Demolition of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center is ongoing at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street along the North Branch of the Chicago River. Brandenburg Industrial Service continues carving a cavernous chasm toward the building’s northwest corner, but now they’ll also tearing into the south end of the facility as well.
Here, have a whole mess o’ photos, taken October 26, 2024:
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Demolition of the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center continues on the West Side.
I wasn’t going to post more Chicago Tribune Freedom Center demolition photos this soon, since I just published a bunch of them last week, but there were rainbows…
The west side of the building is history. These were taken late in the afternoon on 09/18/2024:
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By now, you know that Bally’s is building a casino along the Chicago River at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street. And you also know that’s where the Chicago Tribune printing operation used to be. So I’m not going to waste your time with a bunch of words. Instead, here are photos of demolition progress on the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, taken September 10, 2024.
Chicago Tribune Freedom Center demolition, 09/10/2024
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The Chicago Tribune Freedom Center got four demolition permits on August 26, 2024.
Not just one, but four demolition permits were issued Monday for 651 West Chicago Avenue, or what used to be the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center at Chicago Avenue, Halsted Street, and the Chicago River. A long metal building at 700 West Erie Street on the site that formerly hosted a U-Haul rental facility was torn down earlier this month. Brandenburg Industrial Services is the demolition contractor for the casino project.
The final edition of the Chicago Tribune to be printed at this location hit the streets in May. Work has been ongoing inside the facility since to prep for demolition, making way for Bally’s Chicago Casino to get underway. Time is of the essence; the new casino is expected to be open before the end of 2026. All those bricks to be salvaged? I wonder if they’ll truck them off site and sort them when there’s more time.
Prep work for demolition in July.
The permits issued Monday divide the demolition into four sections: the warehouse, high-bay storage and office space, the railway dock, and the northwest addition. There’s some sort of ceremony scheduled for Tuesday to get the (wrecking) ball rolling, per Alderman Reilly’s newsletter from last week. Had I been invited and told how to dress for the occasion, I might pick up some info on which section will be demolished first.
Anyway, there are good vantage points to watch this one. Halsted Street and Chicago Avenue both have enough elevation to get a good look at demo work (though you’ll have to stand on your tiptoes to see over the construction fence) or set sail u the North Branch and watch from the river. Your call.
via Chicago Data Portalvia Chicago Data Portalvia Chicago Data Portalvia Chicago Data PortalDemolition of 700 West Erie, August 13, 2024.
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Brandenburg tears into the former U-Haul facility at 700 West Erie for the Bally’s Casino development.
It isn’t likely I’ll make any casino jokes today, but I wouldn’t roulette out. You can bet I’ve got photos to show that demolition has begun at 700 West Erie in West Town, though. The City of Chicago issued a demolition permit for the single-story metal shed (a looooong shed, but it looks like a shed) that was most recently home to a U-Haul dealer on August 2. It didn’t take long to get started. This is the first demolition permit issued in preparation for the sprawling Bally’s Casino development where the Chicago River meets Chicago Avenue and Hasted Street.
The big permit, of course, will be for the Tribune Freedom center on the northeast corner of this property, where interior demo has already begun after the Chicago Tribune printed its final edition there in May. That will be a BIG demo to watch. So many bricks. And don’t even get me started on the construction we’re going to get to watch here soon. And across Chicago Avenue from this. And across the Chicago River from that. Stock up on snacks.
For now, Brandenburg Industrial Service Company is tearing down the the U-Haul building. Here’s a look. The first photos were taken August 8, after the permit had been issued, but before demolition work had begun. The rest were taken August 13.
Before demolition began, August 8, 2024.Could use this around the house.Taggers’ paradise, pre-demolition. Tuesday, August 13 (today)
February 27 saw a total of 13 demolition permits issued for buildings owned by Rush University Medical Center that had been previously used to house students. The buildings, all on the north side of the street in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of West Harrison Street, were soon torn into by Brandenburg Industrial Service. Sure, I may have looked out the window a time or two in that direction, but a real visit this past weekend yielded nothing but rubble.
According to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business back in 2015, Rush has plans for a 9-story, 620,000-square-foot outpatient center on the site. But of course those plans could have changed in the year-and-a-half interim.
Of note in the midst of the rubble is one building that remains at the east end of the demolition area, still standing, yet surrounded by construction fence. Air conditioners galore make it look lived-in, but with all those barriers, that doesn’t seem possible. But will that structure remain?
The dramatic video above, taken from a Monday morning Purple Line train, lives as proof that Brandenburg Industrial Service crews ain’t wasting a minute reducing 145 South Wells Street to waste. Approved for demolition Thursday of last week, the four-story parking garage is being pummeled out of existence to make room for a new 20-story office tower from Moceri + Roszak. (You can see a whole boatload of renderings of the new building by following ^^ that link to their website.)
As they did for Linea at 215 West Lake Street, Thomas Roszak Architecture handled the design for 145 South Wells, which is being billed as more than 200,000 square feet of “boutique loft offices.”
A rendering from Thomas Roszak Architects of the future 145 South Wells.
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