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Monthly Updates |
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April 2008 Finally — after many delays, volunteers have helped pull all of the audio/video wiring throughout the new worship center and with a few more weekends worth of work, we’ll be getting closer to moving in our new worship center!
February 2008
November 2007 After many long months, the trusses have arrived and are being installed this week. Yea God! 
We also have installed the stairway from the worship center to the second floor which should provide great flow after the services down to Park Cafe. The walls are up in the office and we expect to paint the office walls later this week and put carpeting in two weeks later. 
December 2007 We are seeing great construction progress through the holiday period and the roof is coming along nicely! We are slated to have the staff move into the building in early February so hold tight and keep praying for good weather for the outside construction. Here is the latest photo of the roof cantilevering out over the sidewalk. 
November 2007 After many long months, the trusses have arrived and are being installed this week. Yea God!
We also have installed the stairway from the worship center to the second floor which should provide great flow after the services down to Park Cafe. The walls are up in the office and we expect to paint the office walls later this week and put carpeting in two weeks later.
October 2007 Approval on Structural Steel! 
The wait is over! After many months of waiting for our structural steel engineer to sign off on the five major 8-foot trusses that will hold up our worship center roof, we have received approval to begin manufacture of the trusses. We expect to have the trusses delivered around November 10th so keep a look out for them. While the wait has been painful, God has used this time to remind us that HE has a plan and that HE is faithful, having provided for us a place to meet on Sunday mornings (Moody Bible Institute’s Torrey Grey auditorium) and a place to office (free space at the John Hancock Tower). I am so thankful that He is in control — thank you Jesus and thank all of our congregation for your heartfelt prayers in this area. Now let’s pray for 30 more parking spaces… The brick re-facing of the building is done and it looks excellent! Now that all windows are in, we are close to starting dry-walling on the third floor office spaces. Then interiors committee is hard at work, and we have already ordered the stackable chairs and permanent theater seats for the worship center. 
September 2007 We have poured the cement curbs in the outdoor parking lot, and the whole parking lot is beginning to take shape. We are already framing out Park Café and the Children’s area, as well as the classrooms. Some of the windows are in and we are making excellent progress on all areas (others than the steel trusses that hold up the worship roof). Here is a powerpoint file showing the latest progress on construction.
August 2007 The air conditioning units have been installed on the roof of the building and the contractors are installing all the ductwork. We have begun to put up the steel framing for the office and have measured all the windows for sizing. Our trusses are still a problem; please pray for quick resolution. July 2007 The floor for the worship center has been poured but we are still waiting on the structural truss approval. Over the last few months, we have been praying for additional parking around our building. We have been talking to several local parties who own land parcels in the area and have expressed an interest in selling to the church. However, the current market value is about $1.5 million for the land. We are communicating this to you, our congregation as a way of getting the word out. We would like to see if anyone know any investors who would like to buy and hold this land for 3-5 years and then sell it back to the church at a time when we will be in a better financial position once we are firmly in our new space. If it doesn’t happen, then God has a plan for the land that may not involve us. So we pray and trust in the Lord’s perfect path on this issue — if you have any thoughts, please email Steve Lavey or call him at 312.404.0006 June 2007 We are making progress! We now have the floor deck being installed for the worship floor! The structural engineer has given the okay on the floor steel and we will be pouring the worship center concrete floor next week! We have the northeast stairwell completed and on Friday will begin putting the actual stair steps on the main southwest stairwell (bottom right of photo below) as well as the northwest stairwell. We are re-facing the brick on the south and west sides (see the grey columns and the red brick on the brick walls) as there were unforeseen foundation issues causing the brick to bow and crack. We also started putting up the elevators and the cabs already move between floors! God is good! Please pray for signoff on the big 8 foot trusses that will support the roof, protection of the building and that construction would proceed quickly and that we would be able to move into the office portion of the building in late August. Also pray that we would find favor with the city and would get a contract for parking, needed under the code, which would allow us to put more seats in our worship center. May 2007 The steel is up on the office side of the building and the masons are hard at work on the stairwell at the main entrance at the south and at Crosby and Oak. We will have