Swift & Company demolition, 4155 South Packers Avenue

Posted on July 11, 2022 by danieldschell

Demolition is fascinating to watch. You might hate that it’s happening, but it’s still hard to look away.

Taken back on June 23, here’s a whole mess of photos of demolition at the former Swift & Company warehouse at 4155 South Packers Avenue in the New City (the first post in New City!) community area. That’s Taylor Excavating on the job, who we saw most recently at the 210 North Aberdeen demos.

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 using the form below.

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920 North Wells, in serious Not Messing Around mode, plants a tower crane

Posted on June 7, 2022 by danieldschell

The way 920 North Wells keeps crashing through milestones, I’m worried if I blink, it’ll be done. Its latest trick is planting the tower crane stub, which was permitted May 17. Keep an eye out, as it’s likely, the way things are going, for the tower crane to be completely erected by the end of this week.

In the meantime, have a whole mess o’ photos of a tower crane base at a construction site. (iPhones come in handy for peeking over fences)

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Demolitions are underway for 210 North Aberdeen

Posted on May 22, 2022 by danieldschell

Slo-mo Green Line Fly-by over 210 North Aberdeen

It’s tough to see the demolition work Taylor Excavating has started at 210 North Aberdeen (fences and angles and whatnot), so the video above, taken from an outbound CTA train, was the best chance to watch. Soon, Taylor Excavating will bust through the backs of the buildings along May Street for better spectating.

LG Group has approval for 210 Aberdeen, a NORR-designed 19-story, 363-unit apartment project in the West Loop. To make way for it, demolition permits were issued May 11 for 213, 215, and 221 North May Street (the aforementioned “backs of buildings) as well as partial demolitions for 210 and 214 North Aberdeen. The original Arthur Harris & Company building, which encompasses both those Aberdeen addresses, is being preserved. Only the small addition on the south end of the building is being removed.

The handsome Arthur Harris & Company building stays put.

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No time is wasted getting 808 North Wells ready for a 2nd chance

Posted on February 20, 2020 by danieldschell

A rendering from Berkelhamer Architects of what might have been at 808 North Wells.

A sales center built at Wells and Chicago back in 2016 for a future residential tower got a demolition permit February 10th so a new vision for the site could begin. And it didn’t take long to tear down the single-story building (it has also seen life as retail space) and rip the old concrete out of the ground. The new 808 North Wells is ready to roll.

808 North Wells was to be a 24-story condominium development from Smithfield Properties with 50 or so condos. The sales center got built, but the tower was never started.

Multiple reports in 2018, including stories by Crain’s and Curbed Chicago, has AMLI Residential looking to build an apartment project on the site. Both sources expected a 17-story tower with just shy of 300 rental units, designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture.

If that’s the case, the northwest corner Chicago and Wells will be a blank canvas very soon. Taylor Excavating made short work of the lot, with just a little debris left to haul away, and then construction can get started.

My friend Liz sent me this photo back in April 2016 of 808 North Wells construction. Exhibit On Superior is rising in the background.

: Not much remains at Chicago & Wells.

Tower crane permit signals the beginning of 1125 West Van Buren

Posted on February 7, 2020 by danieldschell

The tower crane permit for 1125 West Van Buren, issued Feb 6, is the first new construction permit issued for the future apartment tower.

To be fair, the demolition permit in March of last year was probably the real start of construction at 1125 West Van Buren, but a tower crane permit is far more glamorous. And that was issued yesterday.

1125 West Van Buren will be a 20-story, 200-unit apartment building from Tandem, who will also be performing general contracting duties. The tower is a design by Antunovich Associates. If that combo sounds familiar, this is the same team that just wrapped up Avenir in River West.

A rendering of 1125 West Van Buren from Antunovich Associates.

Taylor Excavating doing demolition work on the site in January.

Demolition Update: Fifteen Fifty on the Park

Posted on May 10, 2018 by danieldschell

For someone whose facade is being saved from destruction, you could look happier.

There isn’t much left to see at the corner of Clark Street and North Avenue in Old Town, save for a few blue shipping containers and the facade of the old Village Theater. Those two features, of course, are there for a reason, as one supports the other while the block comes down around them.

Fifteen Fifty on the Park, a 10-story condominium tower being developed by Golub, CIM Group, and Avoda Group, will soon begin construction. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Fifteen Fifty will boast 32 new condos, with parking for 66 cars, and 2,600 square feet of ground-level retail space.

