I was going to try to come up with some sort of dad joke-like title for this post (Tower Cranes in Vegas = Jackpot -or- Tower Crane Count in Vegas is Scorching) but I just don't have in me right now. That said, I do have a few cool pix to share, particularly regarding the MSG Sphere, so let's start with that. Before looking at the pix below, keep in mind the following stats that I picked up from this article at casino.com:

• One of the crawler cranes used on this project is the fourth largest ever assembled, taking 18 days to set up.
• The arena will seat 17,500 people.
• The project cost is $1.8 billion and is scheduled to open in 2023.
• The interior screen will be the size of three football fields and is 100 times clearer than the best HD TV you can buy today.

I know I'm going off script with crawler cranes, but these beasts are engineering marvels and were actually to big to adequately capture in a single picture. You should also know that I risked life and limb to get these pictures. A security guard told us we could not take pictures whereby a buddy I was with said "we're standing on a public sidewalk, we'll take all the pictures we want." Please note that previous quote was edited so that i can keep this post family-friendly. Without further ado...

View from the adjacent Venetian parking structure. Not sure which of these was the fourth largest crawler crane, but they are both huge.

These crawler cranes act like mobile luffer tower cranes. I assume they used mobile cranes because the size of the dome necessitated repositioning.

A view of the beast from the bottom. I found it odd that they needed to place the crane tracks on dunnage given the incredibly hard nature of Las Vegas caliche soil (ya, I just went full geotech nerd on you.)

View from the entrance to the Venetian Convention Center. Notice the soon-to-be-completed enclosed elevated walkway to the MSG Sphere that ducks just below the elevated monorail.

Oh yeah, there were also some other tower cranes that were infinitely less cool than these crawlers.

Two luffers at the Venetian. By now it should be completely clear that there is a lot of work going on at/around the Venetian Hotel.

The last crane I saw was this tower crane working on a ho hum renovation project at the Hilton Grand Vacations time share.

While the crowds on the strip were a bit rough (Seriously, who takes little kids there? And who pays to have a picture taken with someone wearing a soiled Spider Man costume? Actually, never mind, I would prefer not to know.), but it has been years even before COVID that I had been down there and I was glad I got to see the MSG Sphere under construction and I'm intrigued to see a show there when it is done.

It has been seven months since my last Sacramento update, so perhaps I should relabel these biannual updates...oh well. Since November, Sacramento is down a tower crane, leaving the overall count to five. I just returned to Seattle, where five seems like a colossal letdown (more on that in a separate forthcoming post), yet five is pretty good for Sacramento, historically speaking. Since November, here are the cranes that were removed from the Sacramento skyline:

• Multifamily at S Street between 16th and 17th Streets (up for what seemed to be a hot minute)
• The AJ, Railyard Boulevard between 6th and 7th Streets, Brown Construction
• CalSTRS second tower at 3rd and E Streets in West Sacramento, DPR Construction (which seemed to be up for several years)

Two new cranes replaced the three above. The details are as follows, moving from north to south:

​Two tower cranes at the Sacramento County Courthouse replacement project, 6th and G Streets. Clark Construction is the general contractor (project info in the link).

New addition to the skyline at 7th and I Streets and looks to be a multifamily project. Tricorp Group is the GC.

 Cathedral Square multifamily project on J Street and 11th Street. DesCor Builders is the GC. For an inside look at this project, click here. The owner for this project is Anthem Properties, which leads us to...

...Another Anthem Properties multifamily project at 15th and S Streets. Brown Construction is the GC.

I was in Austin the week before last for a few days of rest and relaxation. I was in Austin in 2015 and was impressed by the number of tower cranes back then. The current skyline is even more impressive. By my count, I could see 24 tower cranes one the following types of projects:

• Student housing: 9 (all of it looking privately-funded)
• Residential: 6 (with one on the way)
• Hotel: 4
• Commercial/office: 5

I typically use my morning run as a means to see city landscapes and construction projects. Given the amount of tower cranes, I put in more miles than expected. As such, I needed to replenish and "rehydrate" and Austin did not disappoint on that front. The evidence of Austin's awesomeness are below.
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I wasn't able to get back to Franklin BBQ, but Terry Black's was pretty damn good (and 20 minute wait vs. 2.5 hours). But hands down, I highly recommend a visit to Still Austin for some bourbon. Bonus points if it's Drag Queen Bingo Day.

I'm little behind on this, yet on April 22 I was given a tour of the Cathedral Square project on 10/11th and J Streets in Sacramento. When this project started, I was pretty excited. That stretch of J Street is a bit dodgy (to put it very politely) and I like how the steeples  Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament punctuate the Sacramento skyline. In a chance encounter with Neal Cordeiro, the "Cor" in DesCor Builders, the general contractor on the project, I subtly mentioned "I would love to tour your project with the tower crane" and Neal said, "set up a tour with Jeff and let me know and I'll come along." Jeff, as in Jeffry Meier, is an alum of Sac State's Construction Management program and a former student. Now I'm all in. We invited Jeff's dad, Henry to tag along. I have worked for and with Henry over the years and he's been a great mentor since I joined Sac State in 2009. I am a big fan of DesCor's work having been involved with a dining hall they built on the St. Francis High School campus. And I always like walking jobsites with former students; the best part of being a teacher is seeing former students slaying it in the professional world. This site visit scratched a lot of itches for me. Bonus points for there being a tower crane involved.

The building developer is Anthem and its a six story building with one level of subterranean parking, parking and retail on the concrete podium first floor and five floors of timber residential with a rooftop bar. Below are the pictures from the site walk and check out the bundled 2x6 framing!

The view from J Street. This will be an architectural gem that replaces unsalvageable blight.