a crane out next week to begin laying the office steel ceiling deck then we expect to pour the office ceiling concrete ceiling next Saturday. We have the north stairwell completed and are working on the other stairwell. We are re-facing the brick on the south and west sides as there were unforeseen foundation issues causing the brick to bow and crack. We arre praying that we will get the worship steel drawings released early next week. We also started implementing the fire safety sprinkler system this week. Please pray for protection of the building – (we are broken into last weekend), pray against the spirit of confusion and chaos, pray that the steel drawings would be complete, that construction would proceed quickly and that we would be able to move in on time. Also pray that we would find favor with the city and would get a contract for parking with the police lot next door, needed under the code, which would allow us to put more seats in our worship center. April 2007 Steel is Beginning to Rise in Office End of Building! Park Community Church is in the middle of converting a dry-goods warehouse into the country’s coolest warehouse church!. We are located right in the heart of the Near North area of Chicago just west of the new Parkside of Old Town redevelopment. Finally, we can report to you that we are making good progress on the building! This very moment, we are erecting the steel beams on the office end of the building that will support the concrete roof. Check out the photo below and then click here to go to the ParkCAM to see the latest photo. (make sure to refresh your browser to see the latest photo - there is a new one every 60 seconds). We expect to pour the concrete roof on the office end in the next two weeks! We are also far along with the elevator infrastructure and will begin to see the mechanicals being installed over the next several weeks. We have installed our main electrical switch and have most of the sewer plumbing in. We have also completed one of the stairways on the north end and have built out the metal studs for the second floor. Unfortunately, It looks like we are going to have to replace a portion of the red bricks in the front and side of the building — turns out they are not sitting on a foundation and have bowed and cracked in places. After next week, we will be able to start on the interior construction of the office area. We have also made good progress on getting some parking from the police station and the commander is in favor of us using a portion of their parking lot on Sundays. PRAYER REQUESTS: Pray that we would find favor as we set about drafting up an agreement with the city administration. Also, pray that the Structural Engineer continues to make this project a priority. We are still waiting for the review and release of the steels beams and columns for the north half of the building (the worship area). No time frame for their release has been set. Drive by our new neighborhood and check out the progress! February 2007 Things are progressing at the building although we are clearly behind in the steel construction phase. In spite of the weather, we have been able to put in a whole new sewer system on the first floor parking garage. Last week, with the warming spell, we were able to pour cement and cover up the sewer lines and give us a steady surface to drive on in the garage. The contractor has completed the northeast stair tower and are currently finishing up in raising the elevator shaft up to the fourth floor(to house the overhead assembly for the three story elevator). The southeast stairwell is completed and awaiting steel stairs. The contractor has already put up metal framing for all the rooms on the second floor children's area and will be starting on third floor framing next week as well as starting to run electrical conduit and boring all the whole for plumbing.
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January 2007
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December 2006
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November 2006 We are making good progress on the demolition of interior spaces and the window openings on the south end. We have completed a majority of the foundation work and are hoping to get steel work started by late December. Please stop by the building to get a look at the progress we are making.
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September 2006 Mark your Calendars now for Thursday, September 14, 2006 as we have our OFFICIAL GROUNDBREAKING ceremony at the new building! Take a look at the most recent photos - just click on any photo to enlarge it!
August 2006 WE HAVE RECEIVED OUR PERMIT! Praise God! In just over four months, we maneuvered our way through the labyrinth called the City of Chicago Department of Construction and Permits and now have our construction permit! Now the fun starts, with demolition of the roofs starting this month......stay tuned as the building process begins to get exciting!Click here to learn more about the new building and what it will be like. The scaffolding is up around the building and we are getting ready for major demolition and construction. |
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September/October 2005 We continue to work on the final design with our architects. Over the last few weeks, we had more than 75 people show up for our own Construction Connection ministry to do some demolition on the building. It was a great time of hard work, fellowship and an inpiring lunch view! See the photos below:
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