A surprise tower crane has been added to Chicago’s skies, as the University of Illinois Chicago erected a tower crane over the weekend on the Near West Side campus. A parking garage is being developed at 1846 West Grenshaw Street by first-time collaborators Hunt Development Group and Lincoln Property Company. Gensler is the design architect for the project, with Turner Construction Company performing general contractor duties.
UIC parking garage rendering, being developed by Hunt Development Group and Lincoln Property Company to support UIC and UI Health
Crane spotting out the window of a Pink Line train on Saturday. Photo by Daniel Schell
Tower erection, seen from the Western Pink Line elevated platform. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Nope
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The new parking facility will add close to 1,000 additional parking spaces to the UI Health campus, meeting immediate needs due to recent hospital expansion, while preemptively replacing lost parking due to expected future development. The new garage, located one block north of Roosevelt Road at Wolcott Avenue and Grenshaw Street, replaces a pair of surfaces parking lots labeled B4 and C4. Work is also planned to enhance traffic flow and improve pedestrian safety at the intersection of Wood and Taylor Streets.
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
Because UIC is under the authority of the State of Illinois instead of the City of Chicago, there are no construction permits in the Chicago Data Portal. A Pink Line ride past the campus Saturday revealed the crane’s tower being erected, and by Sunday at noon, the boom was in place and counterweights were being added to the counterjib. A rendering of the garage shows it will be eight or nine stories high, so this crane won’t be a tall one.
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Here’s a chronological photo essay of counterweights lifted and set in place:
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
Expected completion of the garage is in spring 2026.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Great to see.
Before anybody gripes that this is “just a fugly parking garage”, it’s actually a good sign. UIC has a lot of land, and unfortunately a lot of huge surface parking lots. Moving their parking needs into vertical structures is a step towards higher use of their existing surface parking lots into future developments.
Sad that cities such as Nashville , Austin and Miami have no trouble with financing new vertical high rise and skyscraper projects while the best Chicago can do is a nine story garage .
New leadership is needed ; as other cities develop with no trouble with “difficulty raising capital .
“the best Chicago can do…” Yes. This parking garage is the only thing being built/planned in Chicago.
Of course the Google HQ, Bally’s Casino, Riverline, Red/Brown/Blue Line modernizations, Obama Library, UC Hospital, 400 N Lakeshore, 626 S Wabash, and hundreds of hundreds of other 2-4 story apartment/condo/townhouses are just make believe.
City council should start unapproving the thousands of units and projects scattered across the city.
Could be beneficial to show an update of that awesome 3D model showing what’s approved/under construction. Urbanize had a phenomenal one before they went nuclear on their site. YIMBY’s is better but I can’t access.
This is the site project I so wish would grace the beauty of which is the Jane Byrne Interchage.
If only Illinois could fulfill its communist party of JB obligations and just start building first and find the money later. We could then get that airport, tunnel of Amtrat/Metra efficiency, L tracks EVEYWHERE, and some more culture institutional centers sprinkled about.
No more public housing, we’re putting skyscrapers up in Oak Park and Ravenswood. 60-story courtyard buildings, of course. Don’t worry, they’ll be single-stair projects.
Sorry, links don’t work.
“ARTFUL BUILDING: THE STORY (SO FAR) OF THE NEW CENTER FOR THE ARTS”
not unlike the IBM Self-Park, I wonder if it will light up at night from within the same way.