(Above) Wolf Point in October 2012. Click on image to view larger version.

September 5, 2013 – A permit to erect caissons has been issued that could get the Wolf Point project started.

Issued by the City of Chicago on August 29, the permit is to erect caissons for a 507-unit apartment tower – with an attached 200-car parking garage – at 326 North Orleans Street. This would be the first of three towers that Houston-based Hines Interests L.P. wants to build for the Kennedy family at Wolf Point near Merchandise Mart.

James McHugh Construction Company is listed on the permit as the general contractor.

Caissons are steel tubes, closed at the bottom and filled with concrete, that are buried into the ground to anchor a building. Below Marina City, for example, 154 caissons are buried 115 feet into a limestone shelf.

The cost to erect the caissons at Wolf Point was estimated at $1.5 million.

 Related story: City says court filing by Wolf Point opponents ‘misses the mark’