370 North Morgan demolition is underway; new residential tower coming in Q1 of 2025

Posted on October 12, 2024 by danieldschell

Demolition is underway in the Fulton Market District on the former Fox Deluxe Foods building at 370 North Morgan. The meat & poultry wholesaler hot-footed it out to the suburbs, as have so many stalwarts of Chicago’s former meat-packing district, so developer Vista Property Group could begin construction on a new residential tower.

The single-story building will be replaced by a 32-story apartment tower containing 494 rental units. The ground floor will contain retail space, while a parking podium with 190 spaces occupies floors 2 through 4. There will be one bicycle-storage space for each unit.

Antunovich Associates is the architect for the building, and Skender, now on site with demo contractor Heneghan Wrecking, will serve as general contractor. Three permits, for excavation, caissons, and the full building, are pending on the Chicago Data Portal with Vista Property Group indicating construction will kick off in the first quarter of 2025. No indication yet about an opening date, but I think 24 months from start to completion is a decent guess.

Some renderings of what’s coming to 370 North Morgan, followed by demo shots of what’s departing 370 North Morgan:

Rendering of 370 North Morgan from Vista Property Group.

Flora is ready for its October 15 debut

Posted on October 12, 2024 by danieldschell

Flora (1114 West Carroll Avenue) is the newest addition to the western Chicago Skyline.

Flora, the brand-spankin’-new apartment tower at 1114 West Carroll Avenue in the Fulton Market District, is getting ready for its big opening on Tuesday, October 15. If you’ve been to the website to check on availability for studio, one-bed, two-bed, and even three-bedroom floor plans, you know that’s the day you can move in to your new pad.

The 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower, includes a below-grade 95-space garage and storage for 185 bicycles, is a sharp-looking addition to the westward-spreading West Loop. And there’s more coming to the neighborhood soon. Very soon. And Flora is one great reason to add a station to the Metra lines that don’t stop between Western Avenue and the Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Not that this should ever be a barometer for good or bad from a development, but this one lives up to its renderings. Congratulations to the Flora team, including developer Trammell Crow Company, design architects ESG Architecture & Design, and general contractor Power Construction. May your units fill up quickly. I’d happily live here, and I have a birthday coming up (next year) if anyone wants to gift me a one-bedroom.

Power got their first permit for Flora back on January 9 of 2023 with the issuance of the foundation permit. Several more permits followed, including the tower crane two weeks later, the full building permit on March 7, 2023, and permission to install four passenger elevators on October 26 of last year.

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.

Flora, at 1114 West Carroll, blossoms into a stellar tower

Posted on May 6, 2024 by danieldschell

The last time I posted about 1114 West Carroll, it was 1114 West Carroll. Now, it has a new moniker: Flora. And a name change is enough of a reason (to me) to throw a few more pics out there. But more so because I just happen to really love the look of this tower.

And I’m not going to be neutral when it comes to the West Loop/Fulton Market District. It’s my favorite neighborhood in Chicago. And while Flora feels like it’s situated a little too far west for my liking, this portion of Fulton Market is going to become very dense very soon, putting Flora right in the middle of everything. Yep, I’d live here.

The 34-story, 368-unit apartment tower should be welcoming its first residents this summer. Won’t be surprised if it fills up quickly.

919 West Fulton continues trending upward in the West Loop

Posted on April 24, 2024 by danieldschell

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A post shared by Skender (@skenderbuild)

An overhead view of 919 West Fulton from Skender on Instagram.

As you can see from Skender’s Instagram post above, Fulton Street Companies‘ latest development, 919 West Fulton, an 11-story office building in the heart of the West Loop/Fulton Market District, continues its progress. All work is above street level now.

Photos were taken Monday, April 22:

Stuff We Want: 301 South Green

Posted on March 24, 2024 by danieldschell

301 South Green is to be a 36-story, 362-unit apartment tower in Chicago’s West Loop. Currently home to one- and two-story brick buildings, the new development would wipe out those two structures and replace them with a glass tower designed by Goettsch Partners.

The tower would include about 1,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space, 128 parking stalls (for cars) and 250-some spaces to park your bike. Per the Goettsch website, 73 apartments would be affordable units. Per that same website, as well as the presentation shown on the Plan Commission’s site, the developers are GSP Development and Golub & Company.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved the development in October 2022. Since then, news has been quiet.

