Chicago Plan Commission approves two residential towers at 1200 West Fulton

1200 West Fulton rendering from Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture

Thursday, the Chicago Plan Commission gave their approval for the two-tower development 1200 West Fulton in the West Loop’s Fulton Market District.

A joint effort between JDL Development and Fulton Street Companies, 1200 West Fulton is likely to be built in two phases, although the developers’ goal is to build the entire project at once. If phased, Phase One would see the shorter of the two towers built. The 37-story, 465-foot-tall North Tower will stand at the northeast corner of the site and contain 521 units, at the intersection of Racine and Carroll Avenues. The West Tower, Phase Two, will rise mid-block on Fulton. It is to be 43 stories and 545 feet tall, with 558 units.

A total of 1,079 residential units are included in the two towers, with 20% of those (216 units) set aside as affordable. The shared podium will include 440 parking spaces, nearly 125,000 square feet of commercial space, and one bicycle storage space per residence. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect, as they are for another recent JDL development, One Chicago.

1200 West Fulton rendering by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Ground floor plan via Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Layout of a typical floor plan via Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Rendering from Hartshorne shows how the two phases would occur.
Site view from overhead via Google Maps.
This single-story brick building at 1200 West Fulton was demolished last year.
Now-demolished 1200 West Fulton.
Empty site at 1200 West Fulton Market.
Empty site at 1200 West Fulton Market, looking north.
Looking west across Racine Avenue. Single-story 1230 West Fulton is in the background.
The former Four Star Foods building, at 1230 West Fulton, will need to be demolished.
1230 West Fulton.
1230 West Fulton.

Glass is now in session at 919 West Fulton

If you look about midway up 919 West Fulton, you’ll see the first level of glass, plus a little bit of the second, has been installed on the curtain wall. I don’t know when that got started, but the last couple times I’ve gone by here (on the L) I’ve been looking toward street level to see if there were any windows in yet. So I might be lucky I didn’t miss them this time. I was walking west on Fulton east of Halsted, and that’s when I first noticed it, just beyond the FULTON MARKET DISTRICT sign. you see above.

So that’s another milestone reached, with topping out and removing the tower crane already achieved. Congrats to the team of:

Skender – General Contractor
Adjustable Concrete – Concrete Contractor
Fulton Street Companies – Developer
FitzGerald – Design Architect
And everyone else on the build.

The 11-story, 530,000-square-foot office building is scheduled for completion in 2025.

370 North Morgan demolition is underway; new residential tower coming in Q1 of 2025

Demolition is underway in the Fulton Market District on the former Fox Deluxe Foods building at 370 North Morgan. The meat & poultry wholesaler hot-footed it out to the suburbs, as have so many stalwarts of Chicago’s former meat-packing district, so developer Vista Property Group could begin construction on a new residential tower.

The single-story building will be replaced by a 32-story apartment tower containing 494 rental units. The ground floor will contain retail space, while a parking podium with 190 spaces occupies floors 2 through 4. There will be one bicycle-storage space for each unit.

Antunovich Associates is the architect for the building, and Skender, now on site with demo contractor Heneghan Wrecking, will serve as general contractor. Three permits, for excavation, caissons, and the full building, are pending on the Chicago Data Portal with Vista Property Group indicating construction will kick off in the first quarter of 2025. No indication yet about an opening date, but I think 24 months from start to completion is a decent guess.

Some renderings of what’s coming to 370 North Morgan, followed by demo shots of what’s departing 370 North Morgan:

Flora is ready for its October 15 debut

Flora (1114 West Carroll Avenue) is the newest addition to the western Chicago Skyline.

Flora, the brand-spankin’-new apartment tower at 1114 West Carroll Avenue in the Fulton Market District, is getting ready for its big opening on Tuesday, October 15. If you’ve been to the website to check on availability for studio, one-bed, two-bed, and even three-bedroom floor plans, you know that’s the day you can move in to your new pad.

The 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower, includes a below-grade 95-space garage and storage for 185 bicycles, is a sharp-looking addition to the westward-spreading West Loop. And there’s more coming to the neighborhood soon. Very soon. And Flora is one great reason to add a station to the Metra lines that don’t stop between Western Avenue and the Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Not that this should ever be a barometer for good or bad from a development, but this one lives up to its renderings. Congratulations to the Flora team, including developer Trammell Crow Company, design architects ESG Architecture & Design, and general contractor Power Construction. May your units fill up quickly. I’d happily live here, and I have a birthday coming up (next year) if anyone wants to gift me a one-bedroom.

Power got their first permit for Flora back on January 9 of 2023 with the issuance of the foundation permit. Several more permits followed, including the tower crane two weeks later, the full building permit on March 7, 2023, and permission to install four passenger elevators on October 26 of last year.

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.

