1. The building name, Panorama, is taken from the unique form of the tower. The buildings sweeping curved corner opens the urban condition while providing light and views for the residential units.

2. The tower form was developed to provide as much light and views into the interior of the building. Setbacks were provided to give the building an appropriate scale within the neighborhood.

3. The building materiality and detailing was handled with great care. The thoughtful masonry detailing provides a rich texture for the façade and relates the building back to its immediate context.

4. Panorama is located directly adjacent to the Chicago CTA tracks with immediate access to the transit stop. The building design and planning was developed in direct relationship to its transit-oriented location.

5. The interior design of the public spaces and the units were completed by bKL, resulting in a fully coordinated and cohesive design.

Located one block from the bustling Belmont “L” station and two blocks from the lively commercial districts of both Wrigleyville and Boystown, the Panorama mixed-use project sits at the heart of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.

Comprised of 140 residential units, this 8-story building is set back from a landscaped roof terrace atop a retail and parking podium. The building steps down at the north side to respond to the existing neighborhood scale, while providing additional terrace space for residents.

The curved face and second floor setback help to open and soften the narrow southeast corner on School Street. The material scale within the façade details balances the building with adjacent context. The brick and glass materiality speak to the neighborhood’s quality and feel.

The dedicated Quality Services Manager and the project team completed design reviews to ensure the highest level of quality. They applied proven processes to understand the criteria, review the design intent, make design recommendations, and establish appropriate quality standards throughout the project. As the project progressed, our team conducted constructability reviews to prevent potential field coordination challenges, change orders and schedule delays. For Panorama, areas of key importance were enclosure details between brick and aluminum window systems, watertight enclosure of the fiber cement paneling, and metal panel detailing at building entrance.

Panorama is located on Clark Street, one block from the Belmont “L” station and two blocks from the lively commercial districts of both Wrigleyville and Boystown. The transit oriented development encourages community engagement. With a 96 Walk Score residents are never far from conveniences like restaurants, grocery stores, parks, and shopping. The building was designed to respond to the neighborhood context and provide housing options for the younger demographic that tends to live in the Lakeview area. The units of the building are of smaller scale with the expectation that residents are using the shared amenity spaces, panoramic views, and local community as an extension of their homes. To reduce the scale of the structure and place a focus on street level, the top floor is set back on the north side of the building and along Clark Street. Emphasis was placed on the materiality selection for the building to ensure it was a comforting addition to the neighborhood. Panorama has a selection of affordable housing units in addition to their other offerings.

Working with our project’s Safety Coordinator, a jobsite specific safety plan was developed during preconstruction and was implemented at the project’s start. All tradespeople went through a safety orientation and daily safety huddles. We had no days lost due to injuries sustained on-site.

The job was shut down for several weeks in early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, during which time our project team established safety protocols to mitigate the spread of the virus including regulations concerning distancing, mask usage, and daily wellness/temperature checks. These protocols were maintained for the duration of the project.

• Fifth Avenue Apartments is a five-story development in Maywood, Illinois, that provides 72 much-needed affordable apartment units for working households at or below 60% of area median income. Nineteen of the residences were set aside for special needs populations, eight for homeless veterans and 11 for residents from the Illinois State Referral Network.

• A ground-floor grocery store benefits both tenants and other community members as it addresses the lack of the amenity in the area.

• The building is constructed out of precast panels, which is unique for a multi-family project. This method provides benefits as it is faster to install, more efficient, more cost effective and finishes can be installed directly on the panels. As a result of this method, the entire building structure was assembled in just 35 days.

• To best serve the health of its residents, Fifth Avenue Apartments was designed to achieve high levels of environmental sustainability. In addition to earning NGBS Bronze Certification, the project received an Energy Efficiency Grant for affordable housing regulated by ComEd and was selected for the International Living Future Institute’s pilot program for affordable housing.

• Construction was completed safely and efficiently. The project was delivered one month ahead of schedule and ended with a perfect safety record: ZERO OSHA recordables, ZERO restricted duty cases and ZERO lost-time days.

Fifth Avenue Apartments is a five-story development in Maywood, Illinois, that provides 72 affordable apartment units for working households at or below 60% of area median income. Nineteen of the residences were set aside for special needs populations, eight for homeless veterans and 11 for residents from the Illinois State Referral Network. In addition to common space for tenants, a grocery store occupies the ground floor, addressing the lack of this amenity in the area.

