GW Properties building Chick-Fil-A drive-thru, 7-Eleven on South Loop lot

Chicago’s first drive-thru Chick-Fil-A will occupy one of three new retail buildings planned by GW Properties near the corner of Roosevelt Road and Jefferson Street in the South Loop.

The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals gave the developer permission last week to build the 5,000-square-foot restaurant at the corner of Clinton and De Koven streets, across the street from The Maxwell shopping mall and a block north of the famed Manny’s Deli.

GW Properties bought the 77,000-square-foot lot, which is bound by Clinton, De Koven, Jefferson and Grenshaw Street, for $10.4 million in June. The Chicago-based firm also will redevelop an existing Marathon gas station at Jefferson and De Koven into a 7-Eleven gas station with a 3,500-square-foot convenience store, principal Mitch Goltz said.

Finally, the Chicago-based firm envisions a 10,000-square-foot retail building on a vacant lot on the eastern edge of the site, facing Clinton Street. Aspen Dental will take 3,500 square feet inside the building, and GW is shopping out the remaining space.

The development will join a growing cluster of dining and shopping sites between the Chicago River South Branch and the Dan Ryan Expressway, including a Portillo’s restaurant and McCaffery Interests’ Whole Foods-anchored Southgate Market.

The Mid-America Real Estate Group is representing GW Properties in leasing discussions, Goltz said.

The developer plans to break ground at the site in the spring and open all three facilities by the end of 2019.

Earlier this month, GW and Angelo Gordon secured a $42 million loan to buy and redevelop two Macy’s department stores in Schaumburg and Oak Brook.

The firm is also awaiting permits for a 109-unit mixed-use apartment complex it plans to build overlooking the 606 trail in Bucktown,  and it’s sketching out plans to redevelop the historic Hollander Building in Logan Square, which it bought this year for $5.8 million.