165 North Desplaines progress continues in the West Loop

Posted on December 26, 2016 by danieldschell

T’was the night before Christmas, and 165 North Desplaines lights up the West Loop.

165 North Desplaines, the 14-story, 199-unit apartment tower from GREC Architects, continues to grow in the West Loop. A foundation permit filed in June, and the full-build permit filed in October, have allowed Power Construction to go to town on the two-part project, which calls not only for the new residential building, but also for the rehab of 156 North Jefferson, a three-story office building with which it shares a lot.

When complete, 165 North Desplaines will also include retail and parking space, and feature the return of the Haymarket Monument, for now residing in Union Park to protect it from damage during construction.

: Gratuitous tower crane shot.

: 152 North Jefferson.

: The Foundation Permit

: The full-build permit.

: Render of 165 North Desplaines from GREC Architects.

: The Haymarket Monument being removed from the construction site back in May.

: The Haymarket Monument in Union Park.

Topped off and glassed up, 30 East heads toward the home stretch

Posted on December 22, 2016 by danieldschell

A CTA Orange Line train passes 30 East, 30 East Balbo Avenue, in the South Loop.

You can see the light at the end of the tunnel for 30 East, the 16-story rental high-rise from Gilbane Development Company. The 134 student-centric apartments at 30 East Balbo Avenue in the South Loop are 99.8% cladded, with only a few panels yet to be installed near the top of the tower. Sadly, I hadn’t been by the site since the October topping-out, so I missed the tower crane’s departure. Which is okay in the end, because the same crane has probably already been installed atop another Chicago project.

Simpson-Querrey Center rising out of its deep excavations

Posted on December 12, 2016 by danieldschell

The Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center

They had to dig for what seemed like an eternity, but excavations have long been complete, and now the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center has risen above street level in Streeterville.

3Eleven doesn’t have glass yet. Or does it?

Posted on December 9, 2016 by danieldschell

A lone panel of glass adorns 3Eleven, at 311 West Illinois Street in River North.

You know that one guy who keeps showing up for work, so you find a job for him somewhere he can be on his own, out of the way, even though you don’t have anything for him to do? Meet the lone glass panel at 3Eleven in River North.

3Eleven has risen 8-10 stories high in River North, just enough to start rendering the parking garage next door obsolete for construction photos. And though it’s clearly too soon (or is it) to begin the curtain wall, there is one piece of glass securely fastened to the north wall. Some sort of place-holder, I presume.

You surely recall that 3Eleven is a development from the John Buck Company, featuring 25 stories of 245 apartments, and 3,000 square feet of retail space. There will also be parking, some for the apartments, and some set aside for the exclusive use of Assumption Catholic Church, from which the lot was purchased. The design is by FitzGerald Associates Architects; Power Construction is doing the heavy lifting.

: Lone glass, nighttime edition.

: it would be cool to have food delivered straight to your window like this.

A look into the core of the Apple Store

Gallery

Posted on December 6, 2016 by danieldschell

This gallery contains 16 photos.

Ace Hotel discards its tower crane

Posted on December 6, 2016 by danieldschell

The tower crane’s gone from the Ace Hotel.

It’s a sign of progress to see how many tower cranes are sprouting throughout Chicago. It’s another sign to see how many of those cranes are disappearing from construction sites around town. Done with one job; on to the next.

The Ace Hotel at 311 North Morgan Street in the West Loop is one of the latest area projects to lose its tower crane. The GREC Architects-designed 159-key, seven-story boutique hotel is topped out, and Sterling Bay is looking to have full houses in the very near future. General contractor Power Construction is doing what it can to make that happen soon.

: Gone too are the shipping containers that held the original facade in place during early construction.

The Viceroy Chicago covers up its jagged concrete with crooked glass

Posted on October 20, 2016 by danieldschell

Flat glass cladding? Not here at the Viceroy Chicago.

If you’re like me, you enjoy going from construction site to construction site, telling crews what they’re doing wrong.

Just kidding. Don’t ever do that. It wouldn’t be appreciated.

The Viceroy Chicago Hotel going up at 1118 North State Street in the Gold Coast has been showing some cool geometric concrete flooring of late, shapes that I assumed would disappear once cladding was put into place. Luckily, architects like Goettsch Partners and contractors like Power Construction know more about what they do than I. Because the best way to to compliment those patterns is to use glass that mocks them.

Glass is going up rapidly at The Viceroy, but this is no ordinary pane. (Sorry, Stevie.) These pieces of cladding come angled. But you’ll see what I mean when you look at the photos.

: This render from Viceroy Hotels shows the V-patterns that angled glass will form. V for Viceroy.

: See? These are the cool shapes in the concrete floors. Especially cool at the corner.

30 East Apartments tops off at 16 stories

Posted on October 20, 2016 by danieldschell

30 East has topped out at 30 East Balbo in the South Loop.

Enjoy the tower crane at 30 East while you can. The 16-story apartment building has topped off, meaning the crane has accomplished most of what it came here to do. 30 East will have 134 apartments ranging from studios to 4-bedroom units, all of them fully furnished. Gilbane Development Company has designs on filling the tower with the large student population in the South Loop. And speaking of designs, SCB is responsible for drawing up 30 East. Power Construction has been taking care of construction.

Gilbane’s goal is to open in time for Fall 2017 classes.

: The glass is more than half full.

: Leave the construction to the professionals.

: They had to demolish a mural depicting a water tank here. Sad.

: The start of caisson work, March 2016.

: If there were tower crane baby photos, this would be the ultrasound.

Addison & Clark has a clean slate to start building

Posted on October 19, 2016 by danieldschell

Cubs star Kris Bryant supervises removal of the last pile of rubble on the Addison Park on Clark site.

Call it Addison & Clark.

Call it Addison Park on Clark.

Either way, it’s about ready to roll. The land once occupied by Starbucks, Red Ivy, Mullen’s, and others, has been scraped clean and smooth, allowing construction crews to get to work. Case Foundation already has caisson equipment ready to drill, and general contractor Power Construction should be swarming onto the site in the coming days. Their task is 148 apartments, a 405-space indoor parking garage, and a whopping 146,000 square feet of commercial space.

: Case Foundation is ready to work.

: Dude’s everywhere.

: Gone.

: Gone.

: Gone.

: Gone.

: Render from addisonparkonclark.com

: Render from addisonparkonclark.com

: Render from addisonparkonclark.com

Construction Update: 1001 West Chicago rises in River West

Posted on October 17, 2016 by danieldschell

1001 West Chicago, with an impressive photobomb by Saint John Cantius, which I hope you visited during Open House Chicago.

1001 West Chicago is rising on the site of the old Gonnella Baking Company site, which is the yeast of the bread puns I could have made. Developed by Bond Companies and Morgan Holdings, designed by Fitzgerald Associates, the dual-tower project will deliver 363 apartments and 10,000 square feet of retail space. Power Construction is on the build.