Tag Archives: Fulton Market District

Catching up to 160 North Morgan

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Scaffolding abounds at 160 North Morgan

In today’s episode of I Know I Have More Pictures Of That Construction Site Somewhere, a far-too-regular series in which I take photos and then neglect to post them, we’re taking a look at progress on 160 North Morgan.

160 North Morgan is a bKL-Architecture-designed apartment tower being developed by Sterling Bay. Walsh Construction is the general contractor here, tasked with erecting 30 stories, 282 units, 89 parking spaces and 2,657 square feet of retail space.

We last brought you up to speed here on June 6. Since then, we’ve stopped by and stared at Walsh at work June 23, July 27, and August 17. Here, in most-recent-first order, are some shots from those visits:

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.

360 North Green digs in to Fulton Market

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A rendering of Sterling Bay’s 360 North Green

Back off.

That’s what you need to do sometimes. Let me explain.

Ever since Sterling Bay started tearing up the surface parking lot at Green and Kinzie Streets in the Fulton Market District, I’ve been trying to get up close enough to get a good view of what’s going on. But fences, my own personal lack of elevation, and a deep sense pf respect for the working man’s personal space hasn’t allowed for much spectatorship. So I backed off. And voila! An excellent view.

Sterling Bay and Power Construction are building 360 North Green here, a 24-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower designed by Gensler. Scheduled for completion in 2024, the building will include 5,400 square feet of retail space at ground level, parking for 92 cars on the second and third floors, a fourth-floor amenity suite including 5,000 square feet of outdoor space, a fitness studio, lounge, game room, and bar. Geez, I want to live here.

From Sterling Bay’s digital brochure, a rendering of the fourth-floor outdoor space. Wow.

Mostly from a distance, here are some caisson progress shots, as Power and Stalworth Underground get started on 360 North Green, taken August 17. Thank you, Halsted Street.

Checking up on 900 Randolph with CBS Chicago

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900 Randolph

Someone from this blog made their television debut last week. You can check out the video from CBS Chicago here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/photographer-catches-images-tracks-progress-of-projects-under-construction-around-chicago/?fbclid=IwAR1Z_dsUqL6L1Q8m2eLkq9hshGj1tSHhr9IGmuCjI770PMwT28TYOF4m82A

You can see the photos I took Thursday of last week while Lauren and Allen (they’re probably tired of hearing this by now, but thank you SO MUCH for doing this with me) watched me (along with a few others I took later in the day) of 900 Randolph here:

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.

Another new tower crane = more verticality, as 160 North Morgan sprouts from the ground

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160 North Morgan is starting to show above the fence line.

160 North Morgan is starting to protrude from the West Loop soil, as GC Walsh Construction begins utilizing that new tower crane they erected at the end of May.

A gentle reminder that 160 North Morgan, a project from Sterling Bay designed by bKL Architecture, will bring 282 apartments and 89 parking spaces in a neat 30-story package. And all of it is happening about half a yard from the Morgan CTA platform. Not to mention the Do-Rite Donuts (apple fritters!) right across the street.

Walsh Construction is on the build. They have received permits for:
– the tower crane on March 30
– the caissons on March 31
– the full build for 30 stories on April 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.

Solar Junkyard wins approval for 33-story West Loop apartment tower

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Solar Junkyard can build their 33-story, 204-unit apartment tower in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. So says the Chicago Plan Commission, which approved the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed proposal during Thursday’s meeting. What’s significant about this is that Solar Junkyard might be the best name ever used by a local development firm, which in this case is Newcastle Limited. You know that name form Gild at State and Division. I mean yes, it’s also significant that we get to bulldoze another parking lot while adding another cool tower to the West Loop. But I love Solar Junkyard.

I took a couple photos of the proposed site at 210 North Morgan last week, where (for now) a single-story Maria Pinto store stands next to a surface parking lot. Since this blog is about photos, I needed to be sure I had a photo or two of my own to post, along with a couple of Hartshorne Plunkard’s renderings.. But really, this particular post is about the name “Solar Junkyard.” I wonder if there’s swag I could get. More importantly, where did the name come from?

Rendering of Solar Junkyard’s 210 North Morgan from Hartshorne Plunkard Architects
Rendering of Solar Junkyard’s 210 North Morgan from Hartshorne Plunkard Architects

The glass is more than half full at 345 North Morgan

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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.

160 North Morgan digs into the West Loop, snags a tower crane permit

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Gone, but not forgotten. In a burned-into-my-retinas sort of way.

The hits keep coming for Sterling Bay, who just landed a tower crane permit for their tower development at 160 North Morgan in the West Loop. (Yes, that little {temporarily} purple building is gone now.)

160 North Morgan is going to be a 30-story residential tower. Designed by bKL Architecture, 160 will consist of 282 rental apartments, 89 parking spots, and about 2,600 square feet of retail space.

The Big Green W is the general contractor on 160 North Morgan. They have received:
a tower crane permit on March 30
and a caisson permit the following day, March 31.

I love this neighborhood.

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.

Glass climbs the topped-out and craneless 345 North Morgan

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345 North Morgan, viewed from Halsted Street.

The tower crane is gone, but work hasn’t skipped a beat at 345 North Morgan in the Fulton Market District.

Sterling Bay’s latest boutique office building is installing windows on what is shaping up to be my favorite new building for nighttime views. And I say that having only been there on sunny days. But mark my words; this is one of those sites you’ll want to get to just as it gets dark at night with the interior lights shining brightly.

345 North Morgan is a ten-story, 200,000-square-foot office building designed by Chicago’s own Eckenhoff Saunders Skender is the general contractor. Their task, along with Adjustable Concrete Construction on concrete, is to have this office building ready for tenants before we close the door on 2022.

The old 345 North Morgan, taken from the original B.U.C. HQ in the West Loop.
Demolition wrapping up, December 16, 2019.
Stalworth Underground doing caisson work, 08/31/2021

It wasn’t until I looked up the permit history that I remembered 345 having a little trouble getting started. Of course, over the past 24 months, who among us *hasn’t* had a little trouble getting started. The old paint store at 345 North Morgan got a demolition permit on December 5 of 2019. (I still have an unfinished draft that I started in January of 2020.) The foundation permit for the new building was next, issued March 12, 2020. But then things went idle for awhile before caisson work began in August of last summer. The full build permit was issued in June of 2021, and the tower crane was permitted on September 3. And here we are.

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.

1200 West Carroll is a blank canvas

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Speaking of Carroll Avenue demos . . .

With demolition all but wrapped up, the northwest corner of Carroll and Racine in the West Loop is ready for redevelopment at the hands of Sterling Bay. Here’s our May story about the demolitions, and the new office building on the way, 1200 West Carroll.

Here’s the progression of demolition from late May into July.

  • There’s a lap pool?

1043 Fulton brings the pane

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Power Construction is installing windows at 1043 Fulton, and a lot of them, on the north and west façades. Still waiting on glass for the south façade, while that east-facing masonry wall probably won’t need them.

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), 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.