Sterling Bay’s C.H. Robinson HQ taking shape at 1515 West Webster

Posted on March 22, 2017 by danieldschell

At left, 1515 West Webster. In the foreground, the Chicago River. In the background, that magnificent Chicago Skyline.

Construction progress has already reached the third dimension at Sterling Bay‘s development at 1515 West Webster Avenue on the western edge of Lincoln Park. The four-story, 207,000-square-foot facility will be the new headquarters of third-party logistics juggernaut C.H. Robinson. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Sterling Bay expects to have the new office digs open in mid-2018. For now, that’s up to Power Construction, who look to be making good headway toward that goal.

: Rendering of 1515 West Webster from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

: Rendering of 1515 West Webster from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

: The south — or “boring” — end of the site.

One final fade to black for the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion

Posted on March 22, 2017 by danieldschell

The former Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion is a sandlot.

The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, which stood at 700 West Fullerton Parkway as part of the old Children’s Memorial Hospital for roughly eight decades, is now an empty lot awaiting its next life. The handsome 7-story brick edifice is a distant memory now, to be replaced by a handsome 7-story brick senior-living edifice.

: The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, just before demolition started. Modest, but beautiful.

: 700 West Fullerton Parkway. I hope that piece is safely stored somewhere.

: Dust.

That’s a wrap on Children’s Memorial Hospital, which is now a scrapyard

Posted on January 31, 2017 by danieldschell

Piles of dirt. Sorted pieces of scrap metal heaped together. A few pits and ditches. ‘Tis all that remains.

The former Children’s Memorial Hospital in Lincoln Park is little more than an empty lot now, as Omega Demolition finishes up work on the triangular site. Soon, construction on The Lincoln Common will commence.

Putting the “Elevate” in Elevate Lincoln Park

Posted on January 24, 2017 by danieldschell

A sea of rebar at Elevate Lincoln Park.

On the heels of a big demolition, and then lots of digging, Baker Development’s latest project has finally risen to street level.

Elevate Lincoln Park will eventually rise 10 stories above Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park, bringing with it 191 luxury apartments, three levels of parking, and ground-floor retail space. SCB took care of designing for Elevate Lincoln Park, while McHugh Construction has been seeing to the general contracting duties. The original goal was to have the apartments ready for tenants this summer, but since construction got started a tad behind schedule, that might not be attainable.

: Gratuitous tower crane shot, from the Fullerton L platform.

Demolition Update: The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pile of Rubble

Posted on January 21, 2017 by danieldschell

Demolition of the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion demolition continues in Lincoln Park.

There isn’t much left of the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion. Coming soon to 700 West Fullerton Parkway, a 7-story brick building that isn’t this 7-story brick building. Coming soon, a senior living facility from Belmont Village Senior Living.

: This is — or was — the west wall.

: Watched this monster “chew” the concrete off the rebar. Surprisingly entertaining.

Composition of DePaul School of Music continues in Lincoln Park

Posted on December 15, 2016 by danieldschell

McGaw Hall is a distant memory, and the new DePaul School of Music is getting closer to completion. (I used up all my music puns in a previous post, so just know Bulley + Andrews is still hard at work building the 3-story, 185,000-square-foot facility.)

Demolitions continue around the old Children’s Memorial Hospital

Posted on December 8, 2016 by danieldschell

Remnants of the White Elephant Resale Shop at 2375 North Lincoln Avenue.

It isn’t just Children’s Memorial Hospital being erased from Lincoln Park memory. Adjacent buildings on Lincoln Avenue and Fullerton Parkway have also been doomed to the wrecking ball as well, in addition to a couple structures within the triangular block where the hospital stood. Those include the Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion at 701 West Fullerton, and what you may have known as the White Elephant Resale Shop at 2375 North Lincoln.

A Hines McCaffery Interests rendering, which seems to show the White Elephant building remaining.

