Progress Update: 633 South LaSalle

The 633 South LaSalle construction crane towers over the South Loop.

Some progress photos at 633 South LaSalle, as Clark Construction and Adjustable Concrete Construction continue work on the Berkelhamer-designed 18-story, 117-unit student-living tower in the South Loop.

633 South LaSalle (at long last) puts up a tower crane and rises out of the ground [Corrected]

This post has been corrected to show Q Investment Partners of Singapore as the developer.

The tower crane at 633 South LaSalle in the South Loop.

633 South LaSalle has avoided a forced vacation to Spireville and is now underway in the Printers Row area of the South Loop. The tower crane is up, the core has gone 3-D, and any and all delays — pandemic-related or otherwise — are a thing of the past. Thrilled and relieved to see this one get going.

This will be an 18-story co-living development, consisting of 117 units and 381 beds. Why co-living in the South Loop? Students. Roosevelt University, Columbia College, DePaul, East-West University, etc. Lots of kids need lots of places to stay.

Tip o’the cap to Chicago Cityscape for letting me know the tower crane was up.

Here are the players at 633 South LaSalle:

Clark Construction is the general contractor.
Adjustable Concrete Construction is the concrete contractor.
Berkelhamer is the design architect.
FitzGerald is the architect of record.
Q Investment Partners is the developer.

Was I hallucinating when it came to old permits here? There were a bunch of them, I swear. But now there are only three on the City of Chicago website:

Tower crane, issued 3/24/2023
Caissons, issued 4/25/2023
Full build, issued 6/1/2023

Here are some pics. Some much more compelling pics than the bare lot I’ve visited in recent months:

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

$1.00
$3.00
$6.33

Or enter a custom amount

$

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

Under the last tower crane standing at Big Deahl, 1475 North Kingsbury trends upward

1475 North Kingsbury

The pretty, lighted tower crane at 853 West Blackhawk is gone, but one remains standing at 1475 North Kingsbury, where Power Construction continues erecting a FitzGerald-designed tower for Structured Development, White Oak Realty Partners, and Ponsky Capital Partners.

1475 North Kingsbury will be a 27-story building, with 327 rental apartments, atop a three-level parking podium. Amenities will include a rooftop pool with a view of the Chicago skyline.

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.

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

¤2.00
¤8.53
¤14.75

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

The second tower crane is up at Big Deahl

Power Construction and Central Contractors Service were out in the elements (it was a beautiful day) Thursday erecting the second tower crane at the Big Deahl development. While the first crane builds The Seng and Common Lincoln Park, this second rig will handle the taller task of 1475 North Kingsbury.

Dedicated crane chaser that I am, I stopped by here twice on Thursday to supervise things. As an added bonus, I have a few progress shots of The Seng and Common Lincoln Park too.


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.

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

¤1.00
¤3.00
¤5.00

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

This is an even Bigger Deahl: 1475 North Kingsbury has a tower crane stub

A tower crane stub juts from the ground at 1475 North Kingsbury

1475 North Kingsbury (Blackhawk?) is doing its part to get Chicago another new tower crane. Thursday morning, we found a brand-spankin’-new stub sticking out of the ground. It sure looked by the efforts at the base of the base that the stub had had just been set, but I was too timid to interrupt a very busy crew to get confirmation on its arrival date. The important thing is, it’s there, and the rest of the crane should soon follow.

As we noted in this very space back in April:

1475 North Kingsbury received a caisson permit and a tower crane permit Wednesday, April 6. Designed by FitzGerald, it will be a 27-story tower with 327 rental apartments. Along with Structured Development, two other developers join the team for this one: White Oak Realty Partners, and Ponsky Capital Partners. Ponsky’s website uses the name “Blackhawk” for this one; we’ll see if that moniker sticks. (Reminder: The Seng and Common Lincoln Park are both addressed on Blackhawk Street.)

Next up, photo. The first gallery is from Thursday’s crane discovery. Then you’ll see a batch taken May 1 of the last remnants of caisson work.

