Chicago’s new Apple flagship store plants a tower crane in Pioneer Court

Posted on August 3, 2016 by danieldschell

I should have waited one more day to post about the new Apple flagship store on the Magnificent Mile. Now, for one of the best possible reasons, I have to take you to 401 North Michigan Avenue for the second day in a row: Chicago’s new Apple store has a tower crane stub!

Power Construction, contractors general (is that a thing) for the new gadget haven, anchored the first section into the ground today. And as luck would have it, I was in the very same neighborhood today. Crazy, right?

: You see it, right? Waaaaaay over there?

: Soon, Apple will be able to use their tower crane to pluck kayakers from the Chicago River. Like an iDock.

: Tight quarters.

Apple Store peeling off bits of Pioneer Core

Posted on August 2, 2016 by danieldschell

If Pioneer Court is a sacred place to you, look away.

Yes, it’s “Court.” Pioneer Court. I was trying to make two Apple jokes in one headline. It was a miss. Let’s move on.

The Chicago Tribune printed much of the detail about Apple’s new Chicago flagship store back in November. As for me, I just have a few photos of what’s going on in, and under, Pioneer Court, up to and including the anticipation of a tower crane.

“A tower crane?” you say. “For a 2-story building?” Hey, I don’t make the rules. Or the permits. And there’s a permit for a tower crane.

Crews have cut away a good portion of the south side of the court. Expect more demolition before this space starts looking like a retail store.

: Am I really seeing what you saw?

: Work along the Chicago River, as seen from the Michigan Avenue bridge.

: Some sort of prehistoric elevator system.

: If Lower Pioneer Court was a thing, this would be it.

: Could that be the makings of a tower crane base?

: Sub-work.

: The Tower Crane Permit.

165 North Desplaines is in the Crane Game

Posted on July 28, 2016 by danieldschell

It’s here! 165 North Desplaines fully assembled its tower crane today.

If you’re on my list of having a tower crane permit, but you still haven’t erected your tower crane yet, please step forward.

Hey, not so fast, 165 North Desplaines.

Yep, it’s up. Today, and maybe parts of yesterday, crews in the West Loop assembled a tower crane over top of North Desplaines Street. As you can’t quite tell from the photo above, it extends out over Randolph Street. Not that it will be lifting things that way, but it needs the reach to cover the lot from Desplaines east to Jefferson.

And now, I bring you A Tower Crane From Every Angle:

Construction Update: 30 East

Posted on July 28, 2016 by danieldschell

30 East s starting to show itself at the corner of Balbo and Wabash.

Ah yes, 30 East. This is a new concept for me. A rental tower aimed at the student population in the South Loop. Roosevelt University. Robert Morris University. Columbia College. East-West University. Heck, there were 170 kids in my high school graduating class, so Jones Prep looks like a college to me. Even DePaul has a campus nearby. All crammed within a few urban blocks. And those students — not all of them, but many — need places to live.

30 East, at 30 East Balbo Avenue, is going to be a 16-story apartment building catering to those students. 134 apartments, all furnished. 255 beds. No bring-your-own-mattress-and-desk here. There will be studio, convertible, one-, two-, three-, even four-bedroom units. There will be a service to match residents with roommates. Plus all the amenities you’d expect from today’s new residential construction.

Gilbane Development Company is responsible for the project. Solomon Cordwell Buenz designed the tower. Power Construction is the general contractor. Opening is expected in late summer of 2017, just in time for fall classes.

Have a look at the progress Power has made so far:

: You know what this is, right?

: Looking at the southwest corner of the development.

: Power construction workers scale the west wall.

: Do not tag the banners.

: Along Balbo.

: From the intersection of Balbo and Wabash.

: The city makes a nice backdrop for city construction.

: Looks deceiving, but the trains do not pass *through* 30 East.

Construction Update: 3Eleven Caisson Work

Posted on July 25, 2016 by danieldschell

Revcon has caisson work well underway at 3Eleven.

Sit back while I tell you everything I know about the goings-on in the 300 block of West Illinois Street in River North.

At 311 West Illinois Street, the John Buck Company is putting up 3Eleven, a 25-story apartment tower, in what used to be the parking lot of Assumption Catholic Church. The FitzGerald Associates Architects-designed building will boast 245 “luxury” rentals, 3,000 square feet of retail, and 109 parking spaces, some of which will be set aside for the exclusive use of the church. Power Construction is on the build, and Revcon Construction is revving up the caissons as we speak.

Separately, on the other side of the church, a one-story addition is being added to the priory building. That is a project designed by McBride Kelley Baurer Architects, with Norcon, Inc. of Chicago handling the general contractor duties. I’d show you photos of that work, but there isn’t much to see. The action is all at the east end of the block.

: Up close and personal with the caisson rig.

: An actual caisson in the wild. Though it’s fenced in.

: The roof of the priory.

