Eight Eleven Uptown nears the top

Posted on February 23, 2018 by danieldschell

Eight Eleven Uptown is very close to topping out, as seen from North Broadway and looking straight up North Clarendon.

First of all, let me thank the Thursday-morning skies for clearing up just enough to get some sunlight and breaking clouds for these shots of Eight Eleven Uptown. It looked magnificent.

Also, thanks to Lendlease for labeling floor numbers on the hoist so theycan be seen from the street. Using the last-marked floor, 22, and counting upward, it looks like construction crews are working on the 26th level, while the core has reached 27. This being a 27-story tower, Eight Eleven Uptown is very close to topping out. That’s just math.

Designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, and co-developed by JDL Development and Harlem Irving Companies, the tower at 811 West Agatite in the Uptown neighborhood will deliver 381 apartments and 36,000 square feet of retail space upon completion, including a Treasure Island grocery store.

Progress Update: The Hilton Hotel combo rises in the South Loop

Posted on February 20, 2018 by danieldschell

Lendlease continues upward on the Hilton Homewood Suites/Hilton Garden Inn in the South Loop.

That’s not just a hotel Lendlease is building at 1101 South Wabash Avenue in the South Loop; it’s two hotels. The combination Hilton Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn got started last winter, and is at, or near, the half-way point of its 30-story goal. Two architecture firms, Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture and Pappageorge Haymes Partners, were involved in the design, one for each hotel segment.

Bidding a foggy adieu to the Ancora tower crane at Riverline

Posted on February 19, 2018 by danieldschell

The tower crane servicing Ancora at Riverline was at half-mast last week.

The skies over Chicago weren’t very cooperative last Thursday, as we made the pilgrimage down to Riverline to bid a fond farewell to the tower crane that has topped out Ancora, the 29-story apartment tower representing Phase One of CMK Companies’ and Lendlease’s South Loop community. We shouldn’t have to wait too long for another crane to show up on site; there’s already quite a bit of earth moving to prep the site for more development, which may or may not be a tower named “Current.”

The tower cranes, they are a-falling

Posted on February 13, 2018 by danieldschell

A quick L ride to the South Loop and back revealed a couple new developments (no pun intended) in Chicago’s tower crane landscape on Tuesday. The crane building No. 508 (508 West Diversey) in Lake View was being taken down, and the crane at Ancora at Riverline (720 South Wells) in the South Loop has also begun its final descent.

Sorry I have no photos of the dis-assemblage for now. My phone was ready at Diversey as our train stopped at the platform, but a perfectly-timed northbound Brown Line train blocked my view. As for Ancora, that one surprised me as we went around the bend off Wells Street onto Van Buren. The least I can do is remind you what those two tower cranes looked like when they were still in service.

No. 508 back in August. Macon Construction still has one tower crane in Chicago, at Hayden West Loop.

Ancora at Riverline in December. Lendlease has plenty more around town.

Stay glassy, West Loop: 727 West Madison rises and shines in Greektown

Posted on February 8, 2018 by danieldschell

Old Glory waves triumphantly at the foot of 727 West Madison in the West Loop.

It’s only reached about half of its eventual height, and already 727 West Madison is cutting quite a figure along the Kennedy Expressway in Greektown. The FitzGerald-designed apartment tower, like most under-construction skyscrapers, is best seen on a sunny day, and that was the case on Tuesday when we strolled over to the West Loop for a peek.

One of Chicago’s longest-running shows, No. 9 Walton lowers the curtain on its tower crane

Posted on February 7, 2018 by danieldschell

The tower crane at No. 9 Walton is slowly lowering itself to the ground, one segment at a time.

If you thought No. 9 Walton at 9 West Walton Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood topped out months ago, and that it seemed strange how long that hammerhead tower crane remained aloft, you were on to something. While we can’t confirm anything, we’ve got our suspicions that the $58.5 million sale for the top four floors may have had something to do with the longevity of the crane. (Dennis Rodkin over at Crain’s Chicago had the scoop back in January.)

