Chicago’s newest tower crane is set to do the heavy lifting for the 7 West Elm residential tower in the Gold Coast neighborhood. Shoutout to reader Idvier for letting us know last week that the crane had been erected at North State and West Elm Streets, where former Barnes & Noble and Lou Malnati’s outposts were recently demolished.
A three-story masonry mixed-use building has been approved for construction at 3217 South Archer Avenue in McKinley Park. A permit with an application start date of March 11 came through on October 27, 230 days later. It cites a reported cost of $500,000.
Over the span of two days, a caisson permit and a full building permit were issued to begin construction at 5853 North Broadway in Edgewater. The first task to complete will be the demolition of the single-story structure used by the Department of Streets & Sanitation on the site. Lack of a demo permit may curtail plans for a bit, but many of those simply aren’t visible anymore in the Chicago Data Portal, so this one might be waiting and ready to bust out any day now.
A demolition permit was issued by the City of Chicago to knock down a multi-unit residence and its detached garage at 6237 North Winthrop Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood. The two-story building was purchased by the entity of 2119 Grand LLC, registered with a mailing address in Park Ridge, in April for $1.75 million, according to real estate records. An application was filed on August 10 to tear down the two structures; it came through on November 3 with a reported cost of $10,000. All Concrete Contractors is named as the demo crew.
Brickwork, glass installation, and balconies are complete on the residential floors of 4309 North Lincoln Avenue in North Center. When construction was permitted to begin on the four-story, 12-unit building back in April 2025, it made no mention of any such outdoor spaces. And while we can’t tell from the sidewalk if there is an occupiable roof top, the decks on the north end south ends are prominent.
