The construction teams at 400 Lake Shore jumped the tower crane once again this past weekend, adding six more shiny yellow sections to Chicago’s highest rig. The crane was last extended in May, and will rise in three more stages before it ultimately tops out. A half-dozen sections will be added during the next two climbs, while the sixth and final extension will add five.
While weather wasn’t perfect, it only caused minimal delays for the crew. On Saturday, the sections were delivered to the construction site, and work got started at about 6am. The early start proved advantageous, as by the time they got the crane tied in to the 36th floor, lightning moved toward downtown, and the crew called it a day shortly after noon. They were back at it Sunday morning and raised the first three sections before some rainfall instigated an early lunch break, after which the skies cleared enough to get the final three sections in place.
Last week, general contractors LR Contracting and BOWA Construction, along with concrete contractor Goebel Forming, poured the 38th floor. The glass curtain wall has now wrapped 20 levels around the tower. The tower will top out at 72 stories with a projected opening date early in 2027. Work during this phase of construction will include the rebuilding of DuSable Park just across Lake Shore Drive. The second phase will involve construction of the South Tower.
More tower crane documentation from the jump, spanning Sunday morning, July 20, to Monday morning:
The third of six sections—for the third of six crane jumps—lifts off on Sunday morning, July 20
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Watching from Polk Brothers Park
Photo by Daniel Schell
Section three is handed off to the crew up top, and the picker heads down for another piece
Three more sections to go
The crane’s third tie-in was set up Saturday, before the crew called it a day due to incoming weather
Glass
Some of the 20 levels of glass curtain wall installed so far
Photo by Daniel Schell
Partial installation of the 21st level, with panes ready to go on the floors above
The half-jumped crane as the crew pauses as rain passes through
Climbing the tower, back into position
Readying the tower to slide the third section into position
Photo by Daniel Schell
The third section is in place
The picker heads down for the fourth crane section of the day….
….and liftoff
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Monday, a much nicer day, and the jump is complete. The tower crane is back to work
Photo by Daniel Schell
The tie-in that was installed Saturday before six sections were added to the crane tower
20.5 rows of glass curtain wall
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
The crane in full work mode, lifting material to the top
Photo by Daniel Schell
The 400 Lake Shore North Tower, now 38 stories tall, with 18 sections added to the tower crane since it was first erected
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Similar to NEMA and 311 S Wacker, I hope only one of the planned towers for this development gets built. It would be nice to see a taller tower of a different design replace what’s planned to be a shorter sibling of the current tower under construction.
That’s a pretty uncompelling reason to criticize the highly anticipated development of a long-vacant parcel of prime real estate. The sites for the second and third towers at 311 S Wacker are still undeveloped, as are the plots of land for NEMA Phase II and III (I think, but could be wrong).
I’m not hoping to convince you. My reasons are compelling to me. I’d rather see differentiation. I also wish the terra cotta cladding hadn’t been nixed from the design. You may be correct, regarding the undeveloped plots of land.