Old Chicago Post Office Renovation Marks A Career High In General Contractor's 40-Year History

BEAR Construction has performed thousands of projects around Chicago and elsewhere throughout its 40-year history. However, according to Executive Vice President Scott Kurinsky, its recent restoration of the Old Chicago Post Office stands out among its many accomplishments.

Bringing the long-vacant, 2.8M SF building back to life would have been a huge task in the best of circumstances. But when BEAR Construction first stepped in to help with the historic redevelopment, Kurinsky said the building and worksite presented scale, logistics and safety challenges unlike anything BEAR had ever encountered.

Among the issues awaiting BEAR within the building, which was vacant for approximately 20 years, were a multitude of dangerous holes in the floors where postal equipment had once been installed. That was compounded by hazardous materials and a complete lack of heat, water and power.

The building is also located along the Chicago River and sits above an expressway and more than 30 active railroad tracks — work that required special construction expertise. 

“It was basically an empty shell with over 2,000 holes between floors that you couldn’t see because it was pitch black inside the building,” Kurinsky said. “The first order of business was making the building safe enough to inhabit for construction crews and first responders who had to come in and perform their duties.”

BEAR Construction’s scope on the $1.2B project included nearly all of the aspects construction crews would typically encounter when bringing a new office tower out of the ground, all within the confines of a 100-year-old shell, Kurinsky said.

In addition to incorporating all new mechanical services, elevators, façade and windows, BEAR's earliest focus was on renovating the historic lobby. Following that were the numerous amenity spaces, the roof deck and the redevelopment of the vast spaces that would eventually be leased to a roster of new tenants.

BEAR Construction Senior Vice President Dennis Hill, who oversaw the project, said the project’s scope and size were unprecedented for the company. However, given that it has been performing general contracting and construction management for a variety of asset types since 1984, the team felt confident in its approach. 

It helped that the building’s owner, 601W, had previously collaborated with BEAR on numerous Chicago-based projects. Hill said that the company was able to work closely with 601W and its design partners from the beginning, which allowed them to gather a team of experts and create a project plan that addressed the many challenges well in advance of starting work.

“We were very specific about picking the right professionals for the job,” Hill said. “We assembled our team for about six months, targeting people that had the expertise to address issues within the utilities and elevators as well as asbestos and lead remediation. That turned out to be extremely successful.”

BEAR Construction was also in charge of building a 3.5-acre rooftop feature, equivalent in size to four football fields, atop the Old Chicago Post Office called The Meadow. The award-winning outdoor space features greenery resembling an Illinois prairie, with more than 40,000 plantings as well as a running track, two pickleball courts, a combination basketball and tennis court, and a full bar. 

While the rooftop aesthetic and activities may be the most appealing building feature to tenants and visitors, what stood out most to Kurinsky was the vast work that went into bringing it to life, work that most people never see. As an example, more than half the cost of building The Meadow was allocated to the structural work that existed below its surface, he said.

“In construction, a lot of the real work, the effort and the heartache, happens behind the scenes,” he said. “When I walk around, I think of all the months it took us to get that entire structure in place that would hold up the green space and other amenities of the roof.”

In all, completion of The Meadow required 3,000 helicopter lifts of materials, including the equivalent of 300 truckloads of soil, more than 5,000 cubic yards of geofoam and 22K SF of concrete pavers.

The project has earned eight awards, including the Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award for Adaptive Reuse in 2023. 

The experience and expertise BEAR accumulated during the past 40 years allowed it to take on the challenging, high-profile project. Its embrace of new building technologies also made a difference. 

Kurinsky said that one of the most notable changes for both the company and the industry over the past four decades has been the evolution of technology.

When BEAR Construction began operations, it relied on typewriters to complete paperwork as well as pagers and pay phones to connect with clients or subcontractors. While these methods have been replaced with computers and cellphones, the challenge has been figuring out how and when to embrace the technology.

“Progress can be a double-edged sword. Technology has certainly made our work easier, but it’s also much more fast-paced, which can lead to challenges in keeping up with and adapting to progress,” he said. “Whatever new technology or product we’re considering, we try to do our research and ensure that we’re making the right decision at the right time and cost.”

He said that the success of all of BEAR Construction’s projects is due to careful planning, swift execution and the ability to make changes in the face of curveballs when designs or plans inevitably change. But timely follow-up might be most important, he said.

“You can do the greatest job in the world, but if you don’t close out the loop on your punch list or take care of those little things, that’s all your client will remember,” Kurinsky said. “It’s important to us to always finish what we start and do it well.”

While BEAR Construction is always looking toward growth, Kurinsky said that the company’s primary focus is on consistently providing a positive experience for both its employees and client roster.

“Instead of working toward a goal of becoming a billion-dollar company in the next five years, we want to have smart, sustained growth that allows us to maintain a great work environment for our employees and exceptional service for all of our clients,” Kurinsky said.

This article was produced in collaboration between BEAR Construction and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to [email protected].