Florida developer plans South Loop high-rise with assisted living, medical offices

Ponte Health is proposing a South Loop high-rise featuring assisted-living and medical offices in a pitch to seniors who need care but want to live Downtown.

The Orlando-based developer plans to sign an $8.1 million contract for the property at 424-434 South Wabash Avenue this week, CEO Tabitha Ponte told Crain’s.

The so-called “Vertical Medical City” would feature about 245 assisted living units and 200,000 square feet of medical offices, though with a zoning change Ponte could build something much larger.

Ponte already has another Vertical Medical City in the works in Orlando, where it proposed a 1.4 million-square-foot project that would break ground in September.

Rent at the Chicago complex would include basic medical care, including regular doctor visits and tests. Doctors in the building would serve both residents and outside patients, Ponte told Crain’s.

She estimated the project would cost $500 million to $600 million.

While most senior-housing developers in the Chicago-area have located their projects in the suburbs or outlying city neighborhoods, the Ponte project would look to get in on the broader demand for Downtown rentals that has led to an ongoing apartment boom in the central business district. [Crain’s] — John O’Brien