Well it's sort of bound to happen (the crane).....are people just surprised it's happening so fast?
Not to quote myself, but you did sort of re-ask the same question. You can't just throw up a tower crane on a cleared site. They're usually (but not always) tied into the buildings primary foundation system. In this case, there aren't any building foundations ready to go, so yes, I'd be surprised if they started putting up the tower crane now.A tower (and a tower crane) both need pretty substantial footings, even if there's no underground parking. I'm not sure where bedrock sits relative to this site, but I'd anticipate that there will be some piles or augered piers required in place before we see any tower crane here.