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.

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

¤1.00
¤3.00
¤5.00

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

This is another really Big Deahl: 1475 North Kingsbury scores its first two permits

Rendering of 1475 North Kingsbury from FitzGerald.

If it seems like only this morning I shared photos from The Seng and Common Lincoln Park and their early construction progress, that’s be because it was this morning. Then later this morning came the news that The Shops at Big Deahl had two permits to start building another component.

1475 North Kingsbury received a caisson permit and a tower crane permit Wednesday, April 6. Designed by FitzGerald, it will be a 27-story tower with 327 rental apartments. Along with Structured Development, two other developers join the team for this one: White Oak Realty Partners, and Ponsky Capital Partners. Ponsky’s website uses the name “Blackhawk” for this one; we’ll see if that moniker sticks. (Reminder: The Seng and Common Lincoln Park are both addressed on Blackhawk Street.)

As with this morning’s two Big Deahl buildings, Power Construction is the general contractor. Maybe they’ll get started here before the Blackhawk Street tower crane comes down, giving us two tower cranes on the same project. Fingers crossed.

Progress Update: Inspire West Town is a wonder of concrete stalagmites

Took a quick peek at Inspire West Town (670 North May) Monday to see how progress was coming along, and wasn’t disappointed. New growth is shooting up all over. Of course, it *is* spring.

Bond Companies is the developer of this eight-story, 118-unit building, a project designed by FitzGerald, with Global Builders in charge of construction.

Metra and CTA rides, Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

¤1.00
¤3.00
¤5.00

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

Stuff That’s Done: Westerly

The tower crane at Westerly, October 2019

Westerly is an 11-story, 188-unit apartment building at 740 North Aberdeen in River West that welcomed its first tenants in Fall 2020.  A development from Fifield Companies, it includes 188 rental units and 2,400 square feet of retail space.

FitzGerald is the design architect behind Westerly; McHugh Construction served as GC.



CTA and Metra fares, Uber rides, Zipcars, Divvy bikes, camera lenses, and durable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses with a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

Make a one-time donation

Choose an amount

¤2.00
¤4.00
¤6.00

Or enter a custom amount


Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

670 North May is on its way

Hey Chicago. We only have 12 tower cranes in the air right now. I better start paying attention to some of the smaller projects too, while I have the time, or there won’t be much to post.

Here’s one such development, at 670 North May in River West. It’s just getting started. It was issued a foundation permit back in February, and I quote:

FOUNDATION AND PARTIAL SUPERSTRUCTURE PERMIT FOR NEW 113 UNIT, 8 STORY RESIDENTIAL TOWER. SCOPE OF PERMIT INCLUDES ALL UNDERGROUND WORK THROUGH 1ST STORY PODIUM AND 8 STORY CORES. **2019 BUILDING CODE** CONSULTANT REVIEWER: GLOBETROTTERS ENGINEERING

I think what that means is we’ll see all eight floors of elevator core before the rest of the building starts going up. But I could easily be wrong, as I really just take pictures of stuff.

According to that permit, Bond Companies is the developer here, of a project designed by FitzGerald, with Global Builders in charge of construction.

Here’s the presentation from the August 2020 Chicago Plan Commission meeting, when the development was approved. (“Hotel use”?) 1140 West Erie was the name then, as well as the address of the building that was demolished to clear the lot. But you’ll notice “670 North May” on the building in some of the renderings.

Anyway, here are the exciting iPhone shots of the beginnings of foundation work. Yeah, the above renderings are much more exciting, until work amps up.

There is a Superior House in River North nearing completion

A rendering of Superior House from FitzGerald.

A Superior House with superior homes is coming this spring to River North. 34 of them, in fact.

Ascend Real Estate Group is developing the condominium building at 360 West Superior. Once existing structures were demolished, construction got started with a permit back in January of 2019.

Superior House is a design by FitzGerald. They’ve teamed up with Ascend previously on Niche 905 in Near North, among other projects. Power Construction is the general contractor.