Wrigley Rehab Ready for Prime Time

1060 W. Addison: Work began 18 months ago, set for a 2020 finish. — **1060 W. Addison**: Work began 18 months ago, set for a 2020 finish.

by ROB McMANAMY | April 11, 2016

Take me out to the ball game! Take me out to the crowd...

Tonight on Chicago's north side, even as the home team deals with a season-ending injury to one of its young stars, spirits remain sky-high among long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans. Could this finally be the year their beloved franchise wins its first World Series in over a century?

As the team takes the field for its home opener tonight at Wrigley Field, another factor certainly contributing to the springtime optimism is the ongoing, $575-million, multi-year renovation to the 102-year-old ballpark. Aiming to make the "friendly confines" even friendlier and infinitely more functional for both fans and players, the 1060 Project is now in the second year of five-plus-year plan to modernize a national landmark while recapturing its historic look and feel.

"It's a dramatic restoration," observed architect Andrew Pigozzi, SVP with Chicago-based VOA Associates. Writing last fall on the firm's blog, he added, "Visible design efforts will largely be concerned with turning back the clock on the exterior and restoring it to a glorious century-old look." To help ensure authenticity, VOA is working with preservation architect Gunny Harboe.

“This latest project is a hit... When it comes to Wrigley Field’s front, the beauty is back”

— Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune

It's still early, of course, but Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin (Amherst '79) already is giving the effort high marks. "This latest project is a hit," he wrote just yesterday. "When it comes to Wrigley's front, the beauty is back."

With Denver-based ICON Venue Group acting as owner's rep, Chicago's Pepper Construction has already worn many (hard) hats in multiple roles on the project. To date, its Self-Perform Group has handled demolition, concrete pours, drywall and acoustical work for the first phase of 1060. For the stadium's signature bleachers and ivy-covered walls, Pepper's VDC team "virtually designed and coordinated all concrete work. Formwork for the bleachers was then prefabricated offsite. When concrete was ready to be poured, the forms were delivered to the site," according to the company website. Pepper's online Annual Report for 2015 also features this engaging virtual presentation on the 1060 Project.

In the months, and years to come, BW will continue to cover this fun, historical project which means so much to so many. Please stay tuned. Perhaps there will even be a World Series along the way!