The stub was planted at No. 9 Walton in March of 2016, after getting its permit on the first of February. By my calculations, that’s about two years ago. That’s a long time for a tower crane to be on a job site, especially one that’s “only” 38 stories high.

No. 9 Walton is a project from JDL Develoment. You may recall hearing that JDL’s president and founder, James Letchinger, had set aside a unit in this tower for himself. That’s a pretty good indication he’s paid very close attention to every facet of its construction.

The design was by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. Lendlease handled the GC duties.

Expect No. 9 Walton to be open in 2018.

: This was a handsome tower crane.

: There’s the stub in March 2016, while excavation work continued.

: More of the stub, circa March 2016.

Glass is in session at Seven-Two-Seven

Posted on December 27, 2017 by danieldschell

5 degrees in Chicago, but some still insist on having the windows open.

As if being curvy wasn’t enough, 727 West Madison is gettin’ all glassy now too. The first two levels of curtain wall above the podium are complete, and a third level has been started. Overall, it looks like Lendlease has progressed up to about the 20th story. Almost halfway home!

: That’s another Lendlease tower crane, at The Van Buren, in the foreground.

H2O = Heneghan 2 Obliterate, as 845 West Madison turns to rubble

Posted on December 27, 2017 by danieldschell

The old H2) building no longer holds water. Or anything.

And it isn’t taking them long.

Take a walk around the old H2O site at 845 West Madison in the West Loop, and you may not notice much change in the doomed three-story masonry commercial building. But stand on the sidewalk at Madison, and you’ll see that Heneghan Wrecking has cut a swath right through the middle of the beast, allowing them to work outward. So while 95% of the visible exterior may be intact, its insides are quickly being hollowed out.

Heneghan is making space for the new 845 West Madison, a joint development from The John Buck Company and Lendlease. Approved by the Chicago Plan Commission back in June, the key feature of 845 West Madison will be the two 17-story towers, providing a total of 586 units. Also included in the GREC Architects-designed project will be nearly 300 parking spaces, plus about 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Expect Lendlease to double-up as general contractor as well as co-developer.

With two towers being built on a rather expansive full-block site, the most pressing question so far is, will 845 West Madison require one tower crane, swinging back and forth between the two towers? Or two tower cranes? Stay tuned, as we’ll be on the lookout for the first construction permits.

: Heneghan at work, December 2017.

: The former H2O building.

: GREC Architects render of the new 845 West Madison.

: GREC Architects render of the new 845 West Madison.

: GREC Architects render of the new 845 West Madison.

: The Demolition Permit, issued December 19.

One Bennett Park nears the top

Posted on December 11, 2017 by danieldschell

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A post shared by One Bennett Park (@onebennettpark)

With that Instagram photo, One Bennett Park posted a selfie and announced last week that Lendlease crews have reached to within five floors of topping out the 69-story residential tower.

The Related Midwest project is combined design of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and GREC Architects, bringing a mix of 348 apartments and condominiums to the Streeterville neighborhood. Completion is scheduled for 2019 move-ins, so there’s still a lot of work to be done. But topping out soon will be a big milestone, even if it means the beginning of the end for One Bennett Park’s two pretty, yellow tower cranes.

The Oval on the Expressway, 727 West Madison, is rounding into form

Posted on December 5, 2017 by danieldschell

That’s 727 West Madison over there, across the Kennedy X-Way, looking all curvy and rounded.

There are lots of curve puns, oval jokes, and round remarks to be made about 727 West Madison, the 44-story apartment tower from Fifield Companies and F&F Realty. And that’s a good thing; it means the unique shape of this 492-unit apartment tower along the Kennedy Expressway in the Greektown section of the West Loop is coming into clear view. The ellipse eclipses all those squares and rectangles out there. We need some of this variety in our new architecture.

We’re counting Lendlease’s progress at about 15 stories to date. A little simple math tells you that puts them about one-third of the way to the top of the FitzGerald-designed building. And the thought of stacking two more of what’s already built gives you an idea of just how tall 727 West Madison will really be.