Essex On The Park is starting to rise alongside its mother ship, the Essex Inn.
One floor at a time, Essex On The Park is starting to show itself along the Michigan Avenue Streetwall in the South Loop. Of course, we ain’t seen nothing yet. What’s pictured is merely a fraction of the eventual 56 stories that will house 476 new apartments. And that’s a good thing. It means we have lots of progress still to come, lots of watching still to do.
The Wabash Arts Corridor gets the bulk of the attention, but hovering over Wabash Avenue like superheroes are a number of Chicago’s working tower cranes. Yes, the South Loop is booming with development. Just like every other section of the downtown area.
There are only two good times to view construction: when there’s daylight, and when it’s dark. Here are some night shots of South Loop construction along and near Wabash Avenue.
Essex On The Park will be a 56-story, 476-unit apartment tower to the immediate south of the existing Essex Inn hotel. Power Construction is the general contractor. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect, with Oxford Capital Group the developer.
The Homewood Hilton Suites will be a 30-story, 281-room hotel. Lendlease is the general contractor. Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture is the design architect. S.B. Yen Management Group is the developer.
Eleven40 will be a 26-story, 320-unit apartment tower, which may or may not be topped out now. Work has for sure reached the 26th floor. Lendlease is the general contractor. Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the design architect. CA Ventures and Keith Giles are the co-developers.
East of Michigan Avenue but too close to exclude, One Grant Park will be a 76-story, 792-unit apartment behemoth with a possible future tower next door. James McHugh Construction is the general contractor. Rafael Viñoly Architects is the design architect. Crescent Heights is the developer.
1326 South Michigan is the New Kid On The Corridor, and there isn’t much to see yet of this future 47-story, 500-unit apartment tower. Walsh Construction is the general contractor. Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the design architect. CIM Group and Murphy Development Group are the developers.
1407 On Michigan will be a 15-story, 199-unit apartment building, with a Rush Primary Aid Specialty Care center on the ground floor. Lendlease (they’re really busy down here) is the general contractor. BKV Group is the design architect; Russland Capital Group is the developer. It, too, is very close to topping out.
Essex On The Park is beginning its climb into the Michigan Avenue skyline.
Essex On The Park raised a tower crane earlier this month, and now work has begun going vertical along Michigan Avenue in the South Loop. Power Construction has 56 stories to stack atop each other, so there’s a whole lot of work to do. But that’s what tower cranes are for, right? Wait and see; this thing will be topped out in no time.
A few reminders for you as Essex On The Park begins to rise: It’s a development from Oxford Capital Group. It’s designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. As previously mentioned, Power Construction is the general contractor. 808 South Michigan Avenue is the address. There will be 476 apartments, 84 parking spots, and some ground-floor retail space. Oxford plans to have the apartment tower open to residents in 2019.
Monday morning, crews began lowering the tower crane at 625 West Adams.
I’m not very good at math, so let’s slow things down a tad this morning. As you may know, the B.U.C. HQ is in the process of relocating, consolidating into the South Loop Bureau. That means far more attention has been paid to taping and painting walls, packing belongings, and mislabeling boxes, than to construction. And it looks like we’ve missed quite a bit over the past week or so.
As for that vague “30s” tower crane count, I think we’re at 32. We’ve lost two cranes this week, as 625 West Adams and the Apple Store are both on their way down, and we’ve gained one, as Essex On The Park now has a Crane On The Count. (33-2+1=32.) But until I can find which box I packed my compass, crayons, and Kodachrome, I won’t be confirming that for awhile.
That leaves Nobu on the clock. Anyone walk by this week?
The Yellow Street Crane of Doom was dismantling the Apple Store tower crane Wednesday morning, just before the weather took a turn.
The Essex On The Park tower crane is up and lifting heavy stuff.
A swarm of activity at Essex On The Park as the concrete flows freely.
