Over the course of the last five days, the tower crane has been erected for the hotel tower at the new Bally’s Chicago Casino on the former site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center in River West. The sprawling construction site surrounded by Halsted Street, Chicago Avenue, and the Chicago River will see the casino built at the north end, with the 34-story, 500-room hotel placed at the south end.
Rendering of Bally’s Casino by HKS
A crew from Central Contractors Service was on hand beginning Thursday the 17th, when most of the crane’s tower was erected. Friday saw the final two sections added before the cab was lifted into place, capped by the tower peak, after which the crew adjourned for the weekend.
Monday saw them get started early, lifting the jib and counter jib into place and attaching their pendants to the tower peak. Just before noon, three counterweights were lifted and placed at the end of the counterjib. That completed the main components of the crane, which looks like it should be doing the heavy lifting by end of the day Monday, or Tuesday at the latest.
The location of the Bally’s crane, which would be at the approximate corner of Erie and Des Plaines Streets if those streets continued through the construction site, make it the city’s northernmost crane. It is the tenth active tower crane in Chicago at the moment, with 370 North Morgan erected one week earlier. While the casino itself will certainly require construction cranes, there are no permits for other tower cranes besides the one that will build the hotel.
The following photo gallery is shown in chronological order, taken Friday July 18 and Monday July 21 as the tower crane was being erected.
Most ot the crane’s tower was assembled Thursday, July 17. This photo was taken Friday morning before crews got back to work.
Photo by Daniel Schell
The two remaining section awaiting Friday installation
Looking south from the Chicago Avenue Bridge over the river
All but these two sections were assembled Thursday
Crew members climb the tower Friday morning to begin the second day of assembly
A full yard of equipment waiting to be lifted into place
Getting Friday’s first section ready for lift
The first section takes off
Photo by Daniel Schell
Assembly crew guides the section of tower into place
Hammering
The second section is lifted off the ground
Photo by Daniel Schell
Setting the final section of the tower in place
The operator’s cab is lifted off the ground
Photo by Daniel Schell
The crew reached for the cab to guide it into place
Photo by Daniel Schell
Cab and moon
The tower “peak” is lifted into the upright position
The tower peak heads to the top of the tower
Photo by Daniel Schell
With the peak added, the tower section is complete
Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking northwest from down river
A crew member climbs atop the peak to detach the cable from the erecting crane
The crew on the ground assuring proper balance for lifting the largest sections into place, a task that would be saved for Monday
late Friday morning, crew members walk the crane jib
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The first of three counterweights is lifted off the ground
Photo by Daniel Schell
The first counterweight nears the counterjib…
…and is lowered into place
The second counterweight lifts off
Ready for positioning next to the first weight
The mobile crane picks up the third and final counterweight
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The third counterweight is lowered into place
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
From the Grand Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River
The crew climbs down the tower
Looking east from Halsted Street
Photo by Daniel Schell
The hotel construction site
Photo by Daniel Schell
Looking south across the future Halsted Pointe construction site
Approximate location of the casino hotel’s tower crane, via Google Maps
Bally’s hopes to keep its promise to have the casino operating before 2026 is over.
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So they are building the hotel tower at the same time of the casino? I thought I read (somewhere), the hotel would be built after the casino was built. Am happy to be wrong on this one!
Yep, the hotel is under construction.
So are they doing the full build of everything or focusing just on the casino portion first?
It’s quite the expansive site for only one crane, but as mentioned, only one crane thus far.
Only one *tower* crane. I wouldn’t be surprised to see four or five crawler cranes for the casino, but no tower cranes.
Maybe the casino gets more urgency/priority, but the hotel is underway.
Everything finished by the end of 2026 seems a bit ambitious, but it’s not like we built larger in shorter amounts of time. I’m just struggling to see the urgency of this build compared to something on the scale of the Olympics. Not like various delays hasn’t helped either.
I’m also curious on the numbers from the current operating casino to the future one. Based on the press, they seem to be in the hole and the current space took a lot of investment. It’s lacking the entertainment aspect of the new casino but we will see how it will all plays out.
Makes you curious what the over/under would be on being finished before 2027 starts, doesn’t it…
Remember, CDOT is about to start work on the Chicago/Halsted Viaduct (4Aug) and soon after the Chicago Ave bridge will be gone until the end of 2026. But knowing CDOT, i doubt they will hit their timeline so Bally’s has some buffer.
Wait. So Chicago will not be useable west of Larrabee very soon for over a year?
When they fill up the surrounding parking lots with giant bare concrete 15-level ramps and fill in the gaps with Red Robins, Buffalo Wild Wings and Cane’s Chickens, along with a PF Chang’s, Cooper’s Hawk, Mia Francesca (if you want to be fancy or hit it big on the slots), and then get a Blue Man group in there, and maybe a country music star franchise venue, they can rename the neighborhood Navy Pier West, or maybe Rosemont East.
Thank you Daniel, for the great photos. Now we know “how they do that”.
You are most welcome. There’s a reason they put the crane up right across the river from a bunch of park benches. Spectator comfort is of the utmost importance.
Great photos and thank you for documenting this, Daniel!!!