Over the past couple of months, work has been busy over at 40th and Walnut as Novel RiNo has broken ground. We first mentioned this project a year ago in our June 2020 River North (East) Roundup with no firm date on when construction would begin. Present-day, there are now two tower cranes on-site with ground and foundation work underway.

Let’s start the update with a few higher elevation photos from around the project site. Novel RiNo is situated on a fairly large, uniquely shaped lot just to the north of INDUSTRY RiNo Station. In the photos below, you can see the two new tower cranes and the first columns starting to go up on the western portion of the project.

Here are a few more ground-level photos of the project site.

Novel RiNo is split between two different building heights. The taller 12-story portion will be built towards Walnut Street with a shorter 5-story portion towards Franklin Street and the existing residential neighborhood. In total, Novel RiNo will feature 483 apartment homes. Below are some renderings of the project courtesy of Crescent Communities, the project developer. The architect on record is Davis Partnership with Milender White as the builder.

It is very exciting to see new projects get underway this year. We have more exciting River North projects to feature in the coming days. Stay tuned!