A really Big Deahl: Developer looks to upsize resi project

Structured Development wasn’t satisfied with its original plan to build about 200 apartments in the Clybourn Corridor shopping district. Now it wants the project to include nearly 500 units of housing.

The developer has filed new plans for the additional residential units — a total of 487 — at its project on the Near North Side, according to Crain’s. The proposal now includes a 28-story tower with 327 units, a 10-story building with 126 units and a seven-story, 34-unit building, according to the report.

Structured Development has already begun work on a Planet Granite climbing gym at the corner of Dayton Avenue and Blackhawk Street. It was to be part of the company’s $56 million project for The Shops at Big Deahl, a 3-acre complex.

Structured Development has abandoned much of the original proposal — which has been years in the making — in favor of the newly-revised version. Under the old version, the company was approved for 197 apartments and 150,000 square feet of retail space.

While the pandemic has hit Chicago’s real estate market hard, megaprojects continue, like Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards and Related Midwest’s The 78.

Meanwhile, JDL Development is seeking approvals for an enormous residential project at the Moody Bible Institute site in River North. That project could include as many as 3,950 residential units and 30,000 square feet of retail on the 8-acre site. [Crain’s] — Alexi Friedman