Power Construction will be the general contractor. They got a foundation permit on May 3, so they can start work as soon as demo work is cleaned up.

: The Foundation Permit.

: Fifteen Fifty on the Park rendering from Golub.

Fifteen Fifty on the Park begins demolition, but saves the Village Theater facade

Posted on February 28, 2018 by danieldschell

Demolition for Fifteen Fifty on the Park

3 stacked shipping containers are being used to stabilize the Village Theater facade, which is being saved.

Demolition has begun at three addresses in Old Town, as space is cleared for the new Fifteen Fifty on the Park. The threes are wild, as another trio, this one of developers, are building the new project. Golub, CIM Group, and Avoda Group are collaborating on the 10-story building, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

One of the buildings to be demolished, at 1548 North Clark Street, is the old Village Theater. Its facade is being saved, and Power Construction is utilizing one more 3-fer, this time with three shipping containers stacked atop each other, as a means of stabilizing that facade while everything else crumbles around it. We’ve seen Power use this technique before, at the Ace Hotel site in the West Loop.

According to Golub’s website, Fifteen Fifty on the Park will include 32 luxury condos, 2,600 square feet of retail space, and parking for 66 vehicles.

Taylor Excavating is doing the demolition work.

: Rendering of Fifteen Fifty on the Park from Golub’s website.

: Demo permit for Village Theater at 1546 North Clark.

: 101 West North Avenue demo permit.

: 109 West North Avenue demo permit.

: I operate on the assumption that the 109 demo permit includes 113-115 as well. Or another permit is coming.

: These facades will *not* be saved. I hope.

Dig this: There’s action at Nobu. (No, really, there is!)

Posted on March 4, 2017 by danieldschell

https://twitter.com/MalcolmMossman/status/837021488054222849

Just when we were starting to believe the Nobu Hotel project might be kaput, there appears to be whole-scale excavation happening on the lot at Randolph and Peoria Streets in the West Loop.

Twitter user @MalcolmMossman tweeted the above photo on Wednesday, after wandering past the site and noticing Taylor Excavation’s equipment peeking out above the secretive fencing. And sure enough, a closer inspection shows some real-live digging. Foundation work? Let’s hope so. It’s nice to see some ground move after it was broken way back in June.

: A machine that makes big dirt small. Cool.

: Not seeing any action at Nobu was getting tired, so this makes sense.

The former MCA building is almost gone

Posted on February 18, 2017 by danieldschell

Demolition leaves little remaining of the old Museum of Contemporary Art building.

Mostly Cleared Away.

That’s what MCA stands for now, with demolition of the former Museum of Contemporary Art building at 237 East Ontario Street just about complete.

On the way is the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile, a 19-story, 336-room hotel from Tishman Realty. The new Streeterville hotel is a design from Valerio DeWalt Train Associates, so the MCA building had to die so the new structure could be built, or die.

: Rendering from the Tishman website

: Rendering from the Tishman website

: GONE

Former Museum of Contemporary Art Building out; Aloft Hotel in?

Posted on January 18, 2017 by danieldschell

Goodbye Museum of Contemporary Art, hello Aloft Chicago Mag Mile.

A demolition permit filed Tuesday by the City of Chicago looks like the beginning of the new Aloft Chicago Mag Mile. Brought to you by Tishman, designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates, the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile is slated to bring 336 rooms across 19 floors to 237 East Ontario Street in Streeterville, home of the former Museum of Contemporary Art. Taylor Excavating will handle the tear-down chores.

Rendering of the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile from Tishman.

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Tag Archives: Taylor Excavating

Swift & Company demolition, 4155 South Packers Avenue

Make a one-time donation

920 North Wells, in serious Not Messing Around mode, plants a tower crane

Make a one-time donation

Demolitions are underway for 210 North Aberdeen

Make a one-time donation

No time is wasted getting 808 North Wells ready for a 2nd chance

Tower crane permit signals the beginning of 1125 West Van Buren

Demolition Update: Fifteen Fifty on the Park

Fifteen Fifty on the Park begins demolition, but saves the Village Theater facade

Dig this: There’s action at Nobu. (No, really, there is!)

The former MCA building is almost gone

Former Museum of Contemporary Art Building out; Aloft Hotel in?