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Development
Chicago

Chicago once again aims to redevelop historic warehouse

Request for proposals in 2018 request didn’t draw developers

A photo illustration of 1769 West Pershing Road (LoopNet, iStock)
A photo illustration of 1769 West Pershing Road (LoopNet, iStock)

Chicago officials hope the second time’s the charm to redevelop a historic warehouse it owns in McKinley Park.

Four years after the city first sought developers for the 1769 West Pershing Road structure, the Chicago Community Development Commission approved a new request for proposals for the property and a building next door that the city uses to store vehicles, Crain’s reported. Its earlier request for the building and a matching one at 1819 West Pershing Road didn’t produce any proposals.

The city owns four properties on Pershing Road, three 570,000-square-foot warehouses and the storage facility. The city uses the other two warehouses, at 1819 and 1869 West Pershing, for storage, while the one being offered to developers is vacant. The city bought the properties in 1999.

They’re all part of Chicago’s old Central Manufacturing District which was opened in the early 1900s as one of America’s first industrial parks. So far, plans to redevelop most of the underused brick-and-terra-cotta buildings have been all talk.

“The buildings have seen years of deferred maintenance and may have unremediated environmental concerns,” City Planner Nolan Zaroff told the commission.

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Zaroff said that while the city has tried to market and sell the Pershing properties together, the new proposal will break them into more manageable chunks, making them more likely to receive feasible proposals.

Still, while demand for housing and industrial space is strong, redeveloping the historic building could be cost-prohibitive. According to a report from the development commission, the city will consider tax-increment financing, tax assessment freezes and other incentives to help finance redevelopment.

A development group last year obtained public and private funding to convert another West Pershing warehouse into 120 affordable apartments.

The Department of Planning and Development plans to release the request for proposals on July 18, and the deadline for developers to submit their proposals will be Oct. 21.

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– Rachel Herzog

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