten coffee there? Those cobalt mugs are horrible. Do you even know what cobalt mugs are? Blue glasses! Blue glasses! Why is everything blue glass!?” he went on, eliciting high fives and bro-hugs from classmates.

As has been the case for most school years, graduates will remain in their seats to receive diplomas rather than walking up on stage, since the podium is ugly and most feel it should be covered in an entirely different material, or hidden completely underground. The Institute is also warning the public to arrive early because there isn’t enough parking, and traffic congestion in this area is already a major problem.