All renderings are from Goettsch Partners:

919 West Fulton sprouts above street level

Posted on March 21, 2024 by danieldschell

919 West Fulton from under the L on Lake Street.

919 West Fulton had just started poking up out of the ground last time we visited. Now, you can walk along North Sangamon and look up to see progress, as the core juts skyward on this future office building from *Fulton Street Companies.

*Remember the whole 917 vs 919 thing from earlier this month? It looks like perhaps there’s a resolution, as that link from Fulton Street Companies now refers to this project as 919. The old link, the 917 link, is dead.

With the full building permit in hand for this one, having been issued back in November, here are a few more of the players on this team (shameless attempt on my part to chime in on March Madness):
FitzGerald – Design Architect
Thornton Tomasetti – Structural Engineer
Midwest Masonry – Masonry Contractor
Edwards Engineering – Refrigeration, Ventilation Contractor
DW Mechanical Group – Plumbing Contractor
Maron Electric Company – Electrical Contractor
MAP Strategies – Permit Expeditor

Progress continues from Skender and Adjustable. Check it out, photographed on Wednesday, March 20:

Darn Near Done: The Elizabeth

Posted on March 18, 2024 by danieldschell

Construction crews works on finishing exterior touches at The Elizabeth.

Formerly known as, and still addressed as, 225 North Elizabeth, The Elizabeth is getting closer and closer to welcoming its first tenants. I don’t know when the name was changed, but I just noticed it this morning, so it’s brand new to me.

Sterling Bay’s 28-story apartment tower in the West Loop is a design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, and will feature 350 rental units. The project website shows rental fees ranging from just under $2,000 for studio apartments, up to $6,450 for three-bedroom abodes.

Sterling Bay broke ground on The Elizabeth in September 2022, with James McHugh Construction serving as the general contractor.

I dug through the building permits, and here are (some of) the team members deserving of congratulations on another residential development in Chicago’s (and the country’s) hottest neighborhood. There are probably 8.3 million sub-contractors on a project like this. If I could find them all, I’d list ’em:

Sterling Bay – Developer
Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture – Design Architect
James McHugh Construction – General Contractor
McHugh Concrete – Concrete Contractor
All Masonry Construction – Masonry Contractor
JMS Electric – Electrical Contractor
Great Lakes Plumbing & Heating – Plumbing Contractor
Advance Mechanical – Refrigeration, Ventilation Contractor
Map Strategies – Expeditor

You can view posts about construction progress using the 225 North Elizabeth tag.

A few recent-ish photos as The Elizabeth wrapped up exterior construction:

Sunny afternoon at 1114 West Carroll

Posted on March 8, 2024 by danieldschell

When I was at 1114 West Carroll a couple weeks ago, I promised I’d come back soon on a sunny day for better light. Because I think this is one of those building that looks so much better in direct sunlight. I think it’s mostly because of those windows. I love those windows.

A man of my word, returneth I have. And here are the photos to prove it. (…By the way, the above link from ESG Architecture & Design has some fantastic renderings)

919 West Fulton goes construction progress 3D

Posted on March 5, 2024 by danieldschell

Skender and Adjustable have added the 3rd dimension to 919 West Fulton,

It’s true that we first visited 919 West Fulton* just last week to check on progress. But when in Rome, you snap photos of Rome. Or something. I had to go by the site over the weekend, and saw significant work to get this future office building up to street level. That’s worth documenting. Besides, there aren’t that many tower-crane jobs happening in Chicago at the moment.

*Yep, that link from developer Fulton Street Companies refers to this project as *917* West Fulton. Everything else uses *919* for it. The permits don’t help; they’re all addressed to 217 N. Sangamon.

For now, I’m going with 919, even though siding with the developer is generally the better way to go. I just like the “nine” ending instead of “seven.” We’ll get it straightened out in good time. Or maybe this building will get a random moniker that makes moot the whole 917/919 controversy.

Tower crane’s down, glass is near the top, at 1114 West Carroll

Posted on February 25, 2024 by danieldschell

1114 West Carroll from the corner of Carroll and May.

There isn’t much construction left to see at 1114 West Carroll. Trammell Crow Company’s 34-story, 368-unit residential tower has topped out, the tower crane has been taken down, and the curtain wall is inching ever closer to the top. So I decided not to wait for a sunny day to snap some progress shots. As with all glass towers, this one deserves better lighting, so I’ll be back when the sun’s out.