Putting the Ill in Illume…The tower crane at Illume Chicago needs some repairs.
Expect a street closure Thursday in the 100-block of South Peoria Street, as a street crane sets up to make repairs on the tower crane holding court above Illume Chicago. Weather permitting, repairs shouldn’t last more than a day, and Peoria Street will be back in business Friday.
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.)
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.
Construction of the Midtown Athletic Club addition in Bucktown.
Near the recently-reworked intersection of Elston, Damen, and Fullerton Avenues in Bucktown, Midtown Athletic Club is working out on a huge addition to its already-large facility. Designed by DMAC Architecture of Evanston, the new More Club Than Gym (as opposed to More Club, Then Gym, which means you’re probably not going to have avery good workout) is adding more than 100,000 square feet of new space, including two swimming pools, a restaurant, and 31 hotel rooms. How’s that for mixed use? And with that bigger club will be more parkers, so work is also being done to expand the parking garage next door along Elston Avenue. Norcon is lifting the heavy weights of construction.
You can keep up with progress at the Midtown blog.
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.
3Eleven, at 311 West Illinois Street in River North, being constructed on what used to be the parking lot of Assumption Catholic Church.
Progress continues on the 25-story apartment tower 3Eleven in River North. The future home of 245 “luxury” rentals, 3,000 square feet of retail, and 109 parking spaces by the John Buck Company broke ground back in June in the parking lot of Assumption Catholic Church. 3Eleven is a design by FitzGerald Associates Architects. Power Construction is doing the build.
A related project to this one is the one-story addition Assumption Church is getting to the priory on the west end of the lot. The architecture firm of McBride Kelley Baurer Architects designed the priory portion; Norcon is the general contractor for the addition.
