A video of the internal climbing crane • Video Link

That certainly makes the most sense but for a building such as Gr333n and I believe even WPE the first section of the tower crane is poured into a concrete base. So I take it that's just left in there. Seems like a waste.

It's not really a waste as those footings a lot of the time are a part of the footings for columns or other parts of the structure. If you look closely at the picture you posted of Gr333n you can see the rebar in the corners for columns. And on WPE the base is a part of one of the footings of the larger columns (there's a picture somewhere on this thread). For tower crane footings on the outside of a building, yeah the footing is demolished after the crane is dismantled, and I guess that is a waste, yeah, but I imagine the steel/concrete is recycled so it's not that bad.

Just the stubs are left in - in the photo below (of Wolf Point East) the concrete will rise to just above the re-bar, notice the plastic wrapped around the bolts so that even the last section can be removed. This is standing on legs that are 5-8' tall - well deep in the matt now.

My studio did the renderings for this buildings current and future renovations and there were many many options studied. IMO it is unfortunate this is what they ended up doing with the exterior.

May 18, 2018

Nice pics solar...they have been busy!

In the last photo, what are the caissons outside the sheet pile wall for? Future river walk?

I hesitate to call these private stretches RiverWalk - but yes.

Hope the site doesn't flood today.

River is not rising at this time.

Harryc, are these areas blocked off from public access? I know some forumers were concerned about access to the small park in front of River Point during construction but I was able to walk around there easily at day and at night after the building was finished (there were even a couple of homeless camped out.)

They have not been blocked off, yet. (AFAIK)

May 24, 2018

As some article said a while ago, it's not a matter of if someone is going to die on the river, but when. Wayyy too much traffic and too many ways to get hurt, like those kayaks are cool and all, but you don't need to be getting as close as possible to an active construction site like that, you never know when a board or something will go overboard and hit you in the head, knock you out of the kayak and you drown.

I have a cottage on a big river in Wisconsin and that can be challenging to navigate with the amount of big (i.e. cabin crusisers, house boats, and cigarette boats) up there. I got to drive a pontoon down here last summer and I can tell you the Chicago River is the hardest waterway to navigate I've ever seen. Those sight seeing boats move quickly and aggressively, you have people drinking everywhere including people who don't know how to operate a boat. There's actually cross currents all over the river where you will suddenly start getting pushed sideways with no warning into the middle of the river because there is some outflow under the waterline from a drain or something. On top of all of that you have human powered craft like kayaks everywhere. It's only a matter of time before something happens.

^Oh don’t be such a worry wart.

Interesting fact: Those cross currents aren’t created by drains. It’s discharge water coming from a neighboring building’s cooling system. Many buildings utilized this ingenuitive design, called deep water source cooling, until it was banned by some nerds at the EPA a decade or two ago. The last new tower to employ this was Trump Tower, which was, interestingly, granted use of the river after the ban. I guess they had some deal-maker who pulled a few strings. ;)

This comment is one of 4 results if you search for "deep water source cooling" and trump tower. So I guess it is as accurate as you would expect.

If you are talking about using the river to cool the condensers, sure. But that isn't exactly uncommon.

May 16



May 23

I love watching rebar going skyward.

May 30, 2018

What the hell are those guys fishing for? Empty beer cans?

uhhhh....... fish.

the chicago river, once home to fewer than 10 species of fish back in the '70s, is now home to more than 70 different species of fish!

and now that the MWRD is legally required to disinfect their outflows, the river just keeps getting cleaner and cleaner, with more wildlife coming back all the time.

“Cleaner”, sure. Clean, definitely not. But I guess it’s ok for catch and release.

of course.

no one who counts their IQ score on more than one hand would dare dream of actually eating anything caught out of the river.

there is way too much mercury and other nasty toxins still lingering in the ecosystem.

It's one of the most beautiful waterways in any major city. But......I'm pretty sure Blinky, the three eyed fish from the simpsons, can be found in there some place. Haha.

Including the ever present Coney Island Whitefish :rolleyes:

. . . I'll show myself out. . .

. . .

Crews were setting up sidewalk canopy / protection on Orleans this morning. This one will be above street level very shortly.

I fish the river every week. I was just telling a couple friends over lunch I have never seen the river as clean as I have this year. Visibility must be 4-5 feet in places, which if anyone ever paid attention at different times in the past, it was maybe 6 inches.

The fish I have been catching this year are also huge. I pulled out a 15-16 inch bass and a 12-13 inch crappie Monday afternoon, plus other good size fish. For people that love the outdoors, it's one of the best "secrets" of Chicago IMO.

:haha:

I did spot one specimen a few weekends ago when I was on the river walk. Amazing how resilient nature can be!

