Darn Near Done: 369 West Grand

Posted on March 22, 2021 by danieldschell

The 369 Grand Opening is fast approaching. See what I did there?

369 Grand, the 41-story, 365-unit apartment building developed by Onni Group in River North, is on the verge of welcoming tenants. Designed by Brininstool + Lynch, the tower will also provide parking for 250 cars, and include ground-floor retail space.

For more on the opening, let’s welcome Urbanize Chicago to the city, and check out their story before we roll the photos of 369 Grand as she stands today, and a few construction shots.

: 369 West Grand

: First Glass Post for 369 West Grand.

1454 West Randolph will deliver 242 new apartments to West Town

Posted on March 18, 2021 by danieldschell

1454 West Randolph is the second of Marquette Companies‘ apartment developments currently testing the boundaries of what I think of as the West Loop. Yes, West Town may be more suitable for this one, as it’s located west of Ogden Avenue. But I shamelessly admit the West Loop is my favorite of Chicago neighborhoods, even though it’s not one of our official community areas.

1454 West Randolph will be an 11-story, 242-unit apartment building. Brininstool + Lynch is the design architect. Power Construction is the general contractor. Marquette plans to welcome tenants early next year.

1400 West Randolph is on its way up in the far-off West Loop

Posted on March 17, 2021 by danieldschell

1400 West Randolph will deliver 278 apartments to the far reaches of the West Loop.

Marquette Companies has a pair of residential developments under construction at the outer reaches of the West Loop. This one, 1400 West Randolph, should make quite a statement when rises to its full 26-story height.

1400 West Randolph is situated on the corner of Randolph and Ogden. It 278 rental units (studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments) and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Construction has been underway since last year, when foundation, tower crane and full-build permits were all issued.

Brininstool + Lynch is the design architect.

Below you’ll see progress photos from December 2020 and March 2021 visits. That’s Power Construction on the build. Marquette plans an early 2022 opening.

369 West Grand starts glassing up the joint

Posted on February 17, 2020 by danieldschell

First Glass Post for 369 West Grand.

Last time I walked by 369 West Grand, I caught a milestone; Onni Group was jumping the tower crane. And here it is another week, and another milestone achievement for the Canadian developer/builder: the first few pains of glass have been installed for the tower’s curtain wall.

As is almost always the case, I have photos to prove it:

Checking out U. of C.’s David M. Rubenstein Forum in Woodlawn (corrected)

Posted on February 4, 2020 by danieldschell

We have a winner for Most Unique Construction Project in Chicago right now.

The David M. Rubenstein Forum is being built by the University of Chicago on its Hyde Park campus. **Most of the campus may be in Hyde Park, but this particular project is south of the Midway Plaisance, placing it in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Sorry, my mistake.** It’s part Jenga tower, part shipping container park. There’s a lot of concrete, a ton of glass, and when it’s finished, it will have lots of ways for U of C students to utilize it.

The school describes it, in part, this way:

The ground floor includes the main lobby and a restaurant, with stairs leading to the building’s largest multipurpose event space, capable of accommodating groups up to 600. Immediately above the base is a 285-seat auditorium. The top floor of the tower features a flat-floor multipurpose space, which can accommodate meetings of 75 and other events.

The Rubenstein Forum is a collaboration between design architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro out of NYC, and Chicago’s own Brininstool + Lynch. On the build is Turner Construction. I’m grateful to them for the Facebook photo of the tower cranes included in the photo gallery. (The bird joke is theirs, not mine.) I didn’t get down to Hyde Park when they were still in the air.

If you click on all those links I’ve provided above, not only will you find everything you need to know about the Rubenstein Forum, but you’ll also see a ton of great renderings, plus some stellar drone footage.

: Turner Construction tower cranes.

369 West Grand jumps the tower crane

Posted on February 3, 2020 by danieldschell

The sun (THE SUN!) was shining on 369 West Grand Sunday.

Tower cranes are cool. Putting them up is cool, and even taking them down is cool. But the coolest phase of tower cranedom might be The Jump.

Onni Group has a tower crane out at 369 West Grand, and Sunday they were adding sections to it. Guess what? I snapped a few shots.

369 West Grand progressing in River North

Posted on January 8, 2020 by danieldschell

369 West Grand is a 41-story, 365-unit apartment building going up on the site of the former Clark & Barlow Hardware store and Grand Avenue and Orleans Street in River North. It is being developed by Onni Group, the Canadian developer also currently working on the Old Town Park project. Onni also built The Hudson, a residential tower about six blocks north of 369 West Grand. Designed by Brininstool + Lynch, the tower’s podium will provide parking for 250 cars, and include ground-floor retail space.

: Brininstool + Lynch rendering

: Brininstool + Lynch rendering

: Brininstool + Lynch rendering

Onni lights up a tower crane over Old Town Park

Posted on December 11, 2019 by danieldschell

“Onni” is Vancouverian for “It’s lit”

You never tell your children one of them is your favorite. That’s Parenting 101. It’s equally dangerous to announce personal affection for any one particular tower crane. But in a city where lighting tower cranes doesn’t really seem to be a thing, Onni Group once again shines through with their workhorse high overhead at Old Town Park Tower III. Watch for it next time you ride a Purple or Brown Line train between Chicago Avenue and Sedgwick. It’s pretty darn close to the tracks, so look up, or better yet, ride in the rear car and watch out the back window.

Onni’s put on this show before, not only at previous phases of Old Town Park, but also a few blocks away at The Hudson. They’re also working at 369 West Grand, but I forgot to look west from the train to see if that tower crane was glowing as well. Someone let me know, please?

180 North Ada starts climbing toward 14 stories in the far-West Loop

Posted on June 6, 2018 by danieldschell

Power Construction has driven 180 North Ada up above street level over in the far-west reaches of the West Loop. Granted, that’s only two stories of the 14-story, 263-unit apartment building Brininstool + Lynch has designed for the site. But we all know once groundwork is complete and a project starts going vertical, progress flies. So this is big progress.

180 North Ada is starting to poke up out of the ground

Posted on April 24, 2018 by danieldschell

Power Construction has everything they need to send 180 North Ada vertical.

Our late-April tour of all things West Loop next takes us to the far west end of the neighborhood, where Power Construction is starting to go vertical on 180 North Ada. This 14-story, 263-unit apartment building from Marquette Companies replaces the empty lot at Lake and Ada Streets. Brininstool + Lynch designed the tower, which got its foundation permit back in December, a tower-crane permit in February, and finally, its full-build permit on the 16th of this month.