Aberdeen Crossing begins construction at 1100 West Grand

Posted on October 19, 2024 by danieldschell

Spotted Stalworth’s rig from a rooftop during Open House Chicago 2024.

Aberdeen Crossing is the name of the residential development coming to 1100 West Grand Avenue in West Town, and it is now under construction. Rebar cages have been rolled on the site in preparation for caisson work, and Stalworth Underground has a rig on site to move that caisson equipment around.

Aberdeen Crossing is a project from developer Wildwood Investments. They are delivering 99 units to the neighborhood across a seven-story building designed by bKL Architecture. The will be 1,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 28 cars, plus storage space for 99 bicycles. Contemporary Concepts is the general contractor, with Adjustable Concrete Construction as the concrete contractor.

The project replaces a service station on the plat of land that includes Sterling Bay’s Grand Flag. A demolition permit for the former improvement was issued July 17 under the address of 540 North Aberdeen. Precision Excavation handled the razing.

Despite its modest seven-story height, Aberdeen Crossing will be adding a tower crane to Chicago’s construction skyline. A permit for that crane was issued on August 19. The caisson permit preceded that, with an issue date of August 10, while the full building permit came through on October 11. Wildwood Investments plans on welcoming their first tenants in 2025.

Aberdeen Crossing rendering on the construction fence.

New construction permit allows 5-story, 6-unit condo building at 453 West Briar Place in Lake View

Posted on May 22, 2024 by danieldschell

Rendering of 453 West Briar Place via SGW Architecture & Design

A permit was issued Tuesday, May 21 by the City of Chicago to begin construction on a condominium development at 453 West Briar Place in Lake View. Being built by Chicago’s GVP Development, the new building replaces two now-demolished structures on a tree-lined block featuring mostly mid-rise, multi-unit residences.

A five-story, six-unit condo project, 453 West Briar is a design by SGW Architecture & Design. Formerly known as Sullivan Goulette & Wilson, SGW has offices in Chicago and New York City. We’ve seen their work here on the blog at CA6, CA Washington, and Peoria Green, among others.

Via Google Streetview, 453 (left) and 455 (right) West Briar Place, both now demolished.

To make room for the condo building, 453 West Briar was issued a demolition permit on December 8 of 2021. About 16 months later, and New Construction permit for a four-story, three-unit building was permitted. That project doesn’t appear to have started; instead, another demolition permit, this time for 455 West Briar, was issued August 14, 2023, opening up a second lot for new construction. Precision Excavation was the demolition contractor for both properties, according to the demolition permits.

1020 West Randolph bringing boutique office space to Fulton Market

Posted on April 8, 2022 by danieldschell

1020 Randolph, with a water tank, American flag, and tower crane photobomb in the background.

With apologies to anyone sad about the loss of that weird little bank at the corner of Randolph and Carpenter in the West Loop, I say good riddance to drive-thru banking (do that on your iSmartphonebookpad, ya dinosaur) and hello to boutique office buildings.

1020 West Randolph is currently in foundation mode now. A development by L3 Capital and RL Edward Partners, the five-story brick-façade building is a design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, who’ve created a look that would be just as well suited for Fulton Market’s disappearing meat-packing history as it does in today’s modern phase. The 37,000sf building will include 23,000sf of office space, 5,000sf of retail space, and an amenity roof deck.

W.E. O’Neil is the general contractor. Their goal is to have the building open for tenants early in 2023. They got a building permit (addressed at 155 North Carpenter) on August 13 of last year. The demolition permit for the old bank was issued May 28 and was handled by Precision Excavation. If the below galley includes any demo pics, it’s because I dug through the back pages of my hard drive until I found them. New construction photos were taken 03/21/22 and 04/03/22.

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, snacks & energy drinks, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

As demolition continues, foundation work begins at Ravenswood and Lawrence

Posted on June 25, 2021 by danieldschell

RaveLaw is cooking now.

Most of the demolition work at Ravenswood and Lawrence is done, save for the gaping hole and (what appears to be) 45-foot-thick concrete at the northwest corner of the site. So while Precision Excavation keeps hammering away at that, William A. Randolph has started doing foundation work towards the southeast corner of the property.

They’re working on the two buildings of RaveLaw for Harlem Irving Companies that will ultimately deliver about 170 luxury apartments, wrapped around the newly built Chase Bank, and right next door to the Ravenswood Metra station.

Four demolition permits clear the way for Madison+Carpenter

Posted on May 28, 2021 by danieldschell

Thursday, the City of Chicago issued four demolition permits for the 1000 block of West Madison Street in the West Loop. Those four lots — 1032, 1034, 1040, and 1044 — will soon see construction begin on Madison+Carpenter,

Madison+Carpenter will be a six-story condominium building from ZSD Corp. They’re wrapping up work on another condo development, Peoria Green, just a couple blocks away. Sullivan Goulette & Wilson is the design firm. They’re part of the Peoria Green team as well. We’re also watching progress on their design at CA6 in the West Loop.

Precision Excavation will do the dirty work. I’ve been watching them tear apart the former Chase Bank at RaveLaw.

RaveLaw demolition commenceth

Posted on May 20, 2021 by danieldschell

Several months ago, I went to Chase Bank’s ATM at Ravenswood & Wolcott and transferred all my money from the old bank to the newly-completed branch next door. And it’s a good thing I did, because that old building started coming down yesterday.

That’s Precision Excavation out there doing the dirty work. If you still have money in this branch, they’ve probably found it by now. Sorry.

Once the dust and rubble clear, construction can begin on Ravenswood and Lawrence. But the cool kids (me) are calling it RaveLaw.

Metra and CTA rides, Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

Ravenswood & Lawrence scores more permits

Posted on April 24, 2021 by danieldschell

I was only (mostly) kidding about daily updates on RaveLaw, but permits are milestones, and Ravenswood & Lawrence got two more of them Thursday.

The first permit will tear down the old Chase Bank building at the corner of Lawrence and Wolcott, and the other allows construction to begin for the second portion of the development. Precision Excavation will do the demolition honors.

Soon, a blank canvas at Ravenswood & Lawrence.

Demolition of Truc Lam Temple is permitted to begin

Posted on January 10, 2020 by danieldschell

The Truc Lam Buddhist Temple

It’s a Friday, and the weather ain’t the greatest, so that might be the only thing keeping demolition crews from having their way with the former Truc Lam Buddhist Temple at 1521 West Wilson Avenue in Ravenswood. A demolition permit was issued Thursday, allowing Precision Excavation to level the building on the southeast corner of WIlson and Ashland.

Crews got a jump start by stripping away the aluminum siding in December. Construction fencing went up along the sidewalks the first week of January.

A new building permit for a 2-story structure with a ground-floor day care center was issued for this site back on November 22. That permit indicates a NORR-designed building, with Builtech Services as the GC.