Summit Design makes its first development project in Fulton Market

Summit Design & Build is jumping into the developer’s seat with a new Fulton Market office building.

The construction firm is developing the 29,000-square-foot building on a parking next door to its existing home at 1032 West Fulton Market, according to Crain’s. It’s also across the street from Google’s Midwest headquarters.

Summit has been an active builder in the area, Its president, Adam Miller, told Crain’s instead of selling the lot, the firm opted to develop it itself, seizing on the popularity of the area. The company will move into the top two floors of the new building and rent out the remaining space.

“Being able to build a ground-up building in the West Loop is big,” Miller said. “We’re just so lucky that the neighborhood has gotten to this point.”

The company paid $2.9 million in 2006 for the lot and the three-story building on the corner of Carpenter and Fulton. It sold off the basement and first floor of the building not long after, and now has a deal to sell the rest of it.

Chicago brokerage MB real estate said the Fulton Market area has 1.7 million square feet of office supply under construction, and developers are proposing another 4.9 million square feet.

Developers including Sterling Bay, McCaffery Interests and Shapack Partners are among many looking to cash in on the booming neighborhood, which is also home to the new McDonald’s headquarters. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien