Essex On The Park has a Stub In The Ground.
Chicago’s tower-crane count is back down to 32, and Essex On The Park won’t stand for it. Thursday, Power Construction planted a stub in the South Loop ground. Surrounded for now by rebar, the foundation will soon (today?) be filled with concrete, which will cure before the full tower crane can be assembled. Let’s watch the middle part of next week for that.
Power Construction is doing everything they can to make 625 West Adams look like its renderings. Monday morning, a piece was set in place to form the oculus that will be featured on the upper of two outdoor terraces.
Spoke, at 1001 West Chicago Avenue, as well as 728 and 738 North Morgan Street. Yeah, it’s big.
Perhaps you’ve heard folks speak of Spoke, the mixed-use development from Bond Companies formerly referred to as 1001 West Chicago, on the grounds of the former Gonnella Baking Company. Though we haven’t Spoken to an official Spokesman for Spoke, it has its own website now, so that name must be official.
I made the Spokes of a Divvy bike go round and round to get up to River West and check on Power Construction’s progress. With the tower crane long gone (Spoke topped out on March 9), glass and brick have taken over the site, and the exterior is close to being finished. The FitzGerald Associates design for the dual-tower project brings 15- and 13-story buildings containing 363 apartments, 300 parking spots, and 10,000 square feet of retail space.
Time to dismantle the caisson rig and let the sheet driver get at it.
Case Foundation is done, and now it’s Stalworth Underground’s turn, as foundation work at Essex On The Park continues in the South Loop. With all the big holes drilled into the earth, up next comes the piles of sheeting stacked in the southwest corner of the site, and then Essex can get a tower crane moved in. I hope.
https://twitter.com/spencertravels/status/872196158143303682
https://twitter.com/Power_Construct/status/872206953841217536
The very diligent Twitter user @spencertravels looked out the window yesterday and noticed a crane-building crane building a tower crane in River North. Power Construction was kind enough to confirm our suspicions: Marlowe is getting a tower crane.
Not even a week after Thursday’s stub planting, the rest of Marlowe’s crane started assembly Tuesday at 675 North Wells. Work continues Wednesday, and we got there just in time to see part of the jib lifted into place.
Gorgeous curves on the north elevation of the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center.
The two cores got off to a big lead at the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center but now the ironwork is making a move, gaining ground on the concrete towers.
The south elevation of the Simpson Querrey Center gets all the sunlight and attention, but around back along Superior Street, the curvy steel cuts quite the striking figure. It’s definitely worth watching this one from the south and the north. Of course, as is usually the case with most high-rise construction projects, do it on a sunny day. Remember, this phase of the Perkins+Will design will be 14 stories high.
Hey, look over there! Marlowe planted a tower crane!
About a week after receiving a tower crane permit from the City of Chicago, Marlowe planted a stub at 675 North Wells Street in River North on Thursday. Having recently lost cranes at 640 North Wells, The Gallery On Wells, and 3Eleven, the neighborhood needed a burst of excitement, and what’s more fun than a new tower crane?
https://twitter.com/adjustableforms/status/870320994413666306
See? Don’t believe for a second I’m the only one out here excited about tower cranes. Adjustable Forms knows what’s up.
Now the Antunovich Associates-designed 15-story, 176-unit apartment building from Lennar Multifamily Companies can start going skyward, under the careful direction of Power Construction.
The final beam is lifted to the top of 625 West Adams. Photo courtesy of Power Construction.
Sadly, 625 West Adams, the 20-story office building from White Oak Realty and CA Ventures, topped out last week.
Let me explain. Of course, topping out is a huge milestone, and should certainly be celebrated. But it also means the days of that pretty yellow Liebherr tower crane right outside the B.U.C. HQ are numbered. Sadder still, 625 topped out while we were in London, so after countless hours of staring out the window at progress, I missed the soiree.
Power Construction was kind enough to share the photo above, taken as the last beam was lifted into place on Monday, May 22.
The tower crane at 3Eleven has been lowered below the top of the building. You know what that means.
Having served its city well, the tower crane at 3Eleven (311 West Illinois Street) is on the way down. The John Buck Company’s 25-story apartment building topped out in April, and the cladding has nearly reached the top of the tower. Now the work is done for this pretty yellow Liebherr 316 EC-H 12 Litronic tower crane.
Where will it end up next? Well, this is purely speculation, but the tower crane permit for the Nobu Hotel at 854 West Randolph Street in the West Loop calls for the exact same type of Liebherr crane. “Hmmm,” you might say.
Glassin’ up the joint at 465 North Park in Streeterville.
Back in early April, cladding made an appearance at 465 North Park in Streeterville. Now, as Jupiter Realty’s apartment tower continues to push upward, the glass is spreading throughout the podium. When completed, the 48-story tower designed by Pappageorge Haymes will have (sorry, I chickened out on the math) a whole bunch of windows adorning it’s 444 glassy rental units. Maybe I can’t count all those panels, but I assure you, the Windex people are licking their chops. But if statistics are your thing, there will also be 181 parking spaces and nearly 12,000 square feet of retail and commercial space within 465 North Park. Power Construction is on the build; their task is having the tower ready to open early in 2018.
Building Up Chicago 