^ Well, you gotta start somewhere!

WRONG- Wrong- wrong...that's an 18' ladder! :haha:

I also note that there are 5 guys standing around doing nothing, one guy actually doing something with a piece of equipment, and one guy watching him. This is indeed Chicago.

arent all the blue hats office fucks?

No, it's only Chicago if that's happening on the public dime.

This is a private entity

Who's going to supervise the supervisor's supervisor?

Guys, they've been working at the Post Office for months doing demo work and cleaning out the building, working around the clock, doing stuff you don't need a permit for.

The loading dock on Harrison has a constant stream of dumpsters coming and going. I don't think that photo is showing some kind of huge mobilization... the guys in hard hats are likely architects or managers on a site visit.

^ Are you kidding? In Chicago you need a permit to change a light bulb! I'm not even joking

At the least, nobody that nobody sent.

They have been doing demo work and asbestos abatement for a few months. I don't know anything about whether or not the had/need permits to do that work. Also, I heard that the cost of asbestos removal will end up being around $150 Million.

You do need a demo permit, but that's basically a rubber stamp. I think Davies actually pulled that permit before the sale even closed, and they just transferred it over to the new owner.

It happens so fast that preservationists often don't hear about a demolition until it's already underway, hence the 90-day delay for orange-rated properties. In this case it's only interior demolition, so there was no historic review needed.

I always knew it was gonna be a yuge amount, but $150 Million for the asbestos removal...good Lord.

^ I'm willing to bet the developers are in talks with a big fish as far as a tenant. I'm betting some day we will hear a big announcement, although probably not for a while

Amazing, but good in a way. Most of it is labor costs presumably, so the trades (or just some kind of non unionized workers maybe) working in the city will see their families enriched by a large fraction of $150 million. Transfer of wealth from 601W to da neighborhoods and suburbs.

Is there any way to change that way outdated rendering associated with this thread?

Sure, why not. I think you missed the pun in my original statement. And yes, it is amazing in a good way, especially considering I've been advocating for the redevelopment of this property, speaking privately with a number of developers and hospitality executive a full 2 years before Davies took over, and came very close in helping create a consortium of developers that wanted to bring this jewel back to life...but were always, ALWAYS incredibly concerned about the potential cost of one massive issue: asbestos abatement (which I've also brought up in this forum more than a couple of times, as well as in private conversations with fellow forumers). Fortunately, that issue is being dealt with in the best possible manner.

At the end of the day, I'm incredibly thrilled that this beautiful building is being redeveloped. Granted, not in the way that I and a number of other individuals had envisioned, but one cannot let personal bias cloud judgement, and I'm still very happy that this is finally happening. :yes:

Any chance this foundation could support a highrise after the renovation? Or is this just one and done.? I understand the age difference but what about a block37 type of thing?

Undoubtedly Graham, Anderson, Probst & White was very conservative (by modern standards) when designing the building's foundations, but I'll guess 6-8 additional stories is about all you could put on top. Not worth the hassle with landmarks authorities when there are vacant or soft sites all around.

I know the site has changed hands multiple times but is there any way to get financial assistance from the government to remove it since it originally was a government building?

Doubtful. Like you mentioned, it's been in private hands since October 2009. Although such grants exist for individual property owners and not-for-profits, the US government does not have (I believe) any financial assistance programs for a for-profit corporation looking to abate and restore a historic building like this one.

Helicopter making several drops today. Couldn't see what it was carrying, but the trips were just a couple minutes from the roof and somewhere east of the building.

There were removing white bags of something off the roof, perhaps asbestos excavated from the upper floors?


My vantage point.
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https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D720/ry%3D480/

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D720/ry%3D480/

I don't know, there must be cheaper ways to remove asbestos than through the roof via helicopter

^^^ Not really, if there is asbestos underlayment on the roof you can't just break it up and toss it down a chute like you would with normal roofing materials. That would create a plume of asbestos dust. You could lower it by crane, but they don't have a crane already set up and that's probably just as expensive especially since insulation (probably what is asbestos if anything) is pretty light meaning helicopters would be relatively inexpensive to use. I think that's a pretty good guess as to what they are doing if they are lowering full sacks of something to the ground.

