A tower crane base has sprouted at the 220 North Ada construction site in the West Loop. General contractor Clayco and concrete contractor Adjustable Concrete Construction will soon erect the full crane. That means this 29-story, 308-unit apartment tower will be going vertical in no time.
Tower crane base and construction progress on Mat 18. Photo by Daniel Schell
Tower crane base and construction progress on May 18. Phot by Daniel Schell
The crane will also give Chicago a much-needed lift in our Tower Crane count. We opened May 2024 with only nine cranes in the air. That’s a better count than an almost unfathomable low of five back in October 2021, but a far cry from the 33 or so we saw working in October 2017.
220 North Ada is a joint venture featuring Shapack Partners, CRG, and KMW Communities. Ground was broken back in March for the SOM-designed rental tower, after a a single-story brick building that once housed burger-joint Reve Burger, among other business ventures, was demolished.
220 North Ada, at Ada & Fulton in the West Loop. Photo by Daniel Schell
The demolition permit was issued May 16, 2023. On November 22, the caissons for the new tower were permitted. The foundation permit came next on February 13, 2024, and the tower crane permit was issued March 5.
Now-demolished building at Ada & Fulton
Blank canvas post-demolition, ready for construction. Photo via Building Up Chicago
Early caisson work, March 2024. Photo via Building Up Chicago
End of caisson work, April 2024. Photo via Building Up Chicago
Photo via Building Up Chicago
Included in those 308 apartments will be 62 affordable units. The tower will also include parking stalls for 115 cars, racks for 58 bicycles, and more than 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Fingers crossed for the full building permit to come through soon. The development team is planning on a 1Q 2026 opening for residents to begin moving in.
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Rememberthe 50 cranes of the Rahm era? he’s looking pretty good now
People always bring up this talking point. Rahm had a whole
Lot of issues with his tenure, yes he was good for development but he was problematic in many ways. Also do you not realize we had so much development going on after the recovery of the housing market.
We may be focusing too much on the tower crane count. I’m not sure it’s a good proxy for development in Chicago. We’ve also seen a resurgence in investment in some south and west side neighborhoods, but in shorter building which don’t require tower cranes. I’d be perfectly happy to see hundreds of low- and mid-rise units built at the expense of a few downtown towers.
Make Rahm Mayor Again