Monday is Concrete Day for Essex On The Park, as Power Construction crews spend the day between the holiday weekend and the actual holiday pouring concrete into the foundation for the new 56-story apartment tower from Oxford Capital Group. And of course, we’re not talking about little bits of concrete. We’re talking trucks lined up down the street, waiting to get their pour on.
One segment of the concrete being poured today is the foundation for the tower crane. The stub was planted almost two weeks ago, sitting there looking all lonely. But now it will have a home, and the crane can be fully assembled, and soon (we hope.) If it goes up before any other cranes come down, it will be #34 on the Chicago Tower Crane Survey.
Essex On The Park has a Stub In The Ground.
Chicago’s tower-crane count is back down to 32, and Essex On The Park won’t stand for it. Thursday, Power Construction planted a stub in the South Loop ground. Surrounded for now by rebar, the foundation will soon (today?) be filled with concrete, which will cure before the full tower crane can be assembled. Let’s watch the middle part of next week for that.
Time to dismantle the caisson rig and let the sheet driver get at it.
Case Foundation is done, and now it’s Stalworth Underground’s turn, as foundation work at Essex On The Park continues in the South Loop. With all the big holes drilled into the earth, up next comes the piles of sheeting stacked in the southwest corner of the site, and then Essex can get a tower crane moved in. I hope.
The brand new crane at the Wicker Park Connection Monday evening.
Turns out, tracking tower cranes in Chicago can be exhausting.
Tuesday, the crane was coming down from Optima II.
We were at 31 Sunday with the loss of 1001 West Chicago’s crane, but then 1101 South Wabash had its crane in the air, but under (my) radar, and the Wicker Park Connection, which had planted a stub, finished its crane. That made 33. For, like, an hour. Because yesterday I noticed the luffing crane coming down from atop Optima II in Streeterville. (That crane seemed to be there for about 9 years, didn’t it?)
Long story longer, I believe there are now 32 active tower cranes in Chicago. *This is an unscientific poll.
Remember, there are stubs planted at One South Halsted and the Cook County Central Campus Health Center that should be up and running soon. Essex On The Park, Aloft Chicago Mag Mile, and Nobu have been issued crane permits. But 3Eleven, the Landmark West Loop, and (I think?) 171 Aberdeen have topped out, so we could lose those cranes any day now.
Maybe in the next few days, we can speculate about which just-underway or soon-to-be-started projects will require tower cranes. You know, McDonald’s “vendor village”, Hoxton Hotel, 808 West Van Buren, and the like. What about 508 West Diversey? That’s 12 stories. Yeah, this seems like a conversation for another day.
Like a 4th-line forward in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Case Foundation goes to work in the corners at Essex On The Park.
Two weeks ago, Case Foundation started moving equipment onto the lot at 808 South Michigan Avenue, next to the Essex Inn. And now, they’re deep into full-blown caisson work for the new Essex On The Park apartment tower from Oxford Capital Group. Soon, the 56-story, 476-unit project by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture will have footing to stand on, allowing Power Construction to get about the task of sending it vertical.
Case Foundation assembles a caisson rig at Essex On The Park, 808 South Michigan Avenue.
The pool, garage, and everything else that was next door to the Essex Inn is gone now, and work is revving up to replace it with Essex On The Park, the latest Chicago project from Oxford Capital Group.
The City of Chicago issued a foundation permit on Monday, and Case Foundation is now on the scene (you thought I was gonna say “on the case, didn’t you?) setting up caisson equipment. Power Construction is the general contractor here, tasked with stacking 56 stories atop one another. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture did the design work on the 476-unit apartment tower.
The South Loop is a very busy place. Essex On The Park joins One Grant Park, 1411 South Michigan, and 1101 South Wabash as already-in-progress joints, while 1326 South Michigan just received a foundation permit as well this week, and there’s lots of buzz about 1000 South Michigan (1000M) firing up soon. Get the lawn chairs and coolers ready, SLoopers. It’s going to be a fun summer!
Building Up Chicago 