First floor retail area looking towards the corner of 11th and J Streets

Timberrrrrrrr! With the escalating cost of dimensional lumber, I can't even wrap my mind around the cost of this building. We did discuss how it is less expensive to quadruple-up 2x6 boards than buy 8x6s. Even I could hang a picture securely in this unit when it's complete.

Great views of the skyline with the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on the background. The perfect place to have a cocktail.

I'm still burning off the sushi extravaganza lunch that followed the site walk. Thanks for the tour Jeff and Neal!

This year I got to be the first guest lecture in Henry Meier's CM 10 class. I spoke a million miles an minute, so the slides are below:

You would think a simple Google search would reveal the number of active tower cranes there are in London today, but that is not the case. As such, I will use a less scientific phrase to describe the number: umpteen.  As in a bloody lot. There was over 200 over a decade ago and with the Brexit vote the prevailing wisdom was that London would hit the skids. From my vantage point, that just does not seem to be the case. I didn't see ALL of London, but from Heathrow Airport in the west to the Tower Bridge in the east, I saw over 100 tower cranes (basically, I gave up counting out of exhaustion and the inability to keep up). Below are are few notable sites I observed over four days in December.

It occurred to me last week that I did not do a tower crane count for the third quarter for Sacramento. My bad...but the fourth quarter count has some new cranes and the overall count from Q2 to Q4 increased by one. Since this summer, here are the cranes that were removed from the Sacramento skyline:

• Sacramento Commons, 5th and O Streets, Deacon Construction
• Apartments at  the intersection of 16th Street and F Street, Sunseri Construction
• Hyatt House, K and 28th Streets in Midtown. MarketOne Builders

Two new cranes have been added, bringing the total count to six. The details are as follows, moving from east to west:

New tower crane #1: multifamily development on S Street between 16th and 17th Streets. I am not sure of who the general contractor is, but Largo Concrete is currently mobilized.

New tower crane #2: Cathedral Square multifamily project on J Street and 11th Street. DesCor Builders is the GC.

Slightly more east than the next project is a multifamily project on Railyard Boulevard between 6th and 7th Streets. Brown Construction is the general contractor.

Two tower cranes at the Sacramento County Courthouse replacement project. Clark Construction is the GC.

Last but not least...the longest standing tower crane of the current class: ​​CalSTRS second tower at 3rd and E Streets in West Sacramento, DPR Construction.

Went to San Francisco to celebrate Daughter 1's birthday. Compared to a few years ago, the tower crane scene in the City is pretty quiet. Given that the bulk of the activity is in the <clears throat> less desirable part of town, I get the sense that San Francisco is coming to the end of the current building cycle. 

The first two pictures are from the Tenderloin neighborhood in SF. If you are not familiar with the Tenderloin, it's a pretty rough neighborhood and it lived up to reputation when I decided to jog through it so that I could geek out on tower cranes. It's tough to look up at cranes and dodge the copious crap (literally, crap) on the sidewalks, but I managed.

Tenderloin project #1

Tenderloin project #2

The project above is located in the area bordered by Market, Gough, Otis and 12th Streets. Again, not a common area for high-rise activity which is more data that development is being pushed to the fringes in San Francisco.

Lastly, the above picture was taken from Oracle Park (and was actually taken a few weeks ago). This project is in the Mission Bay part of the city and is likely tied to the University of California, San Francisco medical campus in Mission Bay. This is a desirable neighborhood that has undergone explosive growth for over a decade.

I am in no way qualified to blog about food, yet as a fan of tacos (see blog title above) I cannot neglect the Mexican food I consumed in Milwaukee (yes Milwaukee!) while there for Summerfest. Below are the highlights of foods I highly recommend. First stop: Milwaukee Public Market.

I really wanted (needed) coffee and a donut, but this breakfast taco was too good to pass up.

Yeah, I ended up getting donuts at the Milwaukee Public Market as well. 

After the gutbomb breakfast, we walked the Historic Third Ward in Milwaukee. After a few hours, I had my appetite back (I love vacation!) and we checked out a Mexican-ish restaurant called the Blue Bat Kitchen and Tequilaria. Strong recommend! Here's the roll-out of my order:

Bag o' chips with bat dust. I have no idea what bat dust is but I really like it. I'll let you know if I come down with any hantavirus symptoms. Of course I washed it down with a paloma, duh.

Street corn. With bacon. And bat dust. I destroyed this.

I may have mentioned this before but it bears repeating: I love tacos. These were incredible.

A little later before seeing the Zac Brown Band, I consumed the official meal of Summerfest:

Tall boy of Miller High Life and fried food. I heart you Milwaukee.

So, ZBB was incredible (always a great live show) and we were all set to check out Wilco right afterwards, but there was this taco place that caught our eye that we wanted to hit. Tacos > Wilco. On to Electric Lime.

How can you not order a drink off a menu title thirst trap? Marg for TReg, Spotted Cow for JReg. BTW, Spotted Cow is a must drink in Wisconsin. It's not the greatest beer in the world, but the fact that you can only get it in Wisconsin and it is really good is pretty compelling.

Nachos and tacos in the wee hours? Hell yes.

Fast forward to the following morning. A bit groggy (read: hungover) and TReg takes me on a refreshing walk to a coffee shop she has frequented before as MKE is in her territory. Coffee and breakfast would be so good at this point...

Coffee: check
Breakfast burrito: check
Breakfast sandwich: check
Cinnamon roll: check
Weird street musician playing Turkish folk music in the background: check
Collectivo Coffee was a perfect way to start the morning and the setting near Lake Michigan was super pleasant.

​It's about time to head to the airport to return to Sacramento. Time for one more meal.

Return to Blue Bat for chilaquiles and a Spotted Cow. Thank you for raising my cholesterol 200% Milwaukee. Let's do it again soon.