West Loop’s Nobu Hotel (finally) plants a tower crane

Posted on July 26, 2017 by danieldschell

THERE IT IS! The Nobu Hotel has a tower-crane stub.

The biggest day in the history of the northeast corner of the intersection of Randolph and Peoria Streets on Restaurant Row in the West Loop has finally arrived.

13 months after breaking ground, nine months after receiving a tower-crane permit from the City of Chicago, one month after having that permit revised, and two weeks after having that revised permit revised yet again to relocate the tower-crane pad and caissons, the Nobu Hotel Chicago at long last has planted a tower crane.

And while there’s still a substantial amount of foundation digging to be done, the arrival of the tower crane signals a major step upward for the boutique hotel. With all the development ongoing in this part of the city, overnight accommodations had been sorely lacking, and Nobu’s 11-story, 119-room hotel will help fill that void. But first, it will have to fill the void left by all that foundation digging. Slow as it’s been getting started, Nobu still plans to have its first Chicago hotel open in 2018. Centaur Construction will do their best to reach that goal. (Nobu marks Centaur’s first tower crane on the official tower-crane count.)

: Tower-crane permit.

: Tower-crane permit, revised.

: Revision of revised tower-crane permit.

: Actual, unrevised tower-crane stub.

: Tower-crane foundation awaiting concrete..

: Still lots of digging to do.

The B.U.C. HQ is changing Loops

Posted on July 7, 2017 by danieldschell

The B.U.C. is moving to the South Loop.

The time has come for Building Up Chicago to abandon its West Loop Headquarters and move the entire operation south. South Loop, that is. As we speak, ticker-tape readers, fax machines, and hand-cranked pencil sharpeners are being packed into boxes. After two years of towering above the Kennedy Expressway and all points west, our reporting will soon be done exclusively from the South Loop Bureau.

Fear not, good people. Divvy bikes and durable footwear will still allow us to move throughout the city to all points tower-crane. But expect things to be a little more South Loop-centric, just as they had been for the West Loop.

We watched the Parker Fulton Market grow up and open at 171 North Halsted Street.

No more eagle-eye views of One South Halsted.

We’ll miss you most of all, 625 West Adams.

A Hard-Hat Tour of 625 West Adams with Power Construction

Posted on June 29, 2017 by danieldschell

Luis Monroy, Project Engineer at 625 West Adams, discusses all things tower crane with Emily East and Rashad Young. All three work for Power Construction.

A huge thank you to Luis Monroy and Power Construction, who led me on a hard-hat tour of 625 West Adams on Wednesday. Power topped out the SCB-designed office tower back on May 22. Now, cladding is being installed and has reached the 11th-floor terrace.

Come take a walk with me.

The bracing you see in the photo above (also visible in the top photo) is part of the tie-off reinforcement for the tower crane. The steel braces run from the crane to the core.

Remember the oculus I’ve been showing you on the 19th-floor terrace? We’re now looking at it from eye-level, way off in the corner. This is taken on the 21st (penthouse) floor. Yes, it’s a 20-story tower with a penthouse for a mechanical floor.

This is Eddie. Eddie is a master at hanging glass panels. You can watch him work in the time-lapse video below.

Luis, Emily, and Rashad standing out on the soon-to-be terrace of the 19th floor. Behind them, the inverted tripod that supports the oculus. You may also notice the Sears Tower.

McDonald’s Headquarters nears the middle bun, awaits second beef patty

Posted on June 27, 2017 by danieldschell

The brand new McDonald’s HQ is poking up through the top of the West Loop.

In one of the most ridiculous comparisons to date, if the new McDonald’s Headquarters being built in the West Loop was a Big Mac, it would be somewhere between the second all-beef patty and the middle bun, with the bottom bun and first patty already in place. That leaves the special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions to go before the top bun is craned into place and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

In more technical terms, The McD HQ is up to the sixth floor, as crews from McHugh Construction continue utilizing two tower cranes to get the nine-story, 550,000-square-foot Sterling Bay development in high gear. The Gensler-designed home of the Golden Arches is slated to open early in 2018, which looks like a sure thing the way progress is going.

: McDouble Tower Cranes.

: Well sure, it’s new construction. What’s not to love?!

: From the air.

