Tag Archives: West Loop

160 North Elizabeth is starting to climb in the West Loop

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160 North Elizabeth added another tower crane along Randolph in February.

160 North Elizabeth is a brand-spanking-new 27-story, 375-unit West Loop apartment tower from Moceri + Roszak. You know that name from the office building at 145 South Wells, apartment towers Parkline Chicago and Linea, and other developments.

The former NW corner of Randolph & Elizabeth..

Clark Construction is the general contractor at 160, with a concrete assist from Adjustable Concrete Construction. Thomas Rozsak Architecture is the design architect.

160 North Elizabeth was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission on March 18, 2021. To date, it has received:
a foundation permit on 11/24/2021
a tower crane permit on 11/30/2021
a full build permit on 2/4/2022.

The following photos were taken back on March 21.


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.

Glass climbs the topped-out and craneless 345 North Morgan

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345 North Morgan, viewed from Halsted Street.

The tower crane is gone, but work hasn’t skipped a beat at 345 North Morgan in the Fulton Market District.

Sterling Bay’s latest boutique office building is installing windows on what is shaping up to be my favorite new building for nighttime views. And I say that having only been there on sunny days. But mark my words; this is one of those sites you’ll want to get to just as it gets dark at night with the interior lights shining brightly.

345 North Morgan is a ten-story, 200,000-square-foot office building designed by Chicago’s own Eckenhoff Saunders Skender is the general contractor. Their task, along with Adjustable Concrete Construction on concrete, is to have this office building ready for tenants before we close the door on 2022.

The old 345 North Morgan, taken from the original B.U.C. HQ in the West Loop.
Demolition wrapping up, December 16, 2019.
Stalworth Underground doing caisson work, 08/31/2021

It wasn’t until I looked up the permit history that I remembered 345 having a little trouble getting started. Of course, over the past 24 months, who among us *hasn’t* had a little trouble getting started. The old paint store at 345 North Morgan got a demolition permit on December 5 of 2019. (I still have an unfinished draft that I started in January of 2020.) The foundation permit for the new building was next, issued March 12, 2020. But then things went idle for awhile before caisson work began in August of last summer. The full build permit was issued in June of 2021, and the tower crane was permitted on September 3. And here we are.

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.

21 stories, 224 units on the rise at 166 North Aberdeen

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The tower crane at 166 North Aberdeen

166 North Aberdeen is a 21-story, 224-unit apartment tower under construction in the West Loop. One of these days, I’ll do some research and find out why the building it will soon surround has horses at the top of it. But I digress.

166 North Aberdeen is a design by SCB and a development from MCZ Development. (MCZ also built 165 North Aberdeen right across the street.) Lendlease is on the build, with a hand from Pepper Construction on the concrete.

Foundation work 10-/2021

900 Randolph has gone 3D in the West Loop

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Morris Adjmi Architects rendering of 900 Randolph

You’d think by now I’d be prepared to walk into the West Loop and not be stunned by development activity, even when it’s months between visits. Yet here we are in 2022, and I’m still in awe of everything going on in Chicago’s best neighborhood. (Yes, that’s a hill I chose to die on.)

Speaking of “months between visits” here are a couple friendly reminders for me before venturing out again:

  1. Make sure the camera mirror and lenses are cleaned thoroughly before heading out to take photos.
  2. See Rule #1

Now, having spent the last few days editing out the dirt marks from every picture I took, I can start showing you what I saw. And we’ll start with 900 Randolph.

900 Randolph is a development from Related Companies. This soon-to-be 43-story tower will bring 300 new residential units to the West Loop. The construction arm of Related Companies, LR Contracting, is the general contractor, with a helping hand from BOWA Construction. Morris Adjmi Architects (think Landmark West Loop) is the design architect.

900 Randolph received its:

  • demolition permit for 160 North Peoria on 6/25/2021
  • first building permit, (all addressed at 164 North Peoria) for foundations on 7/30/2021
  • tower crane permit on 8/10/2021
  • full-build permit on 8/27/2021

Some progress photos taken Monday, March 21. Sunny and 70 degrees. In other words, a prefect day.

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, domain fees, and comfortable walking shoes add up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

W.E. O’Neil raises the tower crane at 1371 West Randolph

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Chicago made it back to double digits Thursday, as W.E. O’Neil finished erecting the city’s 10th active tower crane at 1371 West Randolph Street in the West Loop. That crane will build the seven-story parking garage for the Plumbers Local 130, on what used to be a portion of their surface parking lot.

I would once again like to point out that those guys up there, especially out on the jib, are in no danger of losing their jobs to me.

1200 West Carroll is a blank canvas

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Speaking of Carroll Avenue demos . . .

With demolition all but wrapped up, the northwest corner of Carroll and Racine in the West Loop is ready for redevelopment at the hands of Sterling Bay. Here’s our May story about the demolitions, and the new office building on the way, 1200 West Carroll.

Here’s the progression of demolition from late May into July.

  • There’s a lap pool?

Nothing but silos now at ADM

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Heneghan Wrecking is getting down to the last of the concrete silos at the former ADM Milling Company at 1300 West Carroll in the West Loop. I wouldn’t say progress has slowed, but I will venture the opinion that large, thick columns of solid concrete aren’t easy to break up. Again, just my opinion.

Here are photos taken Monday, July 19:

1043 Fulton brings the pane

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Power Construction is installing windows at 1043 Fulton, and a lot of them, on the north and west façades. Still waiting on glass for the south façade, while that east-facing masonry wall probably won’t need them.

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.

W.E. O’Neil plants a tower crane stub at 1371 West Randolph

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This week-old stub at 1371 West Randolph will build a parking garage.

As one Randolph Street tower crane goes, so comes another.

The Plumbers Union 130 parking garage has a tower crane stub in the ground as of last Monday, according to the kind folks on site from W.E. O’Neil. The rest of the crane should be up by the end of this week, allowing Chicago to crawl back into double digits.

Not sure why double digits is such a big deal to me, other than indicating some sort of threshold for where we “should” or “shouldn’t” be, tower-cranewise. It means nothing substantial, really. However, I scored in double digits exactly once in my high school basketball career, and that IS important.

Enjoying the photos? Metra and CTA rides (and Amtrak trains to Milwaukee), Zipcars, Divvy Bikes, camera lenses, and comfortable walking shoes are adding up. You can help offset expenses by making a greatly-appreciated donation to Building Up Chicago.