Two Michigan High-Rises Get Building Permits to Begin Their Ascent

In case you missed it last week, two large Michigan Avenue high-rises received building permits to start their vertical accent.

First up was Essex on the Park at 808 S. Michigan (via Curbed):

While the 56-story Essex on the Park tower at 808 S. Michigan Avenue celebrated a formal groundbreaking with shiny shovels and VIP photo-ops back in January, the upcoming high-rise is now ready to begin construction in earnest. Yesterday, the project was granted its first building permit covering work on its foundation and structure up to the underside of the tower’s 6th floor.

Later in the week, it was announced that a 47-story tower at 1326 got theirs (via Curbed):

Approved by the City of Chicago in spring of 2016, a glassy 47-story high-rise proposed for the parking lot at 1326 S. Michigan Avenue has received the official go-ahead from the city and can begin work on its caisson-supported foundation system.  

Designed by local firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), 1326 S. Michigan features a glassy facade with chamfered corners. The look is somewhat evocative of Norman Foster’s lantern-like Hearst Tower in New York and the "stacked frustum" geometry of Jeanne Gang’s Vista Tower under construction in Chicago’s Lakeshore East.

Get ready for two more cranes to join the neighborhood!