You remember One Oak Brook Commons, right? I rode my battery-powered rolling suitcase out there last month to take a look at construction progress on the 17-story apartment building, the first project built in the Oak Brook Commons development.
Yesterday, Hines announced One Oak Brook Commons has topped out. That means congratulations are in order for W.E. O’Neil and Antunovich Associates, as well as Hines. There may be no more *upward* for this one, but there’s more *onward* to come.
It didn’t take long after the permit was issued to get work started on the Plumbers Local 130 parking garage at 1371 West Randolph in the West Loop. Crews have begun tearing up the surface parking lot, and a protective tunnel now covers the Randolph sidewalk.
With the building permit coming through Friday, which followed the tower crane permit received May 6, we should start seeing caisson work (and a tower crane stub!) very soon.
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Goodbye surface parking lot, hello stack of parking lots.
Chicago’s newest tower crane permit has been issued to erect a parking facility the Plumbers Local 130 has planned for the West Loop. The garage will replace what is now a surface parking lot adjacent to the union’s recently-completing training center at 1400 West Washington. W.E. O’Neil will be the general contractor.
The parking garage itself will float in the middle of the existing surface lot; it won’t extend to the east edge of the block along Ada Street. There are other plans for that space.
You can follow this link to the Chicago Plan Commission’s presentation for a whole boatload of specs and info. They approved the six-story, 500-space facility, with ground-level retail, in December 2020. No word yet on when construction is expected to begin.
Screengrab of W.E. O’Neil’s drone video at One Oak Brook Commons.
I don’t have a drone. Don’t feel bad for me though. Feel bad for me because I also lack a small airplane, a helicopter, and a dirigible. But you know who *does* have a drone?
W.E. O’Neil, that’s who. And they’ve put it to good use recently, flying up and over One Oak Brook Commons for a look at construction progress. They shared it on their social media platforms, so you might want to follow them so you don’t miss the next one.
Here are some links to the video. Choose your favorite platform. Choices are good. While you watch these, I’m gonna tie a bunch of balloons to my house and go for a ride.
On what used to be the McDonald’s HQ (which now stands proudly in Chicago’s very own West Loop neighborhood) in Oak Brook, One Oak Brook Commons has risen out of the demolition rubble on its way to being the first phase of Oak Brook Commons.
One Oak Brook Commons will be a 17-story, 250-unit apartment tower next to what suburbanites know as the Oakbrook Center shopping mall. A design by Chicago firm Antunovich Associates, OOBC (the cool kids call it that) will also include a whopping 420 parking spaces. (It’s the suburbs; relax.) W.E. O’Neil is on the build.
Future phases of Oak Brook Commons will include condominiums, a hotel, “creative” office space, medical office space, and a public park. Yep, there’ll be activity on this site for quite some time.
I borrowed my nephew’s self-balancing electric skateboard and headed to the western burbs for a look-see, as proven by the following photo gallery:
One Oak Brook Commons, April 26, 2021
Here are Hines’ words on Oak Brook Commons:
Hines is developing Oak Brook Commons, a premier mixed-use community of retail, residential, office and hospitality centered around a half-acre public park in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Located on the former McDonald’s world headquarters site, the development will be directly adjacent to Oakbrook Center shopping mall. Hines and Antunovich Associates have prepared a master plan for the site, and Hines will be responsible for developing the multifamily and office components of the project.
At completion, Oak Brook Commons will consist of 250 Class A residential rental units, 210,000 square feet of creative office, 80,000 square feet of medical office, 52 residential condos, a 250-key hotel, and five retail/restaurant pads.
And this is what Antunovich has to say:
One Oak Brook Commons will be a 17-story, Class-A high-rise building with 250 luxury apartment homes and 420 parking stalls within a secured private parking deck. The community is located at the epicenter of the 16.5-acre Oak Brook Commons mixed-use master plan also being developed by Antunovich Associates and Hines. The community will sit directly adjacent to a new public park named The Pitch.
The residences will average a gracious 1,055-square-feet and will offer upscale finishes and fixtures that will set a new standard for quality in suburban Chicago. The project will also offer an elevated resort-style amenity deck, featuring a heated pool, cabanas, outdoor kitchens and public lawn, as well as a high-end private fitness center, club room, library, expansive dog run, modern package facilities and significant bicycle storage.
Your donation will help offset transportation and equipment expenses, and is greatly appreciated.
My quest for suburban tower cranes begins with…….failure. Although I can brag about my first-ever Yellow Line ride.
There aren’t many tower cranes in Chicago, right? So I figure I’ll start heading out to the suburbs for a look. You know, go to them instead of expecting them to come to me. And I’ll start in Skokie, because I know there’s one there. W.E. O’Neil is using that crane to build 8000 North.
Good in theory. But I got there too late. The tower crane has come down. But remember, the loss of a tower crane means progress has been made. So shout-out to the team up in Skokie that’s gotten 8000 North this far:
8000 North is a 12-story, 153-unit apartment development in the aforementioned Chicago suburb of Skokie. Murphy Development Group plans to welcome tenants to move in first quarter of 2022.
I may have missed the tower crane, but it looks like I got here before the first pane of glass has been installed.
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:
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.
A rendering from Antunovich Associates of Belmont Village Lincoln Park.
Lincoln Park as a whole might not be terribly busy with construction, but the couple blocks surrounding the old Children’s Memorial Hospital site sure is. And W.E. O’Neil is the driving force behind most of that work.
Developed by Belmont Village, the Lincoln Park facility will rise eight stories high and contain studio and one-bedroom apartments, plus parking below grade. Opening is anticipated in Summer 2019.
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.
Twelve01West, the new seven-story office building at 1201 West Lake Street from McCaffery Interests, is rising above street level out in the West Loop. W.E. O’Neil not only has the site all dressed up in the typical oranges and reds of construction material, but also had the Stars and Stripes draped over the top of the core, waving in the hot Memorial Day weekend breeze. Have a look:
Building Up Chicago 