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.

180 North Ada is starting to poke up out of the ground

Posted on April 24, 2018 by danieldschell

Power Construction has everything they need to send 180 North Ada vertical.

Our late-April tour of all things West Loop next takes us to the far west end of the neighborhood, where Power Construction is starting to go vertical on 180 North Ada. This 14-story, 263-unit apartment building from Marquette Companies replaces the empty lot at Lake and Ada Streets. Brininstool + Lynch designed the tower, which got its foundation permit back in December, a tower-crane permit in February, and finally, its full-build permit on the 16th of this month.

: Brininstool + Lynch rendering.

: The Foundation Permit.

: The Tower Crane Permit.

: The Full-Build Permit.

The Hoxton Chicago adds some glass to the West Loop party

Posted on April 23, 2018 by danieldschell

Panes of glass are starting to appear on the Hoxton Chicago hotel at Lake and Green Streets.

Can you handle another bit of window news in the West Loop? Well, brace yourself anyway. Because if you’re going to build all this new stuff, and you want people (especially hotel guests) to be able to the outdoors from inside, then you better have windows. Lots of them.

The Hoxton Chicago hotel in the West Loop has reached that step in its development. Not the usual curtain-wall style glass you might find on an office tower, but real, honest-to-goodness panes of glass have started to appear on the exterior.

Whether the Hoxton Chicago has topped out is a legitimate question, but that certainly appears to be the upper-most floor that Power Construction is working on.

There’s new glass atop the topped-out 210 North Carpenter

Posted on April 23, 2018 by danieldschell

Off on the distance, glass is being added to the upper floors at 210 North Carpenter in the West Loop.

We’re seeing milestone after milestone in the impossibly-busy West Loop. Parking lots being plowed under, ground being broken, buildings topping out, glass being installed. It’s all happening, all over the neighborhood.

210 North Carpenter, the 12-story office building from Sterling Bay and the new HQ of general contractor Leopardo Companies, has recently met two of those milestones, having topped out and added the first level of glass to the tower. Curiously, that level is near the top, rather than the ground. The advantage to glazing your building that way, obviously, is to make it more noticeable to passers-by with cameras.

Have a look.

: Off on the distance, glass is being added to the upper floors at 210 North Carpenter in the West Loop.

The core is rising at Twelve01West

Posted on April 20, 2018 by danieldschell

Twelve01West is rising at 1201 West Lake Street in the West Loop.

The core is springing up from the middle of the lot at Twelve01West, the new seven-story office building at 1201 West Lake Street from McCaffery Interests. Probably because we finally got a (somewhat) warm, sunny spring day, and because W.E. O’Neil has that glowing tower crane at their disposal.

Designed by Antunovich Associates, Twelve01West got its foundation permit back in October, and a tower crane permit in January. The building will include 135,000 square feet of office space, and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, plus parking for 45 vehicles. McCaffery plans an early 2019 opening.

: Twelve01West is rising at 1201 West Lake Street in the West Loop.

Caisson work is underway at 333 North Green

Posted on April 20, 2018 by danieldschell

Case Foundation sends caissons into the ground at Sterling Bay’s 333 North Green office-tower project.

Perhaps you’ve noticed some recent activity in the Fulton Market District area of the West Loop. What’s that? Be more specific? Oh, a wise guy.

Yeah, there’s a lot going on in this very busy neighborhood. And it’s not about to slow down yet. Case in point: 333 North Green, a 19-story office tower from the West Loop’s own mega-active developer Sterling Bay. (Editor’s note: the three 3s in “GR333N” is a nice touch.) Designed by Gensler, 333 North Green will boast 555,524 square feet of office space from the 6th floor on up. The ground floor will provide 35,000 square feet of retail space, while floors 2-5 will contain parking spots for 300+ cars.

Case Foundation is on site at this very moment–go look, I can wait–drilling caissons into the earth. Power Construction, another ridiculously-busy entity right now in the West Loop, is the general contractor. Their task is to have 333 North Green open for business in 2019.