West Loop Skyscraper Gets Tweaked for Small Dogs
The plan to replace a pair of downtown surface parking lots with a pair of pretty-good-sized skyscrapers at 601 West Monroe Street has been revised. June, 2021 rendering of the dog park at 601 West Monroe. (Via the Office of Alderman Brendan Reilly.) When we gave you the bird’s eye low down on this caper last month, we noted that adding over a thousand new homes to this block of the city was going to bring Urinetown to the West...
West Loop High Rise Gets New Renderings
With the office building going up at 609 West Randolph Street all topped off and everything, you might think that you’ve seen about all there is to see until it’s completed. Nope. June, 2021 rendering of 601 West Randolph. (Courtesy of Antunovich Associates.) The boffins over at Antunovich Associates have put together a new set of pictures showing what the project will look like when it’s done later this year....
Kennedy Canyon Closer to Completion
The long-term plan to line the Kennedy Expressway with skyscrapers like some 1990’s Japanese video game is about to take another big leap forward. Chicago City Council has approved 640 West Washington Street. December, 2020 rendering of 640 West Washington 640 (“Six” to her friends) is going to be a 515-foot-tall residential tower hard on the edge of the highway, snuggled between R+D659, and The Catalyst. It...
Two-Tower West Loop Skyscraper Plan Advanced
Plans for a two-tower residential complex across the street from the five-tower Presidential Towers complex in the West Loop have hit paper. February, 2021 rendering of 601 West Monroe Street This is the 3,874th plan we’ve seen for 601 West Monroe Street in the last 20 years, but it appears to be the one with the best chance of succeeding. The other ones were pretty, and interesting, and we really liked the sloping BP Americas...
How did 601 West Randolph Go Up So Quickly? Skender Pours the Beans
Have you ever asked yourself, “Self, how did 601 West Randolph go from hole in the ground to ‘Hey, look at that!’ so quickly?” Go ahead and admit it. We know you have. West Loop Spy Kurt’s divining rod points to Skender Construction, the Fulton Market builder of highly rising things, including this high rise. He points out that the Skendarians kept to a tight schedule: The first four pours (floor 2-5)...
601 West Randolph Tops Off, Parties Hardy
In an event full of that special combination of suits and hardhats that makes bankers pose for selfies, the West Loop’s newest high rise topped off on Tuesday. You weren’t invited. The topping off of 601 West Randolph Street. (Courtesy of West Loop Spy Kurt.) 601 West Randolph is the name of the 15-story building in question, designed by Antunovich Associates for Vista Development. It’s actually at 609 West Randolph,...
BMO Tower Tops Off, Signs Up
The 51-story office tower going up across the street from Chicago Union Station has stopped going up, and is now only filling out. The BMO Tower at 320 South Canal Street topped off last week. When complete, it is expected to reach 727 feet into the West Loop sky. 2019 rendering of BMO Tower, formerly Union Station Tower. (Courtesy of Goettsch Partners.) The building will add 1,500,000 square feet of office space to downtown Chicago...
Spring Brings A High Rise to Randolph Street
It was just about a year ago that we told you about crews planting building seeds at 609 West Randolph Street. Eleven months later, a high-rise is sprouting, just in time for Spring. 601 West Randolph under construction in March, 2021. (Courtesy of West Loop Spy Kurt.) As usual, West Loop Spy Kurt can be counted on to aim his iPhone 11 at the scene, and send us these pictures of the tower crane being assembled. Though this Vista...
West Loop Parking Lot Targeted for 2-Tower 1,000+ Apartment Plan
There are two things that never give up hope: Dogs, and the surface parking lot next to Heritage Green Park. Model of 625 West Monroe by SMDP. The 250-space West Loop slab at 601 West Monroe Street has been the subject of at least four redevelopment plans since we started publishing 18 years ago. From a modest 20-something-story office tower to smdp’s angular 38-story BP Tower to the 75-story office slant floated in 2013....
Kennedy-Encroaching Skyscraper Broaching the West Loop This Week
If you dig those Japanese car racing games where you speed through an idealized, canyonized, urbanized Celtic knot in the dark, there’s good news for your inner Speed Racer. The Kennedy Expressway is going to look a little more like Ridge Racer, and a little less like Chicago Ridge. December, 2020 rendering of 640 West Washington A public meeting has been called to discuss 640 West Washington, a 47-story skyscraper...
