Caissons are finished, a groundbreaking ceremony has been held, and the tower crane is in the air for the Southbridge residential tower at 2305 South State Street in the Near South Side. A shiny yellow Liebherr 316 EC-H model began its rise on Tuesday, as crews from general contractor McHugh Construction, concrete contractor McHugh Concrete, and tower crane gurus Morrow Equipment got to work on assembly.
Monday, contractors and developers McCaffery Interests and The Community Builders gathered to hold a groundbreaking ceremony, which was altered slightly by rainy weather, forcing the festivities off the construction site and under cover. But that didn’t dampen the mood, as all on hand celebrated the beginning of a 12-story, 80-unit apartment tower, which is situated across State Street from the first two residential buildings of Southbridge.
Groundbreaking ceremony, Monday April 27. Via McHugh Construction on LinkedIn
Designated as Phase 1C in the ongoing development, the Gensler and Nia Architects design will deliver 1,500 square feet of ground-level retail space and 80 rental apartments consisting of 20 studios, 50 one-bedroom units, and 10 two-bedroom units. Resident amenities will include a rooftop deck, a community room, bicycle storage, and a dog-wash station. While the mid-rise phases 1A and 1B on the west side of State Street have surface parking on lots at the rear, the new tower will not include parking.
A lot of photos of tower crane assembly follow. Shout-out to a couple YIMBY friends for sending shots from Tuesday morning’s progress:
early assembly progress on the tower, before the sun came out. Courtesy of Kaveh Hemmat
Courtesy of Kaveh Hemmat
A tower section is raised Tuesday morning. Photo courtesy of RJB
Another section is added to the tower. Photo courtesy of RJB
A section locked into place, as more wait with the operator’s cab on the ground. Photo courtesy of RJB
From a southbound Green Line train. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
From a northbound train. The tower is complete and topped by the cab and peak. Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
Photo by Daniel Schell
testing the balance for the lift. Photo by Daniel Schell
From the 35th-Bronzeville-IIT Green Line platform. 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
The Southbridge Tower is across the street from the south entrance to the Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line platform, a peak-TOD location. The CTA’s Route 29 bus stops both northbound and southbound next to the Green Line entrance on State Street. One block north are stops for the east-west #21 Cermak bus. A two-block walk east to Michigan Avenue leads to stops for Routes 1 and 4. The Cermak-Chinatown Red Line platform is about three blocks northwest near Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue.
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Couldn’t help an eye-roll at a 12-story building being described as a “tower”, but that quibbling is vastly outweighed by “the new tower will not include parking.” Nice!