One Grant Park pushes upward into Thursday’s fog.
That headline isn’t meant to be a play on developer Crescent Heights’ name; it is only to say that One Grant Park is going to be really tall.
We’re still awaiting the arrival of the first pieces of curtain wall to the exterior of the Rafael Viñoly Architects creation at 1200 South Indiana, McHugh Construction keeps stacking floors on top of each other, on their way to 76 levels in total. We’ve captured photographic evidence, naturally.
You don’t need to me to tell you about the progress McHugh Construction is making with Renelle on the River; just tune in to the bKL Architecture Twitter feed at this link right here.
Of course, I took a few shots, from ground level, too; you can see them now.
This shiny new tower crane recently debuted above 61 East Banks in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
There’s been a lot of activity out at 61 East Banks since we went by the site in December. Caisson work is a distant memory, and Chicago’s newest tower crane looms above the future 8-story, 60-unit apartment development. Pretty sure this is Chicago’s 33rd tower crane of 2018 (remember, we started the year with 30 already in the sky.)
61 East Banks is a project from Draper & Kramer, with designs from Booth Hansen. Leopardo Companies (sure, you know them. They’re building their new offices over at 210 North Carpenter) is the general contractor. You may notice McHugh Construction signage on the tower crane; that’s because McHugh is the concrete subcontractor, and therefore responsible for assembly of the crane.
Vista Tower continues to rise along the Chicago River.
We’re long overdue for a few shots of the progress McHugh Construction is making at Vista Tower. This thing has grown like mad since our last visit. Sorry to have missed so much. Without further ado, here are the latest shots from the soon-to-be 94-story hotel-and-residential combination.
And don’t miss out on the newly-updated Earthcam shots from Lake Point Tower. You’ll want to check it out at night, for sure.
Night time is the right time to see Vista Tower.
This thing is gonna be HUGE.
Vista Tower continues its climb along East Wacker Drive and the Chicago River. And the more it grows, the more it’s visible from new vantage points. For instance, you can now stand on the Chicago Riverwalk and look straight up and see construction. It may be a little too cold to stand there for long, though.
A tower crane below the roof line is doomed. Such is the circle of life at the triple-branded Hilton Hotels at McCormick Place.
All by its lonesome, McHugh Construction’s shiny yellow Liebherr tower crane built a Hilton Garden Inn Chicago McCormick Center, Hampton Inn by Hilton Chicago McCormick Center, and Home2 Suites by Hilton Chicago McCormick Center in the Prairie District of the South Loop. And now, that crane’s work is complete, and it’s on the way to the ground.
We walked around the site at 123 East Cermak Road to pay our last respects as the crane started coming down. But fear not; Chicago’s construction boom has slowed just yet, so expect that same crane to be back on the build again very soon.
McHugh Construction’s tower crane at Renelle on the River, from East Upper Wacker Drive.
We’d only gone by the new tower crane at Renelle on the River once since McHugh Construction erected it back in the second week of November. It famously became Chicago’s 60th tower crane in the air for this calendar year. The Mayor was there. It was a big deal. It was also dark, so I didn’t get a great look at it
Of course, Tuesday was kind of a dud as far as weather goes, but that didn’t stop us from getting a few more angles on the shiny yellow Liebherr 200 HC model. Aside from standing in the plaza just outside Trump Tower, where you can look straight up at the beast, we suggest East Wacker Drive and the Michigan Avenue Bridge as the best crane-gawking spots.
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.
Chicago’s 60th tower crane of 2017 is up and lifting at Renelle on the River.
The Big 6-0 is on the board, as Chicago’s 60th tower crane takes to the skies at Renelle on the River, at 403 North Wabash in River North. If you want to count backwards, Home2 Suites, also in River North at 110 West Huron, was #59. The Van Buren, at 808 West Van Buren in the West Loop, came in at #58 last month. And 210 North Carpenter, another West Loop project, was Chicago’s 57th crane of the year when it went up.
*60 cranes. That’s a big year for tower cranes. And with the stub Hayden West Loop planted in the ground at 1109 West Washington, #61 will be added to the count very soon. Two other cranes have permits: 3833 North Broadway, where we expect a stub to be planted around Thanksgiving; and The Bentham, at 146 West Erie, which doesn’t have a construction permit yet.
*I am not counting the derrick crane at Simpson Querrey.
McHugh Constructions Hilton, Hilton & Hilton has grown to 22 stories at 123 East Cermak Road.
It’s been longer than I realized since we’ve walked around the Triple-Branded Hilton Hotels that McHugh Construction and UJAMAA is building at McCormick Place. Not only are there seven floors all glassed in, but the tower appears to have reached the 22nd floor. And it looks topped out. The permit called for 22 stories, but other specifications show 21 and 23 floors. Guess what? If this is a future 22-story hotel, and construction has indeed reached the 22nd floor, then by golly, she’s topped out.
Expect a skybridge to shoot out of here soon.
One thing not added is the skybridge over Indiana Avenue that will connect the hotel to McCormick Place, but you can see where it will attach on the south corner of the east elevation.
Antunovich Associates designed the 466-room hotel, situated on Cermak between Michigan and Indiana Avenues. It is expected to open late in 2018.
