Tag Archives: The Lincoln Common

The Orchard is growing condos at The Lincoln Common

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This ridiculous sunrise shot from the tower crane, from Gilbane Building Company, taken at The Orchard.

Located next to the recently-opened matching towers of The Lincoln Common, The Orchard is a seven-story, 32-unit condominium building on the rise in Lincoln Park. There are two developers: McCaffery Interests and Hines. The design architect is Antunovich Associates. Gilbane Building Company is the general contractor.

The condo building has reached its final height of seven floors. There’s still a lot of exterior work to be done, and then there’s the matter of getting 32 condominiums move-in ready. The Orchard is on track to open later this year.

 

 

Stuff That’s Done: The Apartments at Lincoln Common

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The two apartment towers that anchor the new Lincoln Common development in Lincoln Park opened to residents in Spring 2019. The Apartments at Lincoln Common fill the pair of 20-story towers with 538 apartments, featuring studio, one-bed, two-bed, and three-bedroom units.

The sprawling complex is built on the grounds of the former Children’s Memorial Hospital, which was demolished after the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago was constructed in Streeterville. Children’s patients were moved there in the spring of 2012.

This phase of The Lincoln Common could have been called Noahville, because everything about this project came in pairs:

There are the two towers.

The two towers were erected by two tower cranes.

There are two developers: Hines and McCaffery Interests.

There are two design architects: Antunovich Associates and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Alas, there only needed to be one general contractor in charge of putting it all together; W.E. O’Neil filled those duties.

Included in the photo gallery below are a couple more pieces of the Lincoln Common puzzle:

  • A five-story boutique office building at 2350 N Lincoln.
  • A row of single-story retail spaces from 2316-2348 N Lincoln
  • The renovated “power station” buildings at 2355 N Lincoln
  • A new Chase Bank in the recreated building at 2377 N Lincoln

Updates to come: The Orchard, a seven-story condominium building currently under construction, and Belmont Village Senior Living, a completed seven-story residential facility at 700 West Fullerton.

Congratulations to all involved in the ongoing establishment of a great new neighborhood on Chicago’s north side.

 

 

Chicago’s multi-tower-crane jobs are disappearing fast

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A matter of mere days after I’d finally come to grips with no longer having two tower cranes at the new McDonald’s Headquarters in the West Loop, word came that the East Crane at Vista Tower was coming down. I made the pilgrimage over to Streeterville to take a few shots from across the Chicago River, turned to look behind me, and what else do I see? One tower crane at One Bennett Park! I appreciate everyone’s progress here, but noooooooo!

We’re counting on you to never finish, The Lincoln Common!

Vista Tower East Tower Crane

Vista Tower’s East Tower Crane is at half-mast.

One Bennett Park One Tower Crane

What’s funny is, I took this photo earlier Saturday morning for the single crane at Vista Tower, not noticing the half a crane atop One Bennett Park.

Now seems like as good a time as any to revisit and celebrate the TEN TOWER CRANES(!) of Battersea Power Station in London, and the 5-pack of cranes at Jewel Residences in Gold Coast, Australia.

Battersea Power Station London

Jewel Residences, Gold Coast, Australia

The Lincoln Common tower cranes

Please never leave us, Lincoln Common tower cranes! (Announcer voice: The Lincoln Common is almost topped out, so….)

The two towers of The Lincoln Common continue their race to the top

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The Lincoln Common June 2018

The Lincoln Common’s two towers near topping out in Lincoln Park.

If my math is correct, I see towers of 18 and 19 stories at The Lincoln Common. Both those numbers are very close to 20, which is what we were expecting on the former Children’s Memorial Hospital site in Lincoln Park.

And it’s not just those two towers W.E. O’Neil is hard at work constructing. Belmont Village across Fullerton has started shooting upwards, 2380 North Lincoln (the old White Elephant shop) is getting some much-needed attention (finally!) and the six-story retail & office building at 2350 North Lincoln has risen fast. Heck, even the parking garage next to that is having work done. These are a busy couple of blocks in Lincoln Park.

The Lincoln Common brings the pane

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In the distance, the two towers of The Lincoln Common rise in Lincoln Park.

As the two 20-story towers of The Lincoln Common climb towards the sky, there’s considerable action down near the lower floors. Glass action. And the glass action suits this project just fine. Thank GC W.E. O’Neil for the shiny new panes.

