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Humongous caissons still rule the day at Vista Tower
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Tag Archives: Magellan Development Group
The Gallery On Wells: No room for amenities? Build them next door.
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The Gallery On Wells will have its amenity deck next door, atop 640 North LaSalle.
Yes, that’s what 167 West Erie is called now: The Gallery On Wells. It’s one of the more unique construction projects in Chicago at the moment. Not because it’s pretty. Not because it’s racing floor-by-floor with 640 North Wells across the street. No, this one’s interesting because of where the amenities floor will.
Next door.
That’s right, the rooftop amenity deck for The Gallery On Wells will be atop 640 North LaSalle Street, home the huge Effen Vodka sign. (That means there are three street addresses associated with this project: 167 West Erie Street, 637 North Wells Street, and 640 North LaSalle Street.) A skybridge will connect the residential tower to the outdoor space. MAC Management is a co-developer of The Gallery On Wells, along with Magellan Development Group, and they own 640 North LaSalle. And not just any outdoor space: according to Magellan, the “largest outdoor deck in River North featuring lounge seating, cabanas and grills.” You’re going to want to make friends here.
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- The renovation permit for 640 North LaSalle.
Vista Tower caisson work, second only to the Cubs as a spectator sport
Even the pigeons are mesmerized by caisson work going on at Vista Tower.
Vista Tower doesn’t need pre-sales of condo units. Just charge $5 for each one of us leaning against the railings along Wacker Drive, and by The Tides and The Shoreham atop Field Boulevard. It would raise a fortune.
Case Foundation continues to bore holes into the Lakeshore East earth, then fills them up with cement and rebar and corrugated metal tubes and even the occasional iron tube. Seriously, stop by and watch some time. Unless you have a meeting to go to. because you won’t make it back to the office in time.
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- Found you! My trun to hide!
In the War On Wells, 167 West Erie outglasses the competition
Windows have arrived at 167 West Erie in River North.
Construction milestones. Let’s see, you have your first permit, groundbreaking, tower crane, topping off, and grand opening. And wedged in there between tower crane and topping off would be the first glass. Be it windows, cladding, skin, whatever your blueprints call it.
Up on Wells Street in River North, there’s been a battle brewing on opposite sides of the street. 640 North Wells is the 23-story apartment tower on the west side of the street, and 167 West Erie, which sits at 637 North Wells Street, or thereabouts, competes from the east side with its 39-story endeavor. Both started construction about the same time, both erected tower crane just days apart, and have been racing ever since toward completion. (My money’s on the tower that’s just over half as tall. Duh.)
But we can declare a winner in the battle for window supremacy. (Side note: 167 West Erie won the tower crane race too, per this from the Chicago Architecture Blog) And it ain’t even close. 167 West Erie has installed glass on a few floors, while 640 remains as open to the elements as the day it was born.
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- Sorry, 640 North Wells, but we can’t count those.
It’s a CaissonFest at Vista Tower
That’s a 12′-diameter, 20′-long caisson on the right, with a longer one being trucked in.
Case Foundation is on the scene (you thought I was gonna say “on the case” didn’t you…You are so predictable) at Vista Tower, boring holes into the earth and sinking caissons. Dozens and dozens of them. Deep ones, too. They’ve got twelve-foot diameter guides on site. These will be serious caissons. Some 100 feet long.
You already know all you need to know about the 93-story Vista Tower. I’ll skip the tired verbiage, and let you get right to the photos.
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- I wasn’t the only one watching.
Planet Hollywood a distant memory as 167 West Erie rises
167 West Erie rises in River North.
Planet Hollywood? What, I’m just glossing over the old Gino’s location that occupied 167 West Erie Street most recently? Doesn’t matter. They’re both gone. You know this because the giant slices of pizza no longer litter the east side of the street along the 600 block of North Wells. Besides, Gino’s still exists in Chicago.
Instead, 167 West Erie is being erected on that site. It will be a 39-story, 440-unit apartment tower from Magellan Development. Designed by Chicago’s Loewenberg Architects, the building will also include about 130 parking spots, and some ground-floor retail space. Linn-Mathes is the general contractor.
