A brooding Landmark West Loop from the B.U.C. HQ, through some Monday morning weather.

I must have had my back turned Thursday the 23rd, as the Landmark West Loop, the 30-story, 300-unit apartment tower at 1035 West Van Buren Street from Related Midwest, topped out last week. A press release from Lendlease that popped up on LinkedIn shared the news. A milestone moment for the Landmark to be sure, but also a forewarning that another tower crane will be disappearing from the West Loop landscape soon. Shooting stars, they are.

You can read Lendlease’s press release by clicking here, or see the text that follows a few photos from a sunny February day:

Lendlease & Related Midwest Celebrate the Topping Out of Landmark West Loop (Chicago, IL, March 23, 2017) Today, Lendlease, one of the largest construction management firms in Chicago, and Related Midwest, the pre-eminent developer of luxury condominiums and rental homes in Chicago, celebrated the topping out of Landmark West Loop, a new 30-story residential tower located at 1035 W. Van Buren in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. The event, which included lunch and giveaways for the tradesmen and women, celebrated the structure reaching its maximum height, bringing the project one step closer to completion. “We’re very excited to celebrate the topping out of this highly anticipated project that will truly transform the West Loop,” said Bert Brandt, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lendlease. “I want to acknowledge the combined efforts of Related Midwest, the design team, the union trades and our Lendlease project team for their tireless efforts in helping reach this significant project milestone.” “A quality development begins with a quality team, and our longstanding relationship with Lendlease allowed us to assemble just that — thanks to the dedication of the men and women working on this project, Landmark West Loop is on track for August move-ins,” said Don Biernacki, Senior Vice President of Construction at Related Midwest. “As work on the tower continues, we’ve already started pre-leasing and are thrilled by the response from prospective residents, many of whom have been waiting for this level of luxury rental housing to come to the West Loop and Illinois Medical District.” Located along the Eisenhower Expressway, Landmark West Loop is a 442,845-square-foot building featuring 300 luxury apartments and associated parking. Designed by Morris Adjmi Architects, the building is targeting LEED Silver certification.

From this day forward, 1035 West Van Buren would like to be called Landmark West Loop.

You know the guy at the office who refills the stapler for you, then staples the last four pages together and takes credit for the TPS reports you spent all week working on? Well, that’s a very vague analogy for what’s just happened at Related Midwest’s new apartment tower in the West Loop.

New signage had been spotted, and Stephanie Lulay at  DNAinfo reported yesterday, that what had been called 1035 West Van Buren through all the digging and heavy lifting shall henceforth be known as Landmark West Loop.

There’s still a little ways to go to top off the 30-story tower, as it’s reached about 25 floors in height, but still, a lot of the work was done before this new name swooped in. Though to be fair, buildings named after their addresses aren’t especially clever, and three-word street names are just clunky anyway. Besides, no one has moved into any of the 300 new, unfinished rental units yet, so it isn’t like they’ll need change-of-address cards already. So a new moniker for this one seems fitting. Landmark West Loop it is.

Landmark West Loop rises along the Eisenhower Expressway.

The first few panes of glazing have been installed at 1035 West Van Buren in the West Loop.

1035 West Van Buren, the 30-story apartment tower Related Midwest is developing in the West Loop, has reached a milestone moment: glass has made its first appearance, one level above the podium.

Designed by the combined forces of New York’s Morris Adjmi Architects and Chicago’s very own GREC Architects, the new tower sits alongside the Eisenhower Expressway, and will deliver 300 rental units to the neighborhood. Lendlease is the general contractor. It is the hope that 1035 West Van Buren will be open before 2017 is closed.