More than 10 residential towers coming to downtown, Goose Island

Critics call for projects to include more affordable housing

More than 10 residential towers coming to downtown, Goose Island
Renderings of the new additions to the Chicago skyline (Chicago.gov)

The Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday gave the green light to a slew of development proposals including a five-tower project on Goose Island and four downtown high-rises totaling $700 million in investment, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

The Goose Island project, dubbed Halsted Pointe, is a multi-phase development at 901 N Halsted Street that would provide up to 2,600 homes and 300 hotel rooms. The tallest building in the 20-year, $1.3 billion project is expected to be 961 feet.

Approximately 20 percent of the apartments will be designated as affordable under city ordinance and will be interspersed between buildings and unit types, according to the publication.

Among more than 10 projects approved by the commission was the redevelopment of the former Sears store in Six Corners. The $90 million effort would renovate the building in Art Deco style and include 207 residences, an accessible rooftop and 50,000 square feet of ground-level retail.

All of the residential projects will have affordable units.

A project on Wabash Avenue across from Ida B. Wells Parkway aims to provide 777 residential units, with 78 of them affordable. Pacific Reach Properties got approval to build 47- and 40-story towers with 105 affordable units on-site and at other locations, and Novack Construction was authorized to do a residential project at a former Sears location in Portage Park.

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Novack plans 207 units including 21 affordable, but just six of the latter will be on-site. Critics called that insufficient and charged that Novack and Portage Park’s alderman, Jim Gardiner, are rushing the project to avoid stricter affordability requirements when a new ordinance takes effect Oct. 1.

Kake Paschen, Novak’s executive vice president, said his firm wanted the new building in the old Sears store to make the most economic sense.

The approved proposals now move to the City Council for a final vote.

The commission’s approval follows the city’s announcement this month of $200 million in planned mixed-used development in underserved communities. The Department of Planning and Development selected four projects — in South Chicago, North Lawndale, Bronzeville and New City — totaling more than 215 residential units, as part of Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot’s initiative to spur development in those areas.

[Chicago Sun Times]Connie Kim