The second tower crane is coming down at McDonald’s HQ

Posted on November 17, 2017 by danieldschell

Piece by piece, the West Crane at McDonald’s new HQ is coming down.

West Crane at the new McDonald’s Headquarters in the West Loop was the first one to work, and now it’s the last one to go home. Of the two tower cranes, that is.

The two cranes were erected about a week apart back in February, did what McHugh Construction needed them to do, and East Crane came down back in September. West Crane stuck around to get the last of the heavy lifting accomplished, but this week sees it leaving the site as well. Trucks and personnel from Central Contractors Service were out there Thursday disassembling the second Peiner SK415 and lowering it to the ground.

With a stub in the ground at Hayden West Loop but no crane assembled there yet, the West Loop tower crane count drops to 7, tying it with the South Loop for the neighborhood lead. It’ll get it back soon though.

Ordering two McDonald’s tower cranes to go

Posted on September 6, 2017 by danieldschell

McDonald's Headquarters tower crane removal

A yellow street crane waits at the foot of East Crane, ready to bring her down.

Strong Chicago breezes kept Tuesday from being a sad day in the West Loop, but once those winds calm down, the two tower cranes at the McDonald’s Headquarters will be removed.

The Yellow Street Crane Of Doom was on-hand Tuesday, but couldn’t get started on East Crane because of conditions. Wednesday calls for lighter winds, so there’s a good chance crane removal will begin.

Both cranes were erected on the McDonald’s site back in February within a couple days of each other. McHugh Construction was said to be utilizing the top-down method, which allows the frame of the building to go up faster than normal. According to a story by Curbed at ground-breaking time, that shaved off about four months from the construction schedule. Now, a little over six months after the cranes went up, they’ve completed their duty, and it’s time for them to move on.

The Stars & Stripes, and the Stars, fly just below the criss-crossing tower cranes at the McDonald’s HQ. Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

More tower cranes, more patriotism.

Is that glass? Are those bricks? The McDonald’s Headquarters rolls on

Posted on July 27, 2017 by danieldschell

We’re starting to see the underside of the ninth floor at the northwest corner of McDonald’s HQ. Plus brick and glass!

The new McDonald’s Headquarters in the West Loop may not quite be ready for the top sesame-seed bun, but McHugh Construction keeps adding ingredients to the burger giant’s nine-story home. (I like to compare progress to building a hamburger, but with the new Apple Store looking like a gigantic Macbook, we can thank our lucky stars Sterling Bay and Gensler decided not to build this HQ to look like a Big Mac. You think the NIMBY’s would have thought that worked well with its surroundings?)

There are new glass panels on a couple sides now, and some sweet brickwork adorning parts of the exterior. If you take into account setbacks and the like, some of McDonald’s has reached nine stories high. It’s a tad early to start worrying about losing a tower crane or two, but the top-down strategy has paid off, as this project rises incredibly fast.

An overhead view of McDonald’s and its two tower cranes by Curtis Waltz at Aerialscapes.

: New glass!

: New bricks!!

Coming Attractions: Soil sampling rig takes over Columbia College lot

Posted on July 24, 2017 by danieldschell

A soil-sampling rig stands at the ready on the site of the future Columbia College Student Center.

Maybe there were some gardens there. I remember some pieces of art too, including a funky-looking airplane with a mean face that hung from a pole. But it looks like the small lot at Wabash Avenue and 8th Street in the South Loop is on its way to becoming the new Columbia College Student Center.

There’s a soil-sampling rig on the site now, tasting the dirt to make sure it’s ready to be dug into and built upon. And on that very spot will be the 5-story, 114,000-square-foot, Gensler-designed center. Work should get underway soon, as Columbia College plans to have work completed in time to open the student center before 2018 closes.

: Columbia College Student Center rendering by Gensler.

: Columbia College Student Center rendering by Gensler.

: The lot at Wabash and 8th.

McDonald’s Headquarters nears the middle bun, awaits second beef patty

Posted on June 27, 2017 by danieldschell

The brand new McDonald’s HQ is poking up through the top of the West Loop.