625 West Adams puts a ring on it

Posted on June 19, 2017 by danieldschell

Power Construction is doing everything they can to make 625 West Adams look like its renderings. Monday morning, a piece was set in place to form the oculus that will be featured on the upper of two outdoor terraces.

: This rendering of 625 West Adams shows what the oculus will look like when finished.

Illume Chicago is sprouting out of the West Loop soil

Posted on June 7, 2017 by danieldschell

That’s a serious tower crane presiding over Illume Chicago.

It seemed Illume Chicago spent forever working on subterranean things that will never be seen again. There were caisson to drill, piles to drive, and a foundation to dig. But now there are signs of life at street level, as Norcon continues its work on the West Loop condo building. Soon, LG Development’s 10-story, 79-unit Pappageorge Haymes design will start taking shape at 111 (the reason you’ll sometimes see “111ume” spelled with three 1s) South Peoria Street.

A cool rendering from the Illume website, showing how the B.U.C. HQ will look from the new condos.

900 West Washington begins to crumble ahead of 900 West

Posted on May 31, 2017 by danieldschell

Demolition at the corner of Washington and Peoria signals the start of 900 West.

The modest one-story building at 900 West Washington Boulevard in the West Loop no longer has much to hide, as a demolition crew from Tierra Services of Frankfort, IL tears it to shreds, exposing it for all the world to see. They’re clearing the site for the beginning of 900 West, a 10-story, 22-unit condominium development from Taris Real Estate.

Designed by Northworks Architects + Planners, 900 West made news earlier this month when Dennis Rodkin at Crain’s reported on the signed contract for one of the building’s two penthouse units for more than $5 million. There will be two-bed, three-bed, and four-bedroom condos, plus that second, aforementioned penthouse unit. Taris plans to have 900 West ready for residents in Summer of 2018.

: Rendering of 900 West from Taris Real Estate.

: Rendering of 900 West from Taris Real Estate.

: The demolition permit for 900 West Washington Blvd.

625 West Adams has topped out in the West Loop

Posted on May 30, 2017 by danieldschell

The final beam is lifted to the top of 625 West Adams. Photo courtesy of Power Construction.

Sadly, 625 West Adams, the 20-story office building from White Oak Realty and CA Ventures, topped out last week.

Let me explain. Of course, topping out is a huge milestone, and should certainly be celebrated. But it also means the days of that pretty yellow Liebherr tower crane right outside the B.U.C. HQ are numbered. Sadder still, 625 topped out while we were in London, so after countless hours of staring out the window at progress, I missed the soiree.

Power Construction was kind enough to share the photo above, taken as the last beam was lifted into place on Monday, May 22.

The long-awaited One South Halsted tower crane is up

Posted on May 27, 2017 by danieldschell

There it is, finally! One South Halsted put up a tower crane for me.

Old Glory, and a Glorious Golden Tower Crane.

The shiny yellow tower crane stub that tantalized us for so long at One South Halsted has finally blossomed into a full-blown Liebherr 316-EC-H 12 crane, spreading joy and heavy materials throughout the Greektown neighborhood of the West Loop.

Twitter user @iYarn let us know last week while we were enjoying the Tower Cranes of London that assembly had started, and the tower crane was completed and operational upon our return. Sorry to have missed it, but the hours of entertainment it’ll provide will more than make up for that disappointment.

: One South Halsted, b/w The Sears Tower.

: One South Halsted, b/w 625 West Adams.

: 4West Loop cranes, though 171 Aberdeen (top) is now gone.

: Close-up.

: From the Madison Street bridge.

: Crane and Flag.

171 Aberdeen drops the tower crane

Posted on May 27, 2017 by danieldschell

A street crane prepares to take down the tower crane at 171 Aberdeen in the West Loop Friday morning.

The last Friday of May was also the last day the tower crane at 171 Aberdeen stood above the West Loop. A crew started bright and early in the morning bringing the crane down, making the West Loop American Flag, Tower Crane, and Water Tank photo opp much more difficult.

171 Aberdeen (165 N Aberdeen now?) is a mixed-use building from MCZ Development, delivering 90 residential units, with 40,000 square feet of office space and 15,000 square feet of retail space, plus 130 parking spots, to the neighborhood. Novak Construction is the GC. Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture the designer.