333 North Green puts Chicago’s newest tower crane to work

Posted on May 22, 2018 by danieldschell

The tower crane’s tower rises up from the GR333N construction site.

333 North Green (or GR333N if you prefer), the 19-story office tower Sterling Bay is putting up in Fulton Market, has Chicago’s newest tower crane working hard, as progress starts to push its way off street level. The lot at Green and Wayman Streets (yep, 333 North Green’s address for permit purposes is 810 West Wayman) is no small site, so the crane’s reach comes in handy as work spreads out. That’s Power Construction in charge of the goings-on. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise; Power is very busy in the West Loop.

***This tower crane snuck up on me. I knew there was a permit issued, but I didn’t know the stub had been planted until after the rest of the crane had been erected. So I have no stub photos. Sorry if I let you down, loyal readers.

With 6 other West Loop tower cranes playing back-up-singer roles, 333 North Green’s crane stands tall along N. Halsted Street.

Milieu has a clean West Loop slate to begin construction

Posted on May 22, 2018 by danieldschell

Demolition is complete at the corner of Adams and Peoria Streets in the West Loop, leaving just a silky-smooth lot with which to begin Milieu, the 275-unit apartment project from co-developers White Oak Realty Partners and Crayton Advisors.

It looks like Stalworth Underground will hit the site first, as they’re equipment is already on the lot. They’ll help take care of foundation work for GC Power Construction, tasked with sending Milieu up to its desired 19-story height. Designed by the West Loop’s own FitzGerald, Milieu brings 13,000 square fete of retail space, as well as parking spots for nearly 200 cars.

For now, Power has a permit to build up to the 5th floor. Soon they’ll get a tower crane permit as well, then the full-build will follow. Milieu is expecting a Summer 2019 opening.

Foundation work for the Toyoko Inn Chicago is underway

Posted on May 21, 2018 by danieldschell

320 South Clinton is officially no longer a parking lot, as foundation work begins for the Toyoko Inn Chicago.

Stalworth Underground is on site at 320 South Clinton Street in the West Loop, drilling caissons upon which will stand the Toyoko Inn Chicago. A foundation permit was issued by the City of Chicago April 11. That permit shows the general contractor to be Denken USA, Inc., located in the Civic Opera Building at 20 North Wacker Drive, which also happens to be the address of the hotel’s ownership, again according to the permit.

The permit calls for a 24-story hotel, so of course there will be a tower crane. Not unusual lately for the West Loop, but a bit of an oddball in that it will be east of the Kennedy Expressway. We haven’t seen one of those since EMME at 165 North Desplaines, and 625 West Adams.

210 North Carpenter drops its tower crane

Posted on May 21, 2018 by danieldschell

A train goes by as a crane goes bye-bye at 210 North Carpenter.

“Why is that big tall street crane in my shot?” I said to myself as I aimed the camera over the Chicago River into the West Loop. I knew I was looking at tower cranes from the Hoxton Chicago hotel and 210 North Carpenter, but couldn’t figure out what construction site I had missed that would have such a big crane. Then I zoomed in. Noticed the people up on top of the more distant crane. And realized 210 North Carpenter was, in fact, on its way down.

See? Those are people up there, removing the counterweights from the counterjib.

I had just been in the West Loop earlier in the day, and that street crane wasn’t erected yet. So this came as a surprise. Plus, it meant I had to walk all the way back over there to check things out. Central Contractors Service was on site with GC Leopardo Companies and concrete contractor Adjustable Forms starting to dismantle Manitowoc MD485 (don’t be impressed; I copied that info from the permit.) Leopardo is now one step closer to finishing their new headquarters.

***Whilst in the area of the West Loop Saturday, I stopped at the new McDonald’s HQ and had a go at those new Australian bacon-cheese fries everyone’s been talking about. I suggest you try them.

Okay……now the tower crane at Hyatt House is ready….

Posted on May 15, 2018 by danieldschell

Hyatt House West Loop tower crane assembly

The tower crane at Hyatt House West Loop, as it neared completion Thursday.

Perhaps I jumped the gun by including the tower crane at Hyatt House West Loop as an “in-service” crane in last week’s post. There may have been a glitch in set-up, as the cab was set atop the tower on Tuesday, but by evening it had been removed. No worries though, as Thursday saw completion.

It’s not often I visit a construction site twice just to see the tower crane go up, but I did for this one. So enjoy two galleries comprised of way more photos than you’ll ever need of tower crane assembly at Hyatt House West Loop.

