A freshly-planted stub takes root at 1000M.
It’s an embarrassment of riches for stub fans, with Chicago’s second planting last week of a tower crane. This one is at 1000M, and it too will be fulling erected this week. The rebar beds that will soon be filled with concrete provide one serious crane pad. It’s funny; the Crane Company Building is right around the corner. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
Move along, folks. No tower cranes to see here.
Make it 17.
One of Chicago’s 18 March tower cranes is already gone, with Imprint (717 South Clark) now topped out and craneless. The good news is, we won’t have to wait long to replace that 18th crane, and add a 19th. But more on that later.
As you can see in the photos, curtain wall progress is inching toward the top of the 30-story Imprint. A Spring 2020 opening is planned, though not all units will be available for immediate occupancy in the spring. Click on the Imprint link and you’ll see what’s gonna be ready when.
No longer on site.
Caisson work is complete at 1000M in the South Loop. Now, foundation work continues as piles are driven and earth is moved. In fact, the pile driving might be done; I didn’t notice the Keller rig I saw earlier this month still on site Sunday with which to pound them into the ground.
A tower crane permit was issued January 16 for 1000 South Michigan, so that’s another milestone to keep an eye out for. I wish could say I spotted the caissons sticking up out of the ground that I think will be the crane’s location, but I ain’t that smart. I’ll keep guesses, assumptions, and speculation to myself.
The basics on 1000M: Designed by Helmut Jahn. James McHugh Construction is the general contractor. There’s a three-member development team — Time Equities, JK Equities, and Oak Capitals. It will be 74 stories and 832 feet tall, and if you live there, I will invite myself over constantly. Now you know that.
Coeval has two addresses: 51 East 14th St. and 1419 South Wabash. Ave
I had surgery on a knee as a young adult. I was fascinated by the effects of anesthesia. One moment after drifting off to sleep, my eyes popped open in the recovery room. To me, the surgery happened faster than the snap of the fingers. Like time travel in Back To The Future.
Those questionable analogies are a means of explaining Coeval. I stopped by 14th and Wabash twice; once during demolition of 1415 South Wabash, and once as the rolling crane was being set up on the freshly-demoed lot. The third time I visited, this past week, Coeval was open. Heck, I didn’t even know it was called Coeval now. If only construction could be instantaneous like that.
Coeval is a two-towered apartment development from CMK Companies. Consisting of a 14-story tower to the north, and a 10-story tower to the south, the project contains about 260 units in total. It was designed by Pappageorge Haymes Partners and built by Clark Construction. It opened to residents last summer.
You all are The. Best.
Just a day after I posted about not making it to 2111 South Wabash in time to snap the tower crane, Robert Burke comes along and fills my inbox with photos. Crane going up, crane coming down, crane building a building, the whole sequence. Thank you, Robert!
All photos are from Robert Burke:
Aspire Residences, at 2111 South Wabash, glassing up the joint.
That’s Power Construction in the tweet above, letting the world know about the topping out of 2111 South Wabash in the South Loop back in December. That same week, Draper & Kramer, the developer of 2111, announced not only the topping out, but also the project’s new name — Aspire Residences.
The 24-story, 275-unit apartment building took down the tower crane in late January. (A tower crane I saw, but didn’t get a photo of. I hate missing them.) Aspire is a design by SCB. It’s on schedule to open this summer.
Essex On The Park, standing tall over Grant Park in Chicago’s South Loop.
This is Essex On The Park. Built at 808 South Michigan Avenue, the shiny new tower brought 476 new apartments to the South Loop. It stand 56 stories and 620 feet high, looming over the western edge of Grant Park. Essex On The Park opened to residents in March 2019.
The Team:
Developer — Oxford Capital Group
Design Architect — Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
General Contractor — Power Construction
Foundations — Keller NA
Demolition — Heneghan Wrecking
You’ll see all their work, in one form or another, in the gallery below, spanning from January 2017 to February 2020.
NEMA Chicago started out as One Grant Park. I liked that name. It didn’t give you the address, but you still knew right where it must be. You know, that really really tall one at the south end of the park. Alas, things and names change.
Thursday, James McHugh Construction sent out the above tweet, announcing they’ve done all they can do at NEMA, more than three years after taking control of the empty lot at Indiana and Michigan Avenues, and Roosevelt Road.
There are 800 apartments in this brand new 76-story skyscraper, and if the views of Chicago aren’t enough for you, it also has about a kajillion square feet of amenity space. It’s a marvelous design by Rafael Viñoly Architects. Crescent Heights is the developer. NEMA Chicago opened to residents in July 2019.
Imprint rises at 717 South Clark St in the South Loop.
This is my first edition dedicated to Imprint. The name Imprint is a novel idea, an homage to the history of the South Loop’s Printers Row neighborhood. You should book a tour; nothing is binding until you sign a lease. I tried to talk to one of the workers on site, but the wind was too strong, creating a rough draft that had chapter lips. She wasn’t able to page someone else, despite my attempt to press.
That’s it; I don’t have any more printing puns. <HITS PUBLISH>
Imprint will be a 30-story, 349-unit rental tower. A three-story, 55,000-sq-ft former office building at 719 South Clark is being renovated and integrated as amenity space for the new residents.
CMK Companies, responsible for a lot of what’s being built in the South Loop, is the developer. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the design architect, and Lendlease is on the build. They’re all working toward a Spring 2020 opening.
It’s been more than 18 months since we’ve checked in on Alta Grand Central in the South Loop. That was in June of 2018, just after Alta Grand Central had been announced on Instagram. Not surprisingly, it has gone from dirt lot to near-completion in that amount of time.
The two 14-story, Pappageorge Haymes Partners-designed apartment towers contain 346 units. Wood Partners is the developer and Walsh Construction the general contractor, just like they were around the corner at Alta Roosevelt.
Alta Grand Central looks move-in ready from the outside, but we still need to wait a bit for the opening.
The Alta Grand Central construction site during our last visit, June 2018.
