Sale of city-owned Bronzeville land for upscale commercial project

Chicago’s Community Development Commission approved the sale of seven city-owned lots for a three-story commercial development that promised to bring a simulated-golf center and an NFT gallery to the South Side neighborhood of Bronzeville.

Milhouse Development reached an agreement with the city to acquire the land at 4731 South Cottage Grove Avenue, Urbanize Chicago reported. The vacant site, which is across the street from a Walmart Neighborhood Market, is bounded by East 47th Place to the north and East 48th Street to the south.

The project will be designed by Krueck Sexton Partners and incorporate a glass and metal screen facade and timber interior. The ground-level storefront will open into a public food hall. Upstairs will have space for commercial and restaurant tenants in addition to the planned Five Iron Golf and NFT Gallery selling forms of digital artworks known as non-fungible tokens on the second floor. The third floor will also have outdoor terraces overlooking the north and south.

Renderings of 4731 S. Cottage Grove in Bronzeville (Krueck Sexton Partners)

The building will have rooftop solar panels and, since the project benefits from the new Connected Communities Ordinance, only 13 parking spaces. A Phase One environmental review found that the site has “significant potential” for contamination and possibly underground storage tanks due to its history of automotive-related uses.

Milhouse won’t receive any TIF funding, but the value of the land, which is estimated to be $1.27 million, will be put into an escrow account that the developer can draw from for “environmental remediation.”

The $42.2 million project will be funded by $15 million in equity, $18.1 million in loans, $4 million in New Market Tax Credits, $4 million in a potential Chicago Recovery grant and $1.27 million from the land write down.

The City Council will now have to issue final approval for the sale. In addition, the project still needs to go before the Chicago Plan Commission, Committee on Zoning and City Council to be rezoned from RM-5 to B3-3.

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— Victoria Pruitt