I’d be willing to bet small amount of currency that 167 West Erie will have a non-address name in the near future. Considering its full-build permit was issued to the address 637 North Wells Street, there seems to be enough confusion about its location to slap a fancy moniker on it.
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- On the right, 167 West Erie. On the left, 640 North Wells.
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- The Full-build Permit, with 637 North Wells as the address.
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- Nothing to see here. Just two luffing-jib cranes jousting for position above North Wells Street.
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- In the background, 167 West Erie. In the foreground, some sort of motion picture. Animated, I believe.
Chicago’s prettiest new Vista moving soil
Finally.
When Vista Tower got its foundation permit back in the first week if August, I assumed equipment would flood into the lot in New East Side the following morning to begin tearing up the land. In reality, it took a few weeks for anything to happen at all. But it’s happening now, and what they’re digging in for, is the long haul.
Want to know more about the 93-story Vista Tower? Let me see what I can find for you:
Yep. A lot of people are talking about it.
Vista Tower gets a foundation permit; construction nerds settle in for the long haul
Rendering of Vista Tower from Studio Gang.
Please, stop by once in a while and make sure we’re hydrated and fed. And that our socks are dry. Because we’ll be out there for the next 4-5 years.
Yesterday, the City of Chicago issued a foundation permit for Vista Tower, the iconic 93-story condominium tower and Wanda Vista Hotel combination designed by Studio Gang and bKL Architecture. James McHugh Construction Co. has been named the general contractor for the Magellan Development Group project.
Everyone in Chicago has been on edge the last couple of weeks, waiting for work to get started at Vista. Now that we have a permit on file, don’t be surprised if they’re over there this morning getting ready for caisson work.
There was a soil sampling rig on site this week. Hopefully, no negative results.
Another render from Studio Gang, showing the Vista Tower from the Field Museum campus.
Vista Tower, straight up. Rendering from Studio Gang.
The Caisson Permit.
Exhibit on Superior: More Photos Than I Know What To Do With
The future 34-story, 298-unit tower from Magellan Development Group at 165 West Superior Street in River North known as Exhibit on Superior lost its tower crane early in July. Albeit a sad one, that’s a big step in the progress cycle. The bKL Architecture design still has a long way to go until completion, but a lot of those construction colors will be fading soon, as the exterior finishes up. Linn-Mathes has been working on this one a full year now.
Still, if you find yourself missing the old Howard Johnson motel that was here, I noticed a mattress lying in the alley behind the new tower. Same thing.
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- Humble beginnings.
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- Getting the gratuitous tower crane shot out of the way early.
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- Looking up LaSalle Street. Yes, standing in the middle of the northbound lanes. I had a spotter, as far as you know.
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- A good cloud day.
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- This has been one of the prettiest construction sites in Chicago.
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- Tower crane removal.
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- The Exhibit on Superior tower crane from the John Hancock Center.
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- A tower crane section, hitching a ride along the roadway, looking for the next gig.
Exhibit On Superior Shedding Its Tower Crane
Exhibit on Superior, at 165 West Superior, losing its tower crane.
They come into our lives suddenly, and then they’re gone just as quickly. They build our hopes and dreams, climbing ever higher. And just when you think they can go no higher…they don’t. In fact, they come down. But not before changing the landscape and skyline.
Too dramatic? Eh, whatever.
Suffice it to say the tower crane at 165 West Superior is on its way down from atop the bKL Architecture-designed apartment tower. The new River North development from Magellan Development Group is called Exhibit on Superior. Topping out at 34 stories, Exhibit on Superior will have 298 luxury apartments of all sizes, from studios and convertibles, to 1-,2-, and 3-bedroom units. Add 109 parking spaces, an 8,400-square-foot outdoor park, and nearly 30,000 square feet of amenity space, and you’ve practically got yourself a brand new vertical neighborhood.
Linn-Mathes has been plugging away at construction since the first permits for Exhibit on Superior were filed back in July of 2015, this coming on the heels of the March 2015 demolition permit that signaled the end of the Howard Johnson Inn on this site, with an address of 720 North LaSalle. Yeah, if you still have your room key, might as well hang on to it.
You see, I looked at that from over here and thought “Hey, that tower crane shouldn’t be sitting so low.”
Building Up Chicago 