Construction Update Two-Fer: Vista and Bennett
As Chicago’s skyline transforms itself once again, it’s easy to get a little crick in your neck looking up all the time. So, instead it’s better to look out. As in this view looking out from NEMA Chicago, taken by Joe Zekas of YoChicago! last week. It shows the progress of the Vista Tower in Lakeshore East in the foreground, with One Bennett Park in Streeterville in the background. Unlike most cities which have a...
Aon Center is the Latest Skyscraper That Wants to Take You For a Ride
If you want to “hang” at the Aon Center, 601W Companies is cool with that. As long as you do it in its proposed 22-person glass pod hanging off the roof. The New York real estate company has unveiled its $185 million proposal for turning a portion of Chicago’s third-tallest building into a tourist attraction. We’ve known since 601W bought the stoic skyscraper in 2015 for $173 million that it thought there was...
Aon Center’s Glass Elevator-to-the-Sky to be Unveiled Tonight
Glass as an amusement is a big thing these days. It seems to have started with that glass bridge over the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation in Arizona. Now we have a glass slide at the top of the U.S. Bank Building in Los Angeles. The glass “ledges” at the top of the Willis Tower. The glass “tilt” mechanism at the top of 875 North Michigan. And now the Aon Center is getting in on the transparent...
Getting Around Willis Tower Getting Faster
Getting around Chicago can sometimes be agonizingly slow. No one wants to be stuck in traffic on the 151 bus when they’re going to a job interview. Perhaps more frustrating, when you get to the location for your next gig, is having to wait forever for an elevator. That could happen less at Chicago’s tallest building, because the Willis Tower’s elevator system is getting a speed-enhancing overhaul. (You only get to...
Digging Deep for a 51-Story Wacker Drive Skyscraper
It’s been a short while since the former GGP Building at 110 North Wacker Drive bit the dust. Now that the dust has been removed, construction crews are getting down to business. Way down. Like two stories below ground. As you can see in the photograph above sent in by Loop Spy Chris, crews are already below the level of Lower Wacker Drive, so we should see caissons being build fairly soon. When complete, the new Goettsch...
One Bennett Park Peeks in on Grant Park
You’d expect a building with the statue of One Bennett Park (451 East Grand Avenue) to offer incredible views. Now we can see just how incredible. In the photograph above of the construction of the 836-foot-tall One Bennett Park, taken from One Grant Park by Joe Zekas of YoChicago!, we can see a huge portion of the tower rising above Streeterville and Lakeshore East, gazing upon Grant Park. We also see that the amazing view...
After 7 Years, Loop Residential Building Finally Hits Paper, Bridge to MDA
Things are finally coming together for the new residential building coming to 171 North Wabash in The Loop. We first reported on 171 way way way back in 2011, when it was the companion building to what is now called Experience 73, around the corner but still adjacent, at 73 East Lake Street. Experience ate a parking garage to build a 42-story residential tower, and 171 was going to eat a surface parking lot/parking garage combo to...
Mid-Century Loop Building Won’t Make it to Mid-March
The Midcentury Modern office building at 110 North Wacker Drive won’t be around by the end of the month, judging by the quick work demolition crews are making of it. The 1956 110 North Wacker by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White is being replaced by a 2020 110 North Wacker by Goettsch Partners. So far, according to the photo above from Loop Spy Joel, the old building is just about half gone. Foundation work for the new...
Aon Center Views Will Start Before You Even Reach the New Observation Deck
It was back in 2015 that we told you the Aon Center (200 East Randolph Street) is going to convert its 83rd floor into a public observation deck. At the time we wondered how the building would handle a sudden influx of thousands of daily tourists. The skyscraper has very tight security in its lobby area, and the notion of letting tourists share the elevator banks with office workers seemed like a non-starter. Now the Chicago Tribune...
With its Tower Underway, Construction at Essex on the Park Turns Inn-ward
The Essex on the Park development across the street from Grant Park is about to enter the fix-the-hotel phase of the project. Ten months ago, Oxford Capital and Quadrum Global were given construction permits by the city to start work on the new 56-story residential tower that is rising next to the time-worn hotel. As you can see in the photo below, taken by YoChicago!‘s Joe Zekas from One Grant Park, work on the skyscraper is...