A little OT, but...that parking lot at the corner of Harrison and Clinton needs to go. I have a rental unit across the street and would just love to see that parcel get developed. The neighborhood is getting some development further down towards Roosevelt, but I've been patiently waiting to see more action around the block (aside from the Circle interchange, of course).

I know there was a blip of a proposal from the last cycle, but obviously it fell through.

^ IDOT is rebuilding the Congress viaduct, a little taller and with better lighting underneath. Hopefully it will be a little bit more inviting after the construction is done. I'm not aware of any streetscaping measures that IDOT is doing, but CDOT may take over eventually. I know they want to move Megabus loading to that area...

When we had four HVAC units lifted to our roof, and four taken off, the helicopter rental was $100K. Seems like you could put a lightweight derrick on the roof and lower those bags by cable for a lot less.

Why not wrap the asbestos in plastic and sent them down a chute?

Fire I guess is another way to get rid of the asbestos.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local...402467926.html

except asbestos is fire proof ;)

this seems to happen every couple years

I was just thinking, they could be bags of gravel from the roof.

ABC has a picture that shows a lot more of those white bags on the roof, and some fire damage.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/crews-ba...fice-/1619980/

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/w...77_630x354.jpg

WGN news just reported that the fire is out.

Just landed another renovation permit. $12,000,000.

The helicopters were at it again the last two weekends, and lots of little things are going on. I just noticed that some of the limestone is cut out toward the bottom of the west facade (close to the underpass), and several other signs of progress.

There is quite a bit of facade work going on actually. They are working on the limestone at the north west corner as well, and the entire top floor setback of the west facade and have removed all of the marble door surrounds at the Van Buren St. Entrance. The interior lobby fixtures must have been sent out for restoration as well because there are just temp lights hanging in there now.

Today
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2848/3...d0fa13be_h.jpg

20170417_112728 by HomrQT, on Flickr

via Curbed

lot of work to have people wind up sitting on a wooden box

or maybe that's their friend in a coffin

Just re-posting the image. Does not come up for me.

http://i.imgur.com/Fib6YTGh.jpg

img src - curbed.com

w.t.

07/22/17

Windows...

https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...700425/enhance

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https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/ng/ser...700558/enhance

Well that's an improvement.

These are going to be awesome loft spaces. High ceilings, exposed brick, enormous windows.

Are those new windows still in "test" phase or are they perminent? I only ask because i figured they would fix up the facade first. But I do like the windows.

Saw those the other day and it looks like testing. I'd, personally, want to be pretty sure before ordering enough units to do every opening in that rather large building.

Well, call me impressed. My initial thought was that the sides needed a thicker upright, but then realized that they match the existing windows. Then I realized how closely they match overall, same number of panes in the same configuration, even the exact same panels to match the operable portions of the existing windows. I wonder if they actually open of it it's just for show, but in any case "solid work all around".

Its so crazy that they are just one day going to dump 2.4 million square feet of office space onto the local market. They are just quietly going about their business preparing the building for opening, no announcements have been made, no tenants have been signed from what we know. One day just BOOM 2.4 million square feet is now available. I think once this becomes available in will have a profound effect on office construction for several years.

^^It could be a mock-up, but judging by temporary protection removed from the two adjacent windows, seems like they're prepping for the next set. The building is going to look SO GOOD once the window install is complete.

I hoping for a large corporate relocation (I'm sure the developer is too). Someone with over 1 million square feet in the burbs. Trying to find 1 million + square feet in a shinny new office building downtown has to be super expensive. I would think this would be so much more affordable. There aren't many options really if you are looking to relocate 3000 or more employees.