Tuesday:

: Tuesday morning, and all seems well…

: Tuesday evening. Uh oh.

Thursday:

: This drone helped.

Hayden West Loop is approaching the top

Posted on May 14, 2018 by danieldschell

A model of Hayden West Loop sits on display at the sales center on May Street in the West Loop.

The first building of the nine-story Hayden West Loop, a two-part project from Sulo Development, has reached the underside of its 8th level. Designed by Booth Hansen, it will bring 28 condominiums and 83 parking spaces. The second building is slated for a site around the corner on May Street. Macon Construction is the general contractor utilizing that shiny yellow Liebherr tower crane.

The following photo gallery shows progress from the first week of May, backwards through February.

Union West may now go 15 stories high in the West Loop

Posted on May 9, 2018 by danieldschell

Union West rendering from bKL Architecture. On the left is the first tower at 939 West Washington.

Ready for more construction in the West Loop? Good. Because Tuesday, Union West got its full-build permit for a 15-story residential tower at 939 West Washington Boulevard. Building atop the foundation permitted back in April, the 939 tower is the first of two structures at Union West that will ultimately contain 357 apartments, with 12,000+ square feet of ground-floor retail space and 255 parking spots.

bKL Architecture designed the two-tower development for ZOM Living. Power Construction is the general contractor, adding to their West Loop projects that include the Hoxton Chicago, 333 North Green, 180 North Ada, Milieu, and 900 West. (Wow. They’re really busy.)

There’s a cool-looking iron contraption on the site now. No idea what that’s about, but we’re pretty sure it’s structural and not sculptural.

And now, the photo gallery, with everything from that cool steel thing, to bKL Architecture renderings, to demo work, to now-removed buildings and parking lots.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: All Union West renderings are from bKL Architecture.

: Full Permit for 939 W Washington.

: 939 W Washington foundation permit.

Skender plants a tower crane stub for the new West Loop Hyatt House

Posted on May 7, 2018 by danieldschell

Skender has planted a tower crane in the West Loop as they begin construction on Sterling Bay’s Hyatt House.

Very soon, we’ll be adding another name to the Chicago Tower Crane Survey. Skender has planted a stub at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and May Street in the West Loop, where they’re erecting the new Hyatt House hotel.

Sterling Bay is developing the 16-story hotel, conveniently located less than a block from the new McDonald’s HQ they’ve just built. Designed by Chicago firm Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, Hyatt House will bring nearly 200 guest rooms to the neighborhood, which you may have noticed is quite busy with construction. And that means people visiting new offices, and dropping in on residents of all those new apartments, will need a place to stay. Hyatt House will be ready for them.

: Skender has planted a tower crane in the West Loop as they begin construction on Sterling Bay’s Hyatt House.

The Pickard Chilton Boathouse we didn’t get

Posted on April 25, 2018 by danieldschell

Rendering from Pickard Chilton of a proposed boathouse at River Point.

An innocent Wednesday-morning tweet led me down a rabbit hole, and I eventually climbed out through the website of Pickard Chilton, the New Haven, Connecticut-based architecture firm known in Chicago for designing River Point and 300 North LaSalle, plus one of my out-of-town favorites, the Northwestern Mutual Tower in Milwaukee.

One item on the Pickard Chilton projects page in particular caught my attention; The Boathouse. A proposed development for Hines, The Boathouse was designed to go where River Point Plaza stands now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all unhappy with either River Point or its plaza, but this boathouse would have been an awesome addition to the Chicago River. Maybe another location? It could look marvelous down on the South Branch too.

All of the following images of The Boathouse are from Pickard Chilton.

: Rendering from Pickard Chilton of a proposed boathouse at River Point.

River Point Plaza, where The Boathouse would have been built. (B.U.C. image)

A sunny day at 727 West Madison

Posted on April 25, 2018 by danieldschell

727 West Madison on sunny April day in the West Loop.

This is still a fun building to watch, even though the B.U.C. HQ is no longer across the Kennedy. This FitzGerald-designed apartment tower for Fifield Companies and F&F Realty will rise to 44 floors before all is said and done. That’s Lendlease out there doing the heavy lifting.

727 West Madison will deliver 492 new apartments with 375 parking spaces to the Greektown section of the West Loop. The tower will share amenities with the Crowne Plaza Hotel next door, upon whose former parking lot its being erected. It is expected to open late in 2018.