Brandenburg Industrial Service continues work on demolition of the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center in West Town. With Bally’s Casino and its anticipated 2026 Opening Day coming to the site, there is some urgency to wrapping up demolition so construction can begin. That’s why this building seems to be coming down so quickly.
The bulk of demolition work remains on the west side of the gigantic facility, working eastward, with crews now carving toward the center of the plant towards the north end. But there’s also been some work started at the north façade of the building — most notably, the trees that separated the printing plant from Chicago Avenue.
The following photos of progress were all captured on October 7, 2024. A lot has been accomplished; a lot of work remains.
The north-facing façade. Photo by Daniel Schell
The trees are gone from along Chicago Avenue. Photo by Daniel Schell
From the Chicago Avenue bridge over the river. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
For the latest design details on the coming Bally’s Chicago Casino, check out Ian’s work from July here.
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Evisceration. Love that.
Sweet, sweet, demo porn!
I hope they run out of money and the casino never gets built
Good thing they have raised several hundred million more than their target, which allowed them to plan for a larger tower.
Interesting that the part they’ve demolished already looks like it must’ve been an addition at some point, given that there is an exterior brick wall that was revealed behind it.
Google only wants to show me stories about the demolition rather than anything from old newspapers, so perhaps that part of history is lost to time.
There would have been building permits, so there are records somewhere.