In one of the most ridiculous comparisons to date, if the new McDonald’s Headquarters being built in the West Loop was a Big Mac, it would be somewhere between the second all-beef patty and the middle bun, with the bottom bun and first patty already in place. That leaves the special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions to go before the top bun is craned into place and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

In more technical terms, The McD HQ is up to the sixth floor, as crews from McHugh Construction continue utilizing two tower cranes to get the nine-story, 550,000-square-foot Sterling Bay development in high gear. The Gensler-designed home of the Golden Arches is slated to open early in 2018, which looks like a sure thing the way progress is going.

: McDouble Tower Cranes.

: Well sure, it’s new construction. What’s not to love?!

: From the air.

Construction Update: Cook County Central Campus Health Center

Posted on June 14, 2017 by danieldschell

The Cook County Central Campus Health Center rises up from the corner of Damen and Polk.

Iron rules the day as crews continue building the new Cook County Central Campus Health Center at 1950 West Polk Street in the Medical District. Clayco has had a tower crane at its disposal for just over a month now, and it’s doing big work, stacking steel beam atop steal beam for the future nine-story, 282,000-square-foot facility.

Gensler and Forum Studio shared design duties on this project. Read how the December press release from The Cook County Health & Hospitals System explained the health center’s capabilities:

Clinical services provided in the new health center will include outpatient specialty services such as dental, ophthalmology, oncology, infusion, dermatology, diabetes and endocrine and adult medicine. The first four floors will house clinical space, with the remaining floors serving as administrative space. The flexible building design allows for administrative to be turned in to clinical space as necessary.

It is expected to open in 2018.

#33: Cook County Central Campus Health Center puts a tower crane in the air

Posted on May 10, 2017 by danieldschell

Cook County Central Campus Health Center tower crane

Looked out the window this morning, and there it was. Cook County Central Campus Health Center has a tower crane.

Before I took the time to post photos from Saturday of the tower crane stub at Cook County Central Campus Health Center, Clayco went ahead a put the darn thing up! That’ll teach me to procrastinate. (No, it won’t. It should though.) Not sure exactly which days saw work on the crane, but there it was outside the B.U.C. HQ window this morning, shining in the sunlight.

CCCCHC is now the 33rd active tower crane in Chicago.

: A close-up Wednesday morning.

: The construction site Saturday, May 6.

Take a walk around McDonald’s

Posted on May 1, 2017 by danieldschell

The view from the B.U.C. HQ is still somewhat limited, until McDonald’s rises a few more floors.

If you live in a West Loop condo with a nice balcony (or a drone), you might just have a great view of construction from above the new McDonald’s Headquarters. For the rest of us, circling the block bounded by Randolph, Carpenter, Washington, and Aberdeen is the only way to get a good look at proceedings. So that’s what I did.

Glass is almost full at the Marriott Marquis Chicago (Updated)

Posted on April 13, 2017 by danieldschell

The Marriott Marquis Chicago towers above the American Book Company building, which is being renovated as part of the project.

The Marriott Marquis Chicago in the South Loop topped out back in February, and the curtain wall has risen almost to the roof now. Slated for opening this fall, the 39-story Marriott Marquis will boast 1,205 rooms. 25,000 square feet of ballroom space, and 90,000 square feet of meeting space. Clark Construction has been on the build of the Goettsch Partners design.

4.17.2017 *** Some clarification is in order here. Goettsch Partners is the architect-of-record on the Marriott Marquis Chicago project. Gensler is the design architect. My apologies for the omission. ***

As McDonald’s progresses, Sterling Bay pitches @1045 retail space

Posted on April 11, 2017 by danieldschell

The McDonald’s HQ in the West Loop neighborhood of Chicago.

Along with construction progress at the new McDonald’s Corporation Headquarters in the West Loop comes signage for available retail space, which Sterling Bay has dubbed @1045. An homage to its north frontage at 1045 West Randolph Street, @1045 is 48,000 square feet of ground-floor space, divisible to 2,000-square-foot parcels.

But enough of the real estate talk. What matters here is that McHugh Construction continues to push off the ground and into the sky. The @1045 signage is a nice touch, but construction is the real attraction.