Fine, that seems a little dramatic. But seven tower cranes ain’t a lot of tower cranes. (And one of them isn’t even in operation yet.) The Chicago Seven are:
3. Plumbers Local 130 Parking Garage (1371 West Randolph.) W.E. O’Neil is the general contractor. Plumbers Local 130 is the developer. OKW Architects is the design architect.
Yes, there are a few on the way. These have tower crane permits:
410 South Wabash is done with foundation work. 1000M will hopefully be back in business soon. 164 North Peoria is still in caisson mode. ALLY at Lincoln Yards hasn’t broken ground quite yet, but site work has started, at it got a foundation permit last week. 1306 East 61st Street – The University of Chicago doesn’t have any other permits yet. 178 West Randolph and 320 South Clinton? I’m not holding my breath.
No permit, but . . .
UIC had a tower crane at the UI Health Outpatient Surgery Center & Specialty Clinics crane is being dismantled this week. UIC may need a crane at 700 West Taylor for its Computer Design Research and Learning Center. But there won’t be a city permit for it, should there be one, because this is being built under the State of Illinois’ authority. 513 South Damen just got a foundation permit for 21 stories.
Chicago made it back to double digits Thursday, as W.E. O’Neil finished erecting the city’s 10th active tower crane at 1371 West Randolph Street in the West Loop. That crane will build the seven-story parking garage for the Plumbers Local 130, on what used to be a portion of their surface parking lot.
I would once again like to point out that those guys up there, especially out on the jib, are in no danger of losing their jobs to me.
Tuesday, right here in this very space, I pointed out the verticality Onni Group was achieving at 354 North Union despite not having the tower crane in place yet. Perhaps I could have waited two more days . . .
This will be the 11th tower crane in Chicago if it’s fully erected before any of the topped-out projects (Parq Fulton, Evo Union Park, One Chicago, UI Health) take theirs down.
The Plumbers Union 130 parking garage has a tower crane stub in the ground as of last Monday, according to the kind folks on site from W.E. O’Neil. The rest of the crane should be up by the end of this week, allowing Chicago to crawl back into double digits.
Not sure why double digits is such a big deal to me, other than indicating some sort of threshold for where we “should” or “shouldn’t” be, tower-cranewise. It means nothing substantial, really. However, I scored in double digits exactly once in my high school basketball career, and that IS important.
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We are down to 10 active tower cranes in Chicago. Not saying sound the alarm, but I’d know where the panic button is, just in case.
Paying close attention to Randolph Street. 609 West Randolph has been topped out for awhile, so that crane could come down by the time I type this sentence. Especially the way I type. 1400 West Randolph (Parq Fulton) and 1454 West Randolph (Evo Union Park) both celebrated topping out last week, so the days for those two cranes are numbered. There’s still no sign of 178 West Randolph getting started, despite its tower crane permit from March 2020. The good news is, the Plumbers Union parking garage at 1371 should get a crane this month.
We could also get a new crane at 354 North Union during July. It was permitted in May. Plus, a full building permit was issued in June for 345 North Morgan, so the tower crane permit issued for that in March 2020 (as was the foundation permit) will soon be put to use. Before July ends though? We’ll have to wait and see.
Two tower cranes, at 1043 Fulton and 320 South Canal, have been taken down since the June survey.
Where are the tower cranes?
West Loop – 2 (609 W Randolph and Parq Fulton)
River North – 2 (Salesforce Tower and One Chicago)
Illinois Medical District – 2 (UI Health and gateway Apartments)
West Town – 1 (Evo Union Park)
Gold Coast – 1 (Gild Chicago)
The Loop – 1 (300 North Michigan)
Portage Park – 1 (Clarendale Six Corners)
What are they building?
Residential – 6.5
Office – 2
Medical – 1 (UI Health)
Hotel – .5 (300 North Michigan Hotel/Residential)
Who has tower cranes?
Power Construction – 4
Skender Construction – 1 (609 West Randolph)
Ryan Companies – 1 (Clarendale Portage Park)
Global Builders – 1 (Gateway Apartments)
Pepper Construction – 1 (UI Health)
Walsh Construction – 1 (Salesforce Tower)
Linn-Mathes – 1 (300 North Michigan)
300 North Michigan
609 West Randolph
Gateway Apartments (2050 West Ogden)
Clarendale Six Corners (3969 N Milwaukee)
Evo Union Park (1454 West Randolph)
Gild Chicago (1200 North State)
One Chicago (23 West Chicago)
Parq Fulton (1400 West Randolph)
Salesforce Tower (333 Wolf Point Plaza)
UI Health
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No matter the name, Power Construction topped out the 12-story building in May, and now the tower crane is being disassembled and removed from the site. Still waiting on the first signs of curtain-wall glass.
Enjoy the photos? Metra and CTA rides, Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
Don’t know why the Spinal Tap joke didn’t occur to me last month, when we had 11 tower cranes. My bad. I’ve let you all down.
We lost none of our cranes since last month, and added one, at The Gateway Apartments (2050 West Ogden) in the Illinois Medical District. We also picked up two new permits: 354 North Union and 1371 West Randolph. And we’re holding out hope that 1000M gets going again soon. As for the other outstanding permits (345 North Morgan, 178 West Randolph, and 320 South Clinton)? Your guess is as good as mine.
Where are the tower cranes?
West Loop – 4
Illinois Medical District – 2
River North – 2
One each – The Loop (300 North Michigan); West Town (1454 West Randolph); Portage Park (Clarendale Six Corners); Gold Coast (Gild Chicago)
What are they building?
Residential – 6.5 (300 North Michigan is half res/half hotel)
Hotel – .5 (300 North Michigan)
Office – 4
Medical – 1 (UI Health)
Who has them?
Power Construction – 5
One each – Linn-Mathes (300 North Michigan); Clark Construction (320 South Canal); Skender (609 West Randolph); Ryan Companies (Clarendale Six Corners); Walsh Construction (Salesforce Tower); Global Builders (2050 West Ogden); Pepper Construction (UI Health)
Here’s a 12-pack for ya:
300 North Michigan
320 South Canal
609 West Randolph
1043 West Fulton
1400 West Randolph
1454 West Randolph
2050 West Ogden
Clarendale Six Corners
Gild Chicago
One Chicago
Salesforce Tower
UI Health
Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides, Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.
Building Up Chicago 