Whoops, had Clark on my mind as they just closed those up for the summer dinning and such. I bike on bike on both every week.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1j8uOGX...jpg&name=large

Source: @JHudsontraffic

Nice picture! Still a long way to go to fill those empty lots.

Some of those “empty lots” are athletic fields for the 2 schools in that photo. So they will remain that way.

The last phase of North Union is being built on the Moody athletic field

Yeah everything Moody owns west of Wells, with the exception of the brick parking garage, is now part of North Union and will eventually be built up by JDL for residential. That includes the Solheim Athletic Center and its tennis courts. Part of the deal between Moody and JDL requires them to replace the Solheim Center, either in the podium of the new towers or at some other site nearby.

The soccer field north of Oak is NOT CPS/Payton property but actually belongs to Moody as well, and wasn't even open to Payton use until last year. This soccer field would be the last and final phase of North Union.

The baseball field at Oak/Wells does belong to Payton, and that will remain.

August 21, 2023

They should have put the metal trim where the wall plane folds; would have helped the illusion.

Excluding the timber structure, what is the next building to go up and what’s the timeline?

September 18, 2023

How did the second building catch up to the first? :shrug:

Totally guessing here, but perhaps the construction contract was for both buildings (as part of Phase I of the development). That way, they didn't have to wait for loans, permitting, long lead-time construction materials, having different mobilization schedules and costs, etc. It could all have been under one contract, split in two parts, so when construction was a certain percentage complete for one building, they could have started work on the second one since the schedule accounted for both.
I mean, we all know JDL is a knockout, awesome developer, but that type of scenario would possibly help explain why.

^Awesome shot, these are looking great side by side. Wish they were double/triple in size. When are they going to start the big ones over the sports fields?

The website https://northunion.com/ has 2024-2025 delivery dates I believe (or are those start dates?) for the middle sized ones and 2025-2026 dates for the tall ones.

That timeline is way moved up from what they initially showed at community meetings in 2021. See https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...rth-union.html

Eg these are the old dates but I think the heights are still accurate-ish.

https://i.imgur.com/QJgmWGu.png

Also here are some renders I found that I hadn't seen before from https://northunion.com/gallery (visit for full size)

https://i.imgur.com/t5aGF4I.png

https://i.imgur.com/3APHTBN.png

And from https://jdlcorp.com/projects/north-union

https://i.imgur.com/bmCx4F5.png

October 9, 2023

Are "delivery dates" start dates? It would be awesome to have two new 600+ footers in the area by mid-late decade.

I think they're delivery dates - thought not sure how realistic they are. They've have to start on the 380' and 475' towers very soon with a late 2025 delivery probably. But with JDL anything is possible!

10.24.23
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render...&ts=1698205354

Unique angle showing progress:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F-l5KoGX...jpg&name=large

Source: Lynn Becker

^ You didn't happen to recently move into a unit in marina city, did you?

That angle looks so amazingly close to the view from my condo there (#3304 west tower).

I found it on twitter! Lynn Becker linked below the image

Gotcha, thanks.

That shot looks so damn close to my exact old view.

It's gotta be from MC.

Cabrini filling out. Love to see it.

He lives there. . . seen lots of photos from his balcony posted on X. . .

. . .

November 9, 2023

Anyone know when the timber structure & the taller buildings will break ground?

All four of these are < 5 years old I believe. Such a big transformation on Wells (another 5-6 finished int that time on Wells south of Chicago Ave too).

The timber structure will no longer be timber due to budget constraints. Expect construction to start this summer. The basement is already complete, so remaining work starts on top of the existing parking garage.

These buildings look really good.

Timber isn’t the cheapest option? Surprising…

Not too surprising if you're in manufacturing. Steel is dirt cheap right now, steel mills have been throttling production back to artificially stabilize prices because if they drop any lower, the mills would be losing money to produce anything. For the past couple years our vendors have been trying to send us steel bundles instead of the normal palletized units because they'd have to restructure their prices to account for shipping on wood pallets whereas in previous years, the wood pallets were merely shipping material that had a negligible impact on price.

Especially for a contract that they'd have likely negotiated months ago, Steel would surely be the cheaper route. Not sure if the options would be timber vs. steel or timber vs. concrete though. I'm unfamiliar with larger scale timber structures, but I'd assume steel frame would be the analogue to timber though.

^ I didn't know about the steel prices. Very interesting.

Not sure if this has been shared here, but 920 is opening in January, according to its website.

https://920northwells.com/

Urbanize published a photo tour of 920:

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/u...te-920-n-wells

Crane is coming down at 868 N Wells. Not too many cranes left downtown ☹️

December 11, 2023

The warehouse at 871 N Franklin received renovation permits for conversion to 44 units

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/p...in-north-union

Looks like this parcel was updated to only include a renovation of the existing structure, and not the additional building. Can anyone confirm?

I believe that is correct. Renovation and a small vertical expansion.

A small but strategic renovation that will add 44 units that differ from a high-rise, more loft oriented. And complete the Franklin street wall. Truly a filler till the next tower.

A recent piece on the second tower from YIMBY.

GOD I really hope this entire mega project pulls through, this is probably my #1 most anticipated development in the entire city.

I wouldn't be surprised if the timeline get's pushed back from the revised 2026 date. Or they would need to hit ground on three 500+ footers by the end of the year. Still really hoping at minimum the next tower goes ahead before the EoY.

Article:
Exterior Work Nears Completion For 868 N Wells Street In Near North Side

I hope they can pull that off, It's time to step up the development game, in many other cities that (and much more) would be totally possible.

FWIW - Their original timeline on the northunion.com site was out to 2028 I believe. The current timeline on there was moved up from that a couple years and was a lot more ambitious. So in a sense they're still on track with that original timeline.

They bought the land, have it partly built out, and already completed a super large project down the street perfectly (OCS) - I think they'll complete it within the next 4 years.

Exactly with the speed they pulled off OCS I don't have any concern

That's probably the one thing that keeps me believing the pace of the project means little, JDL have not disappointed Chicago yet, and I have a lot of faith in them that they'll pull through with it.

Wasn't trying to be all "doom and gloom", just really hope to see something on this dev soon.

April 15, 2024