The National Green Building Standard Bronze-certified development was chosen for the International Living Future Institute’s pilot program for affordable housing, which aims to provide sustainable and healthy living conditions while maintaining the desired affordable mix.

McShane Construction Company worked to build the development at a rapid pace, assembling the entire building structure in just 35 days, and delivered the project one month ahead of schedule with a perfect safety record.

Fifth Avenue Apartments is constructed out of precast panels, which is unique for a multi-family project. However, this method provides benefits as it is faster to install, more efficient, more cost effective and finishes can be installed directly on the panels. As a result of this method, the entire building structure was assembled in just 35 days.

As with any project, the McShane team faced challenges during the construction of Fifth Avenue Apartments. The development was built on an infill site, which meant there was debris from the houses that formerly occupied the site. When the properties were demolished, the lot was left filled with clay, brick and other materials in the soil. This made the soils unstable for foundations and difficult to penetrate when installing vibratory stone columns. However, the use of 400 vibratory stone columns under the slab and foundation locations helped with ground stabilization and eliminated the need to undercut the site.

Additionally, the site was very tight, and a 40′ by 140′ crane pad was needed while erecting precast. Because the soils were so poor, it was necessary to backfill with four feet of stone, rather than 12 inches, as was initially planned. Despite these challenges, the project team was able to ensure all necessary measures were taken to produce a high-quality building that will serve the community for many years to come.

Fifth Avenue Apartments provides much-needed affordable housing support for the Maywood community. The need for affordable housing in the area became greater than ever with the onset of the pandemic, as exhibited by the fact that more than 3,000 letters of interest and 1,700 applications were submitted for the 72 units. Because of this, McShane worked to construct the building at a rapid place, delivering the project one month ahead of schedule.

Affordable at 60 percent of area median income (AMI), the development provides homes for working families and individuals, with 19 of the residences set aside for special needs populations, eight for homeless veterans and 11 for residents from the Illinois State Referral Network. The building will maintain its affordability status for a minimum of forty years.

To best serve the health of its residents, Fifth Avenue Apartments was designed to achieve high levels of environmental sustainability. In addition to earning NGBS Bronze Certification, the project received an Energy Efficiency Grant for affordable housing regulated by ComEd. The HVAC system, windows, u-value, insulation and light fixtures were all designed to meet the sustainability requirements. Furthermore, solar panels were installed on the roof that service electricity to first-floor common space areas.

Additionally, the project was chosen for the International Living Future Institute’s pilot program for affordable housing, which aims to provide sustainable and healthy living conditions while maintaining the desired affordable mix. As a result of participation in this program, the design vetted and specified Red List free materials in conjunction with advocating to manufacturers to produce more options. This led to a reduction in the use of vinyl which, in addition to being difficult to recycle, produces toxins when manufactured. Furthermore, the development was designed to be 95% electric, and energy use is offset by a 24KW photovoltaic array in an attempt to shift from combustion/fossil fuel-based systems to electric-based systems that can be powered by renewables.

Positioned in a pedestrian-oriented commercial corridor, Fifth Avenue Apartments provides tenants with easy access to transit, retail, education and employment opportunities. This makes it possible for tenants to live and work in the same community, or to easily commute to their employers without a car. Additionally, a ground-floor grocery store at the development addresses the lack of this amenity in the area, benefitting residents as well as the surrounding community.

It is also important to McShane to include community members in the construction of their projects whenever possible. At Fifth Avenue apartments, two local laborers were brought on to work on the project, and a local snowplow was hired to remove snow on the site during the winter months.

McShane Construction Company instituted its comprehensive Safety and Quality Assurance program throughout the project, led by the firm’s dedicated Vice President of Safety and Risk Management. McShane’s priority on safety and its high standards of training, implementation and on-site supervisory governance provided a superior degree of awareness and safe practices throughout the construction process. As a result, the project team was able to minimize safety incidents through the duration of construction. In the end, after nearly 55,000 project man-hours, Fifth Avenue Apartments had a perfect safety record with zero OSHA recordables, restricted duty case and lost-time days.