Springtime at Mary Bartleme Park. With tower crane and Sears Tower.
It’s been exactly one month since Norcon grew a tower crane at its Illume Chicago site in West Loop. Now, that crane is contributing to the foundation being shored up for the new condominiums from LG Development.
Located at 111 South Peoria Street, Illume Chicago will be ten stories containing 79 condos, with parking in the basement and first floor, designed by Pappageorge Haymes Architects.
The Ronsley, 676 North Kingsbury Street in River North.
Back in January, we took a long look at construction progression of The Ronsley, the River North renovation project from LG Development. And since January was two months ago, I figure it’s time to check in again.
No disappointment here. The original facades along both Kingsbury and Huron Streets continue to dazzle, while there’s already glass added to the additional stories that are being built atop the existing five floors. What had been an empty lot behind the building has now sprouted six stories high.
If you were watching your Instagram feed Friday, you may have noticed the above photo from Norcon, showing the beginning of work on the tower portion of the new tower crane at Illume Chicago in the West Loop.
The tower at Illume Chicago went up Friday. The crane will follow.
You can (kind of) see the tower in the photo above, taken from the B.U.C. HQ. Judging by the forecast for Saturday, it’s very possible Norcon’s plan to assemble the crane over the weekend might be washed out. If that’s the case, expect them to try again next weekend. (Weekday assembly isn’t a possibility because of the need to close off Green Street.)
Wait…is that…IT IS! It’s a tower crane at Illume Chicago!
Floating somewhere within the universe that is the City of Chicago’s building permit database that hasn’t updated since Friday, there lies a tower crane permit for 111 South Peoria Street in the West Loop. How do I know this? Well, it isn’t because I’m smart. No, it’s because I wandered past the Illume Chicago construction site, and was greeted by a tower crane stub sticking up out of the ground.
According to Norcon, the general contractor at Illume, full tower assembly will occur this weekend, weather permitting. And if weather doesn’t permit, it will be rescheduled for next weekend. That way, Green Street (at the east end of the site) can be closed for two days without impacting weekday traffic.
Look what popped up Tuesday afternoon: The tower crane permit, issued yesterday. The site finally updated.
P.S. A quick shout-out to Norcon, for strategically installing their crane between the two towers of Emerald Lofts, so I get a clear view of of it from the B.U.C. HQ. This one brings the total to six tower cranes I cold easily zipline to from here.
Foundation work at Illume Chicago, as seen from the desk of B.U.C. HQ.
Whether the neighbors like it or not, Illume Chicago has powered through caisson work, and is now digging out the foundation. The 79 condominiums from LG Development and Pappageorge Haymes Partners broke ground in early December, and now the site has been dug a few feet below street level at 111 South Peoria in the West Loop.
There’s a large pile of pilings sitting in the dirt these days. I wonder if it will be noisy at all when those are pounded into the ground.
The Ronsley, 676 North Kingsbury Street in River North. Render from The Ronsley website.
There’s quite an ambitious renovation taking place in River North, and after a long period of interior work, the outside is catching up with the inside.
The Ronsley, at 676 North Kingsbury Street, is well on its way to being transformed into a stellar condominium building. The Ronsley renovation was designed by Antunovich Associates for LG Development, and includes adding four additional stories atop the original 5-story timber loft office building, as well as putting additions on the west and south sides of the structure. All that work, which LG Construction is doing themselves, will result in 41 luxury condos ranging from two to four bedrooms, plus parking for 50 vehicles, including hydraulic lifts for stacking cars on cars.
The Ronsley in August of 2015. Sadly, the water tank is gone.
The water tank that is no more.
The back of the original loft timber office building, which faces south. It was…gritty.
The rear of the building under transformation, April 2016.
On to May of 2016, and the interior gutting:
A month later, more interior work, the west addition takes shape, and there’s more work going on around the back:
October 2016, and here come the windows! The west addition rises up the side of the original building, and the south addition gets off the ground:
Finally, January of 2017. Those new windows look great against the brick. There’s ironwork on top, to the west, and in the rear:
At the intersection of Ashland and Milwaukee Avenues, and just off Division Street, LG Development is building a seven-story rental building that will include 16,000 feet of retail space and the renovation of the existing two-story structure facing Ashland. Designed by Jonathan Splitt Architects (who also did the new Blue Plate Catering digs over in the Fulton Market District), 1241 North Milwaukee will have 60 apartments. As is often the case on LG projects, LG Construction is handling general contractor duties.
The big blue Stalworth caisson rig drills caissons for Illume Chicago.
Buildings are heavy. Buildings need support. Which explains the presence of the big blue Stalworth machine at 111 South Peoria Street in the West Loop, site of the now-underway Illume Chicago. That’s the beast responsible for drilling caissons into the earth for the future 10-story, 79-condominium project from LG Development and Pappageorge Haymes Partners to rest upon. And rest it will — everyone will — once things quiet down a little bit. Caisson work is loud.
Truth.
Controversial? Contentious? How about “underway”?
Illume, the condominiums for the West Loop from LG Development, has started tearing up the parking lot at 111 South Peoria Street. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on December 5, then two days later, the City of Chicago issued the building permit.
Designed by Pappageorge Haymes, the 10-story building will contain 79 condos, and include parking in the basement and first floor. Norcon has been signed on as general contractor.
https://twitter.com/PappagHaymes/status/805875985069510656
A rendering of Illume from Pappageorge Haymes.
The Permit.
https://twitter.com/LGDevelopment/status/808687914926411777
If it seems there’s construction on every block of the West Loop, it’s probably because there’s construction on every block of the West Loop. But it’s not all fancy corporate HQs and boutique hotels.
At 177 North Morgan Street* (that’s the address according to the building permit. As you can see in the tweet above, LG Development refers to the property as 185 North Morgan.), LG Development is erecting a single-story retail building at the foot of the Morgan Street CTA L station.
Building Up Chicago 