If Union Station seems a little noisier than usual these days, it’s not just because the 6:30 Metra from Downers Grove is crammed with armchair pitching coaches who just won’t shut up about the White Sox chances this season. It’s because of the massive BMO Tower going up across the street.

Loop Spy Jody cracked a pre-season bat sending the photograph above sailing into the cheap seats of our Tip Line. It shows foundation work on the newly embiggened tower soon to rise contagiously close to the CTA’s intermodal transportation center at Jackson and Canal in the West Loop.
Skyscraper farmers Convexity Partners and Riverside Investment and Development recently received permission from the city to increase the crop yield on this project from 50 to 51 stories. And even though this building won’t have a 13th floor, it’s still an honest 51 since there will be an extra floor of conference rooms squeezed in between 2 and 3.

Location: 320 South Canal Street, West Loop