919 West Fulton drops the tower crane; 7 remain in Chicago’s skies

919 West Fulton no longer has a tower crane, having taken it down last week. Skender (who watched crane removal up close and personal in that Instagram video) topped out the building in July, so it stuck around for a bit before being lowered to the ground.

The Fulton Market District still has one tower crane in operation, at 220 North Ada. There are six others around town:

2 at UChicago Medicine in Hyde Park
Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park
Project H.O.O.D. in Grand Crossing
1723 South Michigan in the South Loop
400 Lake Shore in Streeterville

We have one permit awaiting erection, at the Thompson Center in The Loop. I was told yesterday that should go up by the end of the month.

Craneless 919 West Fulton, photographed September 10, 2024:

Skender proclaims topping out of 919 West Fulton

919 West Fulton has topped out. Photo courtesy of Connor Hirsch at Skender Construction.

A post Wednesday afternoon on Skender’s Instagram Stories announced the topping out of 919 West Fulton in the Fulton Market District. The West Loop office building, now at its ultimate 11-story height, topped out less than 10 months after receiving a foundation permit, on September 29 of last year. The official groundbreaking was held in December 2023.

Congratulations to Skender and their concrete partner Adjustable Concrete, developer Fulton St. Companies, and design architect FitzGerald.

As of Friday July 12, curtain wall installation hadn’t begun, so that’s the next big milestone to watch for.

All photo were taken July 12:

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.

Flora, at 1114 West Carroll, blossoms into a stellar tower

The last time I posted about 1114 West Carroll, it was 1114 West Carroll. Now, it has a new moniker: Flora. And a name change is enough of a reason (to me) to throw a few more pics out there. But more so because I just happen to really love the look of this tower.

And I’m not going to be neutral when it comes to the West Loop/Fulton Market District. It’s my favorite neighborhood in Chicago. And while Flora feels like it’s situated a little too far west for my liking, this portion of Fulton Market is going to become very dense very soon, putting Flora right in the middle of everything. Yep, I’d live here.

The 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower should be welcoming its first residents this summer. Won’t be surprised if it fills up quickly.

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.

919 West Fulton continues trending upward in the West Loop

An overhead view of 919 West Fulton from Skender on Instagram.

As you can see from Skender’s Instagram post above, Fulton Street Companies‘ latest development, 919 West Fulton, an 11-story office building in the heart of the West Loop/Fulton Market District, continues its progress. All work is above street level now.

Photos were taken Monday, April 22:

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.


919 West Fulton sprouts above street level

919 West Fulton from under the L on Lake Street.

919 West Fulton had just started poking up out of the ground last time we visited. Now, you can walk along North Sangamon and look up to see progress, as the core juts skyward on this future office building from *Fulton Street Companies.

*Remember the whole 917 vs 919 thing from earlier this month? It looks like perhaps there’s a resolution, as that link from Fulton Street Companies now refers to this project as 919. The old link, the 917 link, is dead.

With the full building permit in hand for this one, having been issued back in November, here are a few more of the players on this team (shameless attempt on my part to chime in on March Madness):
FitzGerald – Design Architect
Thornton Tomasetti – Structural Engineer
Midwest Masonry – Masonry Contractor
Edwards Engineering – Refrigeration, Ventilation Contractor
DW Mechanical Group – Plumbing Contractor
Maron Electric Company – Electrical Contractor
MAP Strategies – Permit Expeditor

Progress continues from Skender and Adjustable. Check it out, photographed on Wednesday, March 20:

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.


Darn Near Done: The Elizabeth

Construction crews works on finishing exterior touches at The Elizabeth.

Formerly known as, and still addressed as, 225 North Elizabeth, The Elizabeth is getting closer and closer to welcoming its first tenants. I don’t know when the name was changed, but I just noticed it this morning, so it’s brand new to me.

Sterling Bay’s 28-story apartment tower in the West Loop is a design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, and will feature 350 rental units. The project website shows rental fees ranging from just under $2,000 for studio apartments, up to $6,450 for three-bedroom abodes.

Sterling Bay broke ground on The Elizabeth in September 2022, with James McHugh Construction serving as the general contractor.

I dug through the building permits, and here are (some of) the team members deserving of congratulations on another residential development in Chicago’s (and the country’s) hottest neighborhood. There are probably 8.3 million sub-contractors on a project like this. If I could find them all, I’d list ’em:

Sterling Bay – Developer
Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture – Design Architect
James McHugh Construction – General Contractor
McHugh Concrete – Concrete Contractor
All Masonry Construction – Masonry Contractor
JMS Electric – Electrical Contractor
Great Lakes Plumbing & Heating – Plumbing Contractor
Advance Mechanical – Refrigeration, Ventilation Contractor
Map Strategies – Expeditor

You can view posts about construction progress using the 225 North Elizabeth tag.

A few recent-ish photos as The Elizabeth wrapped up exterior construction:

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.