Construction Crews Filling Out (Concrete) Forms in Lake Shore East
If you used to cut through the badlands between Lakeshore East and Lake Michigan to catch some rays in the summertime, you’re in for a surprise when the lakefront opens to the public again. The badlands are gone. Construction of Cirrus and Cascade in May, 2020 (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!) Joe Zekas at YoChicago! sent over the photograph above showing the construction progress of Cirrus and Cascade. Those are two of...
Chicago Architecture Firm Happy to Not Be Needed Today
While you were sequestered in your micro apartment exchanging accusing stares with your cat (she totally ate the last Yoplait), the boffins down at bKL Architecture have been fighting the good fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. And now their part is done. The Loop designers of glassy things that scrape the sky have completed their mission of banging out protective face shields with a stable of 3D printers. Face shield production at...
Counting Down to the Vista Tower Opening
It’s said that the devil is in the details. Today, there’s an angel buried in there, deep down inside 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly’s latest missive to his constituents. That’s where we find out when Magellan Development’s Vista Tower is going to open in Lakeshore East. Rendring of the Wanda Vista Tower (Courtesy of Studio Gang) “Magellan expects for this to occur in the third quarter of...
Groundbreaking Leaves Lakeshore East With Just Two Skyscrapers to Go
With skyscraper nerds across the Midwest still giddy from yesterday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Cirrus and Cascade towers in Lakeshore East, it’s worth tallying what’s left to build there. The answer is: not much. There are just two more large buildings left to build at the complex that started its journey from wharf-side rail yard to model urban community over half a century ago. August 2018 rendering...
Here They Grow Again: Lakeshore East Breaks Ground on Two New Skyscrapers
Hands will be shaken, smiles will be flashed, and ground will be broken today on Cirrus and Cascade, the latest skyscrapers to rise at Lakeshore East. They’re the newest towers to go up at the lake-adjacent former rail yard that Magellan Development has been turning into a rather nice residential community over the last couple of decades. This time, Aussie Lendlease is lending a hand. So to speak. Rendering of Cirrus...
Michigan Avenue Eyesore to be Replaced by Homes and Hotel Tower
The northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Place has never been very much. In fact, its glory days were probably before there was a Chicago, when it was the reedy home to minnows, snails, and the occasional soggy moccasin lost in the mud. Now it looks like the old brick warehouse-turned-office/retail building that squats on that corner today will make way for a 523-foot tall skyscraper designed three blocks away by bKL...
There’s a New #3 in Town: Chicago’s Latest Supertall Skyscraper Tops Out
Magellan Development’s Vista Tower has cemented its place as Chicago’s third-tallest building with a topping out (Out? Off? Whatever) ceremony on the 101st floor of the Lakeshore East building. Vista topping out ceremony (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!) The Studio Gang tower is the seventh-tallest building in America, but will fall to 11th place within two years as four new supertalls are completed in Manhattan. You may...
Another Skyscraper Ready to Rise on Lake Michigan
With all its shiny skyscraper goodness, it’s sometimes hard to remember that Lakeshore East is half a century old this year. Illinois Central Railroad’s 1969 plan for Lakeshore East It was in 1969 that the Illinois Central Railroad decided that its riverfront rail yard might be more profitable as a bunch of residential, office, and hotel towers. Fifty years later, that plan is inching toward completion with the coming of...
Vista Tower Topping Off Approaches
It’s getting harder and harder to avoid seeing the Vista Tower looming over Chicago’s river and lakefront. The Studio Gang design is turning the heads of tourists, and even jaded locals who only look up and gawk when they want to be involuntarily relieved of their wallets. Vista Tower under construction (Courtesy of Joe Zekas/YoChicago!) In the photo above from Joe Zekas at YoChicago!, we can see the tallest of the building’s...
Another Hotel+Residential Tower Wants to Squeeze in On Michigan Avenue
It’s been almost two years since we first showed you the renderings someone dropped in our tip line of a potential new skyscraper for 300 North Michigan Avenue. Now it looks like those pictures were the genuine article. March 2019 rendering of 300 North Michigan Avenue 300 NMA will kill an unremarkable brick building kitty-corner from Michigan Plaza. It used to house Chicago’s most depressing Walgreens, and a few offices...
