Construction begins on 101-Unit Evanston TOD

1571 Maple Evanston

This rendering from Hirsch Associates depicts 1571 Maple from the CTA tracks, looking west on Davis Street.

It’s important, when visiting Edzo’s in Evanston, to make sure the staff isn’t on vacation before jumping on a Metra train to the northern suburbs. Oh well. At least there was a construction site to check out.

Work has just started on the Hirsch Associates Architects-designed TOD Centrum Evanston. Evanston has TODs, right? Because this would certainly qualify, situated as it is at the south end of the Davis Street Metra UP-N line, and the Davis Street CTA Purple Line station. The 12-story development from Centrum Partners (Centrum and Hirsch have teamed up before, most recently on the office/residential buildings at Hubbard and Wells in River North) will have 101 apartments, and 3,100 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Novak Construction is on the build. Completion is expected in early 2017.

Site Prep Underway at Centrum Hubbard

First the cars were kicked out of the parking lot. Then the fencing went up. Then the Divvy station got kicked to a different curb. And now, there’s scraping and digging going on at 221 West Hubbard (and 412 North Wells, for that matter) in preparation for Centrum Partners’ two-building development in River North.

Designed by Hirsch Associates Architects, 412 North Wells will be a 9-story office building, next to 221 West Hubbard’s 23-story apartment tower.

Linn-Mathes, general contractor for both structures, must be champing at the bit to get going on this lot. It was hoped building permits would be filed around the first of April, but some soil samples turned up negative results, and that set things back awhile. But they’re up and running now. Jump on a Brown or Purple Line train and enjoy the fun.

Lincoln Park Lost Its Edge. Now It’s Getting Schooled.

Altschool

A rendering of Altschool, 2720 North Clark Street, courtesy of Hirsch Associates Architects.

AltSchool’d, that is.

At 2720 North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, Centrum Partners and Hirsch Associates Architects have teamed up for a two-story mixed use project that will be the home of AltSchool, and a Banana Republic Factory Store. (If the Centrum Partners/Hirsch Associates combo sounds familiar, they’re the two responsible for bringing the just-permitted 412 North Wells and 221 West Hubbard project to life.)

AltSchool provides education for pre-kindergarten through 8th-grade students. Chicago will be its fourth location, joining San Francisco, Palo Alto (CA) and New York City.

William A. Randolph Inc. of Gurnee is the general contractor. Construction is expected to be completed in time for the 2017-2018 school year.

 

412 North Wells Joins 221 West Hubbard on the Permit List

412 North Wells

In this rendering from Hirsch Associates, 412 North Wells stands front and center; 221 West Hubbard is to the right.

Last week, the residential tower from Centrum Partners at 221 West Hubbard Street in River North got a permit from the City of Chicago to begin foundation work. And now, officially, that lot at Hubbard and Wells is twice as busy.

Yesterday, a permit was filed for caisson work to get started for the other half of this couple, the 9-story office building at 412 North Wells Street. The two towers, both designs from Howard Hirsch of Hirsch Associates Architecture, were delayed slightly by negative results from soil sampling on the site. But the delay is no more. With permits in hand, general contractor Linn-Mathes can flood that lot with caisson equipment, and get to drilling.

412 North Wells

412 North Wells will curve with the L tracks that pass by.

412 North Wells

The (Caisson) Permit.

221 West Hubbard Gets a Permit

221 West Hubbard

A rendering of 221 West Hubbard (and 412 North Wells) from Hirsch Associates.

This one took awhile.

When last I heard about the proposed office and residential development at 221 West Hubbard Street in River North, it was February. Crews were working in the dirt, and I jumped the gun, assuming construction was ready to begin. It wasn’t. Turns out, soil sampling results were less than ideal, stalling the entire process.

221 West Hubbard

The Permit

I was told it was hopeful a construction permit would be filed for 221 West Hubbard around April 1. And here we are three months later, and finally, the City of Chicago has filed a permit to begin foundation work on the 23-story residential tower portion of the two-structure project.

Designed by Howard Hirsch at Hirsch Associates Architecture, the Centrum Partners development will have 193 apartments in the tower on the west end of the lot at Hubbard Street and Wells, and a 9-story office building with 41,000 rentable square feet on the east end. 91 parking spaces will be included in the residential portion.

For folks getting on and off the Brown and Purple Line trains at the Merchandise Mart, like me, this will be a prime spectating venue as LInn-Mathes, the general contractor, gets to work.