You aren’t alone if you thought the White Elephant building was to be saved. Renderings of The Lincoln Common show the building in place, so many of us were thrown off by its demise. According to DNAInfo, it was to be saved, or reconstructed, or maybe it will still be recreated as a brand-new structure. Whichever way, it’s rubble now. As for the Wilson Pavilion, that’s nothing but a hole in the earth now.

Children's Memorial Hospital demolitions

2350 and 2356 North Lincoln Avenue, prior to demolition. They’re both gone now.

Over on Lincoln Avenue, 2350 and 2356 were permitted for demolition in September, and 2358 a partial demolition, with the Lincoln Avenue facade to be saved, in early October. The former two structures are gone. 2358, of course, will take more time and care to bring down.

Finally, the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, at 700 West Fullerton, built in the late 1920s according to Preservation Chicago, which American Demolition started tearing into last month. Unrelated to The Lincoln Common, to will be replaced by a similarly-styled 7-story brick building to be used as a senior living facility.

The Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion demolition is underway.

: Gaping holes in the Nellia A. Black memorial Pavilion.

: You used to be able to see the White Elephant Resale Shop here.

: But it’s gone now.

: The power plant is also expected to remain. Time will tell.

: Faint reminders of the Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion.

: Looking past the remains of the Martha Wilson Pavilion to the remains of the White Elephant shop.

: The facade of 2358 North Lincoln Avenue, which will be saved.

: Early demolition work of 2350 and 2356 North Lincoln Avenue…

: …and the gap where they once stood.

Old 7-story brick building in Lincoln Park to be demolished for 7-story brick building

Posted on November 8, 2016 by danieldschell

Scaffolding has been erected on the east facade of the Nellie A. Black Pavilion.

On the final day of October, the City of Chicago issued a demolition permit for the Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion, at 700 West Fullerton Parkway in Lincoln Park. Built in the 1932, it made Preservation Chicago’s “Chicago 7” list in 2016, along with its neighbor across the street, the Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion. That building is already rubble, along with most of the old Children’s Memorial Hospital.

The rendering from Crain’s Chicago’s story of the new Belmont Village Senior Living building. Look familiar?

Crain’s Chicago posted back in June that Chicago-based Harrison Street Capital and Houston-based Belmont Village Senior Living bought the building, with the intent of constructing a senior-living facility on the site. The rendering Crain’s included in the story, seen to the right, looks remarkably similar to the Nellie Black Pavilion. I could be oversimplifying things, but maybe that 80-year-old edifice could have been re-purposed for the senior living project? Eh, what do I know.

Monday, workers were constructing scaffolding on the facade. Expect dust and pallets of used bricks to follow shortly. American Demolition will do the dirty work.

: Children’s Memorial Hospital demolition. That’s the Nellie Black Pavilion on the right.

: 710 West Fullerton is the same building as 700.

: The Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion has already been demolished.

Elevate Lincoln Park raises a tower crane

Posted on November 7, 2016 by danieldschell

Having ceremoniously broken ground on the first of the month, Elevate Lincoln Park has begun celebrating yet another milestone; a tower crane is being assembled on the site of the future rental development. It’s a shiny yellow one too, the best kind. And you’ll be able to see it next to the elevated tracks when riding the Red, Brown, and Purple Line trains. It more than makes up for not getting to watch people play tennis atop the old Lincoln Centre condos, right? Wait. Did anyone ever play tennis up there?

Moot point. What’s important here is this: Elevate Lincoln Park, a Baker Development project, will feature 191 apartments, three levels of parking, and ground-floor commercial space, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

Excavation complete, DePaul School of Music has begun composing its new facility

Posted on October 4, 2016 by danieldschell

The bass-ment has been dug, and now tuba-fours are being hammered into place, as the DePaul School of Music begins to take shape in Lincoln Park. Though the new facility will crescendo to just three stories in height, “sprawling” would be a good word to describe the footprint of this construction site. Hence the extra-long tower crane. It’s no reach to say reach is critical on this project.