The Lincoln Common is being co-developed by Hines and McCaffery Interests. Two architecture firms are involved in the design of the two towers as well: Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Antunovich Associates. This portion of the old Childrens Memorial Hospital site will deliver 269 apartments in each tower.

Competition is fierce, as the two towers of The Lincoln Common rise in Lincoln Park

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The Lincoln Common February 2018

Somewhat of a side-by-side shot of two towers at The Lincoln Common rising in Lincoln Park.

Only in my own mind is there a raging competition at The Lincoln Common between W.E. O’Neil crews on the North and South towers. It’s only my imagination conjuring up images of hidden hammers and missing rebar, as the North Team does anything it can to infiltrate the South and sabotage their efforts. You simply can’t complete a 20-story building if one of your work boots is stolen every morning.

Yet somehow, both towers seem to be coming along quite nicely. As if everyone’s working together instead of getting in each other’s way. Novel concept, is it not?

Chicago’s 62nd (and final?) tower crane of 2017 is up at Belmont Village

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Belmont Village tower crane

This shiny red tower crane is ready to lift heavy stuff at Belmont Village.

Unless you’re a big Tunch Ilkin fan, the number 62 might not mean all that much to you. But it’s somewhat of a landmark here in Chicago, as we’ve reached 62 tower cranes for the year.

And while we still have a stub planted in the ground (at Hayden West Loop) we don’t have a date on that tower crane going up, so Belmont Village may very well be our final tower crane of the year.

Chicago surpassed its all-time high (heh — high) in tower cranes back in September, when the Mayor’s office announced we’d erected our 54th crane of the year. But we didn’t stop there.

The crane at Belmont Village, the 7-story senior living facility being built at 700 West Fullerton, marks the third tower crane for The Lincoln Common, GC W.E. O’Neil, and for Lincoln Park. They make a handsome trio.

If indeed this is our final tower crane of 2017, it deserves a big photo gallery of assembly. So here you go, taken over the course of three days (Dec 6-8)

Belmont Village hides a tower crane stub in Lincoln Park

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Belmont Village tower crane stub

Deep down, that’s a very nice tower crane stub at 700 West Fullerton for the Belmont Village project.

It’s there, the tower crane stub that will soon grow into W.E. O’Neil’s third tower crane at The Lincoln Common development on the old Children’s Memorial Hospital site in Lincoln Park. But you have look hard.

The red stub is planted along the east side of the new Belmont Village senior living site, along Orchard Street, at 700 West Fullerton. But it’s rooted so deep into the foundation that, until the rest of the crane is erected, it goes largely unnoticed.

We expect the tower crane to be erected in full this week, which would make it our 33rd active tower crane in Chicago, and #62 for 2017.

Two towers of The Lincoln Common are starting to rise

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The Lincoln COmmon

One of two cores that will become 20-story towers at The Lincoln Common.

Cores for the dual 20-story towers at The Lincoln Common are starting to rise from the deep excavations along Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park. W.E. O’Neil has a pair of tower cranes working on-site, so we’re going to assume there’s a little friendly competition going on over there over which tower grows faster.

We’ve pointed this out before: The Power Of Two is hard at work at The Lincoln Common.

There were a couple newsworthy events at other phases of The Lincoln Common last week. First, a tower crane permit was issued for Belmont Village at 700 West Fullerton. Later in the week, a full permit was issued for the 6-story office building at 2350 North Lincoln, directly across the street from the dual towers. W. E. O’Neil is the CG on those two projects as well.

The Lincoln Common scores a third tower crane permit at Belmont Village

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Belmont Village Lincoln Park

As foundation work continues, Belmont Village has secured a tower crane permit.

Belmont Village, the 7-story senior living center coming to 700 West Fullerton Parkway as part of the Lincoln Common development, received a tower crane permit from the City of Chicago Wednesday. That makes it three for W. E. O’Neil, who are also utilizing two others for the towers being constructed on the Lincoln Avenue properties.

7-story buildings lie right on the precipice of tower-crane necessity. This one was a tad unexpected, but it’s also not surprising that a tower crane is needed. In the meantime, foundation work for Belmont Village, as you’ll see in the photos that follow, continues in earnest as we wait for the crane stub.

Belmont Village will be a brick building with 149 residential units, built on the site of the former Nellie A. Black Memorial Pavilion. The 120,000-square-foot facility will be able to accommodate approximately 170 residents. It will be connected to The Lincoln Common via a tunnel beneath Fullerton Ave. Completion is expected in Summer 2019.