: Assumption Catholic Church in the background.

: The Foundation Permit.

: Since we’re here, a couple details of Assumption Catholic Church.

Tower Crane Update: 165 North Desplaines Joins The Parade

Posted on July 22, 2016 by danieldschell

Don’t hide from us, we want to watch you sprout!

It’s hard to be everywhere every day.

I don’t know what day Power Construction planted their tower crane at 165 North Desplaines in the West Loop. I just know it was there when I went by Thursday. And really, just seeing it there is enough.

To remind you, 165 North Desplaines will be a 14-story apartment tower from developer Gerding Edlen. Designed by Chicago’s GREC Architects, it will contain 199 units, with 99 parking spaces and some retail space on the ground floor.

: Caisson work just wrapped up.

: 152 North Jefferson, “behind” 165 North Desplaines, is being renovated as part of the development.

: A rendering from GREC Architects of what 165 North Desplaines will look like.

: One of the buildings that formerly stood on this lot.

: And the taller of the demolished structures…

: …which used to have this cool stairway…

: …and this equally cool indoor, sideways water tank.

Construction Update: 465 North Park Caisson Work

Posted on July 21, 2016 by danieldschell

On the horizon, Case Foundation drills caissons at 465 North Park.

They got their permit July 6th. And time is of the essence. That’s why dirt is flying every which way at 465 North Park.

Case Foundation moved equipment from 625 West Adams over to this lot two weeks ago, reassembled it all, and got to work. They’re drilling caissons for Jupiter Realty Company’s 47-story, 444-unit apartment tower at 465 North Park Drive in Streeterville. Once caissons are done, Power Construction will get to work turning the Pappageorge Haymes Partners design into reality.

: The Foundation Permit. And a fence.

: It’s a busy yard.

: Totally tubular caisson equipment.

: Rebar tubes. Love the rebar tubes.

: Look closely, and you’ll see Optima II rising in the background.

A Simpson-Querrey Tower Crane Blooms in Streeterville.

Posted on July 20, 2016 by danieldschell

Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine

Tower Crane alert!

They’ve been digging a hole — a real big hole — since breaking ground in May of 2015 at 303 East Superior Street in Streeterviile for Northwestern University’s Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine. This is Phase One, which calls for a 14-story tower designed by Bridget Lesniak of Perkins + Will that will fully integrate with the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center next door. Phase Two will add an additional 16 stories atop Phase One.

The Chicago Architecture Blog spotted a new tower crane stub against the north wall of the pit. How did I miss this one coming? It didn’t make my list of six to watch for because it’s been so long — January 26th — since the City of Chicago filed the tower crane permit. So I simply failed, again, to scroll far enough.

There’s another surprise ahead for me, though. There are two tower cranes permitted for the site. One for the north end, one for the south end. Will the south crane be coming any day now? Or will the north have a chance to get some work done before the second crane arrives?

Oh my goodness, do you realize what this is? North vs South! It’s a Tower Crane Civil War!

: Some native vegetation thriving along the north wall.

: When will we see a second tower crane here at the south end of the construction site?

: This has been a vert deep dig.

: North tower crane permit.

: South tower crane permit.

The Calm Before the Storm at 165 North Desplaines

Posted on July 16, 2016 by danieldschell

Where did all that equipment go? 165 North Desplaines is (temporarily) very quiet.

Tear it down.

Smooth it over.

Dig the holes.

Smooth it over.

Such is the cycle of life for a construction site. We’re in that fourth phase now at 165 North Desplaines. It’s eerily quiet, now that caisson equipment has been shipped off (is some of it now at 3Eleven?).

Of course, the silence won’t last. Expect Power Construction to swamp the lot soon to build the foundation and set up a tower crane. (Perhaps in that first big hole in the southwest corner of the lot?)

Seems to me this could be a good place for a new tower crane.

Things got all smoothed over in June, too. After demolition was complete, but before caisson work started.

Shout-out to Power Construction for having a chair waiting for me on site.

Spotted at 3Eleven, another Power site. Did it travel direct from 165 North Desplaines?

Check One Off The List: 625 West Adams Plants a Tower Crane

Posted on July 14, 2016 by danieldschell

Setting the tower crane base, bright and early this morning.

It was an inadvertent Tower Crane Tuesday post. And here we are on Thursday, and it’s already obsolete. But in the good way. For no longer are there six tower crane permits awaiting actual tower cranes. No, my friends, now there are five.

https://twitter.com/BuildUpChicago/status/753393411969970176

https://twitter.com/BuildUpChicago/status/753580641397116929

625 West Adams trucked in the base of its new tower crane yesterday, and wasted no time this morning rooting it into the ground. It’s one of those pretty yellow ones, too. And it will be right outside my window. Thank you, Power Construction. You know the way to my heart.

Please let me know if there’s an angle of this crane you’d like to see that I haven’t included below…