Here’s What it Looks Like Under Chicago’s Newest Skyscraper

Real estate folk are always trying to “get in on the ground floor” of the next big thing. The next big thing in the Gold Coast is One Chicago. And the person in on the ground floor is Joe Zekas from YoChicago!.

But he’s not just in on the ground floor. He was deep underground in the coffer dam in the northwest corner of this project recently. Donning hardhat, he channeled his inner James Brown to get down and get funky with construction workers as they push a brand new skyscraper into the skyline.

One Chicago, you’ll remember, is the 76- and 49-story residential towers going up on the southwest corner of State Street and Chicago Avenue, replacing Holy Name Cathedral’s parking lot. The JDL Development project being built by Power Construction is going to bring over 800 new homes and a shiny new Whole Foods to the neighborhood. Right now the Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Goettsch Partners design is a forest of rebar and cranes and all kinds of dangerous pointy objects. But there’s magic underfoot.

In addition to the video above, while he was six underground, Mr. Zekas took some amazing still photographs. We don’t just throw around the word “amazing” like a yoga mom with atrophied vocabulary and a vocal fry. When we say “amazing,” we mean it. Say it like Oprah: ugh-may-zeeeeeng. Then sup upon the RGB goodness below.