And adaptive reuse. They aren't too bad with stuff that either.

Then they best get started on the caissons asap!

Got it, that makes sense, didn't see the Curbed article until now; thanks all!

Pappageorge Haymes does do good work, as an AOR.

What is "grade" for this project? Is it ground level or street level?

Not unless 6 stories actually takes them more than a few feet below grade.

It does look like it would be tough to jam 6 levels between grade and the upper roadway level, but putting parking below water level seems unlikely, so today's reporting on "six levels of basement parking" is probably a crude approximation and should have no bearing on how soon the tower rises.

👍
 

Podiums take a long time too, but even if I had to wait an extra year and sacrifice 80 feet of height, I would choose underground parking every time.

Does it matter that it's a river and not a lake? The Red Line goes underneath the river, after all.

Building next to the river shouldn't matter. There's groundwater everywhere. You need to build a concrete shell or 'bathtub' regardless.

If I am remembering correctly they dug down a level or two to construct the WPW parking garage. I assume they will do the same here.

In a sealed steel tube that was fabricated in South Chicago, barged in, and lowered into a trench.

Bulldozer on site

June 23

Exciting!!!! That didnt' take long. And they already have a construction fence up. Can't wait to watch this go up!

Looks like we can officially start a new thread! 2 of the 3 bulldozers were working before 8am today and concrete is already being torn up!

CHICAGO | Wolf Point - East Tower | 679 FT | 62 FLOORS - SITE PREP
 

i split up the wolf point thread now that the east tower is in site prep.

Bulldozers are at work right now on the east parcel. They look to be knocking down / leveling a few concrete impediments that currently exist there.

I can see this site very clearly out my office window.

Edit: Oops - maybe this thread is just for the South site? I swear when I originally posted it said "South and East" - am I losing it?

June 27

Oh baby! Bananas not too far away!

Can it be added to the Chicago thread please? :D

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/tags.php?tag=chicago

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...-point-project

**Patiently waits for bananas**:cheers:

Wolf Point developers land $200 million loan for 60-story tower

"Construction of a 60-story apartment tower on Wolf Point is underway after its developers scored a roughly $200 million construction loan for the building, the biggest downtown multifamily development in seven years."

I'm don't think this counts as 'official' in SSP's collective mind, but today Hines officially announced the groundbreaking of WPE...

https://www.hines.com/news/hines-bre...ast-in-chicago

https://s3.amazonaws.com/hines-asset...20170628110812

It's a nice mix of the nearby 300 N LaSalle and 150 N Riverside. :cheers:

Dope design. Wish it was still going to be 750 feet. I wonder if that means the additional density can then be added to the south tower?

Lovely building. Unfortunately to my eye the attractiveness of Wolf Point East is rather detracted by the unattractiveness of its neighbor, the Apparel Center

Once Wolf Point South is complete in about 5-7 years, you'll hardly be able to see the Apparel Center.

With a little effort and vision (and $$$) Apparel Mart could be made attractive. I think its going to take more than the paint swatches we saw the other day though. It really needs a reclad with some depth adding materials. Hell even 450W33rd St in NY was redeemed.

Hmmm seems like the crown of the building has changed.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chor...1AUIAAflav.jpg

theres a bunch of machinary picking up the top layer of soil and rock loading it into semi tarilers right now. I saw it on the river point plaza oxblue. I think they moved the riverpoint oxblue to point at the new WP east lot. So we got another camera to keep an eye on a new building. they also have what looks like two trailers for the contractor bosses.

I like how they have a three car L train in the rendering, which any Chicagoan would know is RIDICULOUS.

But I like the idea of eliminating the Kinzi bridge - the will help keep the number of cars down ;-)

The only way Reilly could finally get rid of those pesky bike lanes he hates so much :haha:

June 29, 2017

I went on one of those river architectural tours and saw them digging today.

06/30/17

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...043260/enhance

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...043326/enhance

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...043024/enhance

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...043621/enhance

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...042764/enhance

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...043018/enhance

^ what is that in the second picture?

Looks like an unearth footing.

I think I've seen 3 car trains on the Purple Line (or at least the Skokie extension), but it was memorable because it was so ridiculous.

It would be very unusual because the CTA runs the cars as "married pairs," and rarely even talks about them in terms of individual cars. The only mention I can find of three-car trains in the modern era are special runs for filming.

07/05/17

https://im1.shutterfly.com/ng/servic...324976/enhance

This is totally incorrect if it's a blanket assumption that towers here are always built with a bathtub. Over and over again various residential towers downtown have been seen with no excavation downwards other than for caissons (and elevator pits and other utilities); if you look at early stage construction photos from various projects, say Loews Streeterville, the first part of the building to visibly materialize is the ground floor, not any lower level. It would not be too hard, and would be interesting, to check new residential towers downtown from the past decade or two and see how many actually have basements.

I assume developers just find it cheaper and quicker to build all parking in podiums above ground. It seems pretty common to see underground parking in many other cities, but in Chicago it seems comparatively rare. The idealistic Spire was an extreme example, and with Parkview West / One Bennett and River East are exceptions; even a mega project like Trump Tower didn't go below grade I think. Maybe any chance of having construction start overlap with the dead of winter is one factor that makes planners dispense with basements from the outset. I'm sure many here have a better understanding of what's going on.

As for Wolf Point East, it's of a significant enough scale (including being part of a multiuse complex) that they might be putting uses underground, but even then it could be just 1 floor without really going below river level. I can only imagine the huge cost difference between having a bathtub and having no uses below grade.

I have watched a few over the past decade and the standard seems to be 1-2 below grade - the exceptions stand out (Aqua, 111 W Illinois, an a few others). Most of the older buildings have the heating plant below grade.

The whole thing gets muddled around the river as the "ground floor" is 2 tall stories up. 321 N Clark has LL1, a full level above the river, LL2 which is a few feet above river level, and then LL3 and LL4 which are actually below grade.

I suspect that to put in a good sized mat you need to remove the old basements, and once you've already dug the hole the new basement is cheap.

no basement
225 W Van Buren
111 W Illinois
345 E Wacker
375 E Wacker
301 Columbus

^ So, a lot of LSE and the greater IC area have no basements. (Shoreham, Tides, Lancaster, etc. probably join the list, especially considering Lowenberg's penny pinching.) They also wouldn't have had any old basements to rip out.

But what about Wolf Point West?

Soon...

https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/7/6/...int-east-tower

They moved the camera to the north and stopped it. Does anyone have a new link??.


https://app.oxblue.com/open/clarkcon...iverpointplaza

https://s24.postimg.org/i8ohn13dx/Wo...st_Chicago.jpg
https://s24.postimg.org/cls4pk0v9/Wo..._Chicagoil.jpg
https://s24.postimg.org/bxja6m25h/Wo...Looking_We.jpg

Nice...

Though I wish the Orleans visual terminus looking south was a bit more dramatic.

My guess is that it will be. I think this rendering is out of scale

Case Foundation was setting up the big rig on site this morning (7/12). A smaller soil sampling rig also appeared to be at work.

http://i.imgur.com/7suN4Dt.jpg

Very low quality photo that I snapped quickly a moment ago. Foundation drilling is underway. Forum old timers will have to remind me at what point we move to UC.