One Grant Park caissons keep rolling along

Posted on January 30, 2017 by danieldschell

Ongoing caisson work at One Grant Park in the South Loop.

The foundation of any good building is a good foundation.

A very famous-yet-anonymous philosopher probably said something like that way back in the 1200s. And it still holds true today.

One Grant Park (you may know it as 1200 South Indiana) continues to sink caissons into the South Loop ground. Why is that newsworthy? Because it’s grownups playing in the dirt, flinging mud around. Giant machines with drill bits grinding dozens of feet into the earth. Rebar being twisted into tubes and coils. Come on, it’s just cool.

Case Foundation and McHugh Construction are doing their best to keep us all entertained, at least until One Grant Park starts digging a foundation, then shooting skyward. Skyward as in 76 stories, with 792 apartments.

Construction Update: Prairie Court townhomes

Posted on January 19, 2017 by danieldschell

A lot of work has been done on the townhomes of Prairie Court since our last visit in September. In that time, Summit Design + Build has done some major cinder-block stacking, window installing, and even bricked up the wall at the north end of the project. In all, there will be 55 four-story homes from Golub and Sandz Development, slated for completion in 2018.

Ancora aweigh: Riverline puts up a tower crane and gets busy

Posted on January 16, 2017 by danieldschell

A pretty yellow tower crane rises above Ancora, the first phase of the Riverline project from CMK Companies.

You can’t stop a development with a tower crane. You can’t even hope to contain one.

Riverline has one of the newest machines in Chicago construction. A pretty yellow one at that. And its first task is Ancora, the 29-story apartment tower at 720 South Wells Street in the South Loop previously known (according to permits) as “Building D.”

Perkins + Will designed Ancora for CMK Companies, and it will be the first of many structures erected in the Riverline project. There will be 452 apartments and 246 parking spaces included with this phase. Lendlease is taking care of the heavy lifting.

: The Ancora and Alta Roosevelt tower cranes, off in the distance.

Quick Look: Wintrust Arena has a roof

Posted on January 14, 2017 by danieldschell

Finally got a look at the roof of Wintrust Arena this week. Glad I’m not the one who has to shovel the snow off so work can continue.

At Alta Roosevelt, glass is in session

Posted on January 13, 2017 by danieldschell

Glass. Glorious Glass. Appearing now at Alta Roosevelt.

Alta Roosevelt (follow along on Twitter), the 33-story apartment tower from Wood Partners, has added some new shiny things for us to look at: Glass.

A few of the future 496 apartments have windows already installed. Bummer if residents have Macs, I guess. Anyway, the Pappageorge Haymes-designed tower continues to rise at 801 South Financial Place in the South Loop. It’s up to the 11th floor on the main tower; the fourth floor of the parking deck.

Tower Crane Update: 1411 South Michigan

Gallery

Posted on January 13, 2017 by danieldschell

This gallery contains 10 photos.

McHughtel construction gets underway in the South Loop

Posted on January 12, 2017 by danieldschell

Caisson equipment as far as the eye can see.

McHugh Construction crews are rolling rebar cages and digging holes and trenches at the site of McHugh’s new hotel project at 111-123 East Cermak Road in the Prairie District, and that means construction is underway.

The 23-story, 466-room hotel is a design by Antunovich Associates. The City of Chicago filed the building permit back on December 19, and the lot has been filling up with materials ever since. Now, holes are being dug, the aforementioned rebar is being twisted, and caisson equipment is stacked and ready to be sunk into the earth. McHugh, of course, is the general contractor.

: The site, from Cermak and Michigan.

: Have you ever seen a prettier collection of augers?

: Rebar crew.

Construction Progress: 1136 South Wabash aims to go vertical

Posted on January 9, 2017 by danieldschell

Time is running out to see Flyboy, as 1136 South Wabash gets off the ground in the South Loop.

Caissons are done, the tower crane is in place, and 1136 South Wabash is looking more like a 3-dimensional construction site these days. CA Ventures’ 26-story residential tower will bring 320 apartments to the South Loop, with retail on the first floor, and 143 parking spaces. SCB did the design; Lendlease is on the build.

One Grant Park caisson work rolls along

Posted on January 6, 2017 by danieldschell

A gorgeous rendering of One Grant Park from Rafael Viñoly Architects.

When it rains, it pours. Cement into caissons, that is.

Add One Grant Park to the list of skyscrapers getting busy in Chicago. Permitted for foundation work back in October, the empty lot bounded by Michigan Avenue, Roosevelt Road, and Indiana Avenue finally saw some action in December, when crews started site prep. Now, the familiar blue and gold of Case Foundation is on the scene, drilling holes into the South Loop soil to support the 76-story, 792-unit Rafael Viñoly Architects design.

That foundation permit includes twelve (!) levels of parking, so we could see a lot of time and concrete trucks pass between now and the full building permit. But it’s all good; we can kill time running back and forth between One Grant Park and another McHugh Construction supertall in progress, Vista Tower.

: The view from the Roosevelt CTA platform.

: That looks like a 34.

: Yep, it’s a 34.

Essex Inn looks under all the mattresses, comes up with money to begin demolition

Posted on January 6, 2017 by danieldschell

It’s demo time! Goodbye parking garage and swimming pool, hello 475 apartments.

As Crain’s Chicago Business reported on Tuesday, Essex Inn at 800 South Michigan Avenue has secured the funding necessary to upgrade the hotel, and add a new a 56-story apartment tower as its new next-door neighbor.

The Demolition Permit.

And no sooner had the ink on the check dried, crews were out on Michigan Avenue, setting up barriers and scaffolding for the temporary sidewalk that will keep pedestrians safe during demolition of the 5-story garage next to the hotel, while also making sure bloggers and skyscraper nerds can’t get too close to the goings-on.

None other than Heneghan Wrecking (we need t-shirts with Heneghan Again on them) will be making space for the new tower, with a demolition permit having been filed way back on October 27.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved the development back in May of 2016, and I quote:

The Applicant intends to create two subareas within the overall 28,744 square foot site. Subarea A, located at 800 South Michigan Avenue consists of an existing 160’ hotel building and will be rehabbed to include a maximum of 290 hotel keys. Subarea B, located at approximately 812 South Michigan Avenue, will be redeveloped with an approximately 620’ residential building including a maximum of 476 dwelling units, 100 hotel keys as well as 100 parking spaces and commercial space.

Essex on The Park, the name of the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture-designed tower according to Crain’s, should be complete in 2018, and coincide with completion of the hotel renovation.