^

A bit off topic, but I once saw a fisherman pull a 3+ foot rockfish from the East River in Manhattan, right off the Financial District. It's amazing what can thrive in metropolitan waterways.

yeah people are pulling great fish out of the river downtown all the time now, improvements over the past few years are starting to show and the future is very bright.

the amazing part about this river quality report is it has been a wet may (wettest all time officially), which usually bodes poorly for water quality.

Phase 1 of the McCook reservoir is in operation now so not everything that would previously end up in the waterways is. Wish they could accelerate the 2nd phase given how attractive to development/recreation the river has become.

I don't think there has been a sewage release yet this year despite all that rain. The system is already working and will prevent releases up to and possibly beyond 100 year rainfall events when it's all online.

No, there have been overflows. Either McCook has hit capacity or the rate of rainfall overwhelms the system's ability to move water and goes right to the outfalls. I think the mainstream portion of TARP is now undersized for today's needs and they should focus on opening McCook phase 2 faster and getting as much load off the system as possible (disconnect downspouts, rain gardens, permeable surfaces, etc).

June 4, 2018

nice to see some people using those steps ^^ bodes well for the use of that space once the whole complex is finished--i know its wishful thinking but I'd love to see a snazzy pedestrian bridge cross from the west bank over to wolf point :D

Nah, we're good. And there's the Orleans bridge, too.

http://www.chicagodetours.com/wp-con...bridge-min.jpg

Lol except WP is still really isolated and that bridge is totally out of the way. A pedestrian bridge would be incredible and create an exciting, accessible public space. And unlike covering the tracks in Grant Park, this would be a project that a lot of corporations would actually benefit from bc employees would use it.

Anyway, glad to see this is rising. It's been forever.

I agree, it would be a good way to create a pedestrian corridor from Fulton Market to River North. (Too bad Hines took up the best spot for a bridge when they build Gibsons Italia).

The city is planning to rebuild the Chicago Ave bridge as a fixed span, so that will essentially turn the North Branch into a low-clearance waterway. Any pedestrian bridge at Wolf Point could also be built as a fixed span at a much lower cost than a moveable bridge.

WP isn't isolated. There are pedestrian walkways along bridges at Orleans, Lake, and Kinzie that surround the confluence and will all be completely accessible to the public once WPE and WPS are complete. A pedestrian bridge would be an expensive vanity project and redundant.

OHHH you mean like Millenium Park? Yeah that was a big mistake.

Those steel bridges are iconic but Wolf Point is still isolated and a pedestrian bridge would beckon people to use it. No one uses that Kinzie bridge. Like no one.

It is actually quite busy - the bike lane could be called crowded.

May 29

Yeah the bike lane is definitely busy. I used to take it all the time but it's not used to get to Wolf Point and will never shout out "Hey, take me to Wolf Point" like a playfully designed pedestrian bridge would. I'm talking about luring people to a destination on foot.

It is quite busy with pedestrians too.

A dedicated pedestrian bridge is probably overkill, but a better pedestrian connection from Kinzie on the west side of the apparel mart would do wonders. You currently have to trudge through a parking lot/service dock which kind of gives the impression you aren't allowed to walk there.

You keep mentioning the Kinzie bridge (which admittedly, I introduced to the conversation) while ignoring the Orleans bridge, the new water taxi stop going in, and the fact that WP is steps from the Brown/Purple Line stop at Merch Mart. Even before WPE construction was underway, residents of WPS would walk along the riverfront at WP to the Orleans bridge all the time. They were there every morning and afternoon on my commute to and from work. There are two pedestrian bridges to WP. Once all this construction is done, Wolf Point will not be isolated as it seems to you.

Sure, but even with the existing infrastructure, Wolf Point will be isolated from Fulton Market when the project is complete. You have to really go out of your way to get there. The development of Wolf Point was always supposed to be a centerpiece, a trophy, and a dedicated pedestrian bridge would make it so. So the more overkill access-wise in this area the better.

You have been reading too many sales brochures.

I don't see why everyone here is against a ped bridge. While there are already existing bridges nearby, I think a ped bridge connecting Wolf Point Plaza with Canal St would be a great idea. Currently, having to talk to Orleans then either north to Kinzie or south to Wacker then Lake is a bit awkward while on foot.

Probably not a high priority project, but one that would have obvious benefits if constructed.

Well, since you have the Orleans bridge already built, the other one would be leaking in Lake and Canal foot traffic, which is borderline nonexistent 90% of the day and when it is filled with people it is for those going to Wacker, Wells, and Lasalle for work, so to me it seems stupid. Just sayin

Could be cool if planned well, but I don't see how it would be used nearly enough to be a valuable installation in the next 50 years