Progress Update: Inspire West Town is a wonder of concrete stalagmites

Posted on May 18, 2021 by danieldschell

Took a quick peek at Inspire West Town (670 North May) Monday to see how progress was coming along, and wasn’t disappointed. New growth is shooting up all over. Of course, it *is* spring.

Bond Companies is the developer of this eight-story, 118-unit building, a project designed by FitzGerald, with Global Builders in charge of construction.

Inspire West Town progress, on a gray May day.

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Stuff That’s Done: Westerly

Posted on May 4, 2021 by danieldschell

The tower crane at Westerly, October 2019

Westerly is an 11-story, 188-unit apartment building at 740 North Aberdeen in River West that welcomed its first tenants in Fall 2020. A development from Fifield Companies, it includes 188 rental units and 2,400 square feet of retail space.

FitzGerald is the design architect behind Westerly; McHugh Construction served as GC.

CTA and Metra fares, Uber rides, Zipcars, Divvy bikes, camera lenses, and durable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses with a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

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Nevele22 catches the eye in River West

Posted on March 26, 2021 by danieldschell

Nevele22, at 1122 West Chicago Avenue in River West.

Height will make you noticeable. When you can’t achieve that, bright yellow construction materials will do the trick.

Nevele22 is one such example as it rises in River West. Located at 1122 W. Chicago Avenue, Nevele22 will be a 7-story, 97-unit rental property where Chicago and Milwaukee Avenues converge. It’s a busy intersection, and a busy neighborhood.

Nevele22 is being developed by Lipe Property Company of Wicker Park. It is a design by Pappageorge Haymes Partners. The building permit, issued in April of last year, also calls for 39 parking spots and ground-floor retail space. Global Builders is the general contractor.

Nevele22 hopes to be open for move-ins this spring.

670 North May is on its way

Posted on March 23, 2021 by danieldschell

Hey Chicago. We only have 12 tower cranes in the air right now. I better start paying attention to some of the smaller projects too, while I have the time, or there won’t be much to post.

Here’s one such development, at 670 North May in River West. It’s just getting started. It was issued a foundation permit back in February, and I quote:

FOUNDATION AND PARTIAL SUPERSTRUCTURE PERMIT FOR NEW 113 UNIT, 8 STORY RESIDENTIAL TOWER. SCOPE OF PERMIT INCLUDES ALL UNDERGROUND WORK THROUGH 1ST STORY PODIUM AND 8 STORY CORES. **2019 BUILDING CODE** CONSULTANT REVIEWER: GLOBETROTTERS ENGINEERING

I think what that means is we’ll see all eight floors of elevator core before the rest of the building starts going up. But I could easily be wrong, as I really just take pictures of stuff.

According to that permit, Bond Companies is the developer here, of a project designed by FitzGerald, with Global Builders in charge of construction.

Here’s the presentation from the August 2020 Chicago Plan Commission meeting, when the development was approved. (“Hotel use”?) 1140 West Erie was the name then, as well as the address of the building that was demolished to clear the lot. But you’ll notice “670 North May” on the building in some of the renderings.

Anyway, here are the exciting iPhone shots of the beginnings of foundation work. Yeah, the above renderings are much more exciting, until work amps up.

Stuff That’s Done: I welcome our bedtime-robot overlords at Avenir

Posted on February 1, 2020 by danieldschell

Crain’s Chicago visited the new Avenir apartment tower at 730 North Milwaukee Avenue in River West recently. The 23-story, 196-unit rental building opened to its first tenants January 16, per Crain’s.

Avenir is a design by Antunovich Associates. It was developed and built by Tandem.

Check out the article linked above by Crain’s. You’ll get to see a video about how livable a studio unit can be when a robot does the heavy lifting for you.

740 North Aberdeen progressing in River West

Posted on January 29, 2020 by danieldschell

740 North Aberdeen is an 11-story apartment building coming to the River West neighborhood later this year. A development from Fifield Companies, it will include 188 rental units and 2,400 square feet of retail space.

FitzGerald is the design architect; McHugh Construction is on the build.

Not sure where North Aberdeen is in River West? Think Ogden and Milwaukee. This is a short block south-ish of that on Ogden.

: Tower crane shots, October 2019

: Playing peekaboo with Spoke.

Seven 10 West is topped out and shining bright in River West

Posted on September 11, 2017 by danieldschell

Seven 10 West has topped out, mostly in yellow, at 710 West Grand in River West.

That glow you’ve seen lately in the River West neighborhood might be coming from an unlikely source: construction. Not just any construction though. It’s coming from lots and lots of yellow building materials wrapping Seven 10 West, the nine-story apartment building from Wicker Park Apartments and Outlook Development Group.

The Brininstool + Lynch-designed project will deliver 105 studio, one-bed, and two-bedroom units, along with parking for 45 cars and retail space on the ground level. You might look at the photo gallery follows of the topped-out structure, and think this is, in fact, an eight-story building, but the ninth floor you can’t see is the amenity floor up on 9, and its smaller floor plate hides it from the street and many angles.

Arco/Murray is the GC on Seven 10 West. They’ve been tasked with having the new apartments open for residents in early 2018.

1001 West Chicago (Spoke) buttons up the exterior

Posted on June 19, 2017 by danieldschell

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.

Construction Update: 710 Grand

Posted on May 30, 2017 by danieldschell

Six stories up, three to go, at 710 Grand.

710 Grand, the Transit Oriented Development from Outlook Development Group and Wicker Park Apartments, has framed in the first six of its ultimate nine stories. The 105-unit residential building at 710 West Grand Avenue in River West was designed by Brininstool + Lynch, and is being built by Arco/Murray.

710 Grand will have studio, one-bed and two-bedroom units, with 45 parking spaces included on the first floor. Amenities will be part of the ninth floor, along with a rooftop deck. The 710 website promises both pet-friendly floors, and “Homo sapiens-only” floors in the building. It is safe to assume that the pet-friendly floors will allow humans.

The heavy lifting ain’t over at the topped-out 1001 West Chicago

Posted on March 21, 2017 by danieldschell

The two towers of 1001 West Chicago have reached peak height in River West.

Sure, the highest of the high stuff is lifted at 1001 West Chicago, which celebrated topping out back on March 9th. But there’s still some heavy hoisting to do. If, of course, you consider giant concrete slabs “heavy.” While the tower crane remains on-site, a street crane is handling the podium work.

There’s also the matter of installing windows at the two-tower development by FitzGerald Associates. These are big square windows, as opposed to the full glass walls we’ve been seeing on so many projects. It’s a nice change.