Wednesday, September 4, 2013

River Point Progress


I’ve been watching with interest as the new River Point tower slowly emerges from among the knot of railroad tracks between Canal Street and the Chicago River, just north of Lake Street.  The Pickard-Chilton design will be a 45-story commercial building with about 850,000 square feet of space.  It should be a stunning addition to the one place on the main stem of the river that one can’t help but see since it is at dead center of the channel as it turns north and south.  It is a place for over a century that has been a no man’s land of railroad tracks and switching facilities.  You can read about the new project here.

You have to admire the speed with which the project is unfolding as the first phase, the creation of a riverfront plaza on the east side of the new tower, moves toward completion.  This riverfront park will be 1.5 acres that is open to the public with seating areas and extensive landscaping.  To create it the half-dozen railroad tracks that run through the area must be decked over, and that is what is taking place now.

I took pictures of the site on the eighteenth of June and the twenty-eighth of August.  From comparing different views taken nearly two months apart, it’s pretty clear how the quickly the project is speeding along.  I love watching this place rise.  It should be a real stunner.  Check back here in a month or so, and I'll have another update.

June 23, 2013 -- River Point Bank Stabilization and infill (JWB Photo)
August 28, 2013 -- Concrete walls being erected to support decking over railroad tracks (JWB Photo)
June 23, 2013 -- Excavation of infill site; note railroad tracks and equipment trailer to the west (JWB Photo)
August 28, 2013 -- There's that equipment trailer . . . quite a difference! (JWB Photo)
June 23, 2013 -- Excavation with the Residence at River Bend
in the background (JWB Photo)

You have to admire the speed with which the project is unfolding as the first phase, the creation of a riverfront plaza on the east side of the new tower, moves toward completion.  This riverfront park will be 1.5 acres that is open to the public with seating areas and extensive landscaping.  To create it the half-dozen railroad tracks that run through the area must be decked over, and that is what is taking place now.

August 28, 2013 -- The Residences at River Bend, Metra train,
and River Point walls to support decking over the tracks (JWB Photo)



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