Vista Property plans trio of towers for Fulton Market

Development will bring at least 1,000 residential units to Kinzie and Morgan

From left: Vista Properties' Hymie mishan and Saul Sutton with Fulton Market intersection of West Kinzie and North Morgan streets
From left: Vista Properties' Hymie mishan and Saul Sutton with Fulton Market intersection of West Kinzie and North Morgan streets (Vista Property, Getty, Chicago Gov)

Hymie Mishan and Saul Sutton are sure 1,000 new apartments would do well in Fulton Market, and are toying with the idea bringing another 500 to Chicago’s hottest neighborhood for highrise development of late or if offices would be better instead.

New York-based development firm Vista Property Group, whose principals are Mishan and Sutton, is aiming to build a trio of mixed-use towers that could add as many as 1,500 new residential units to the intersection of West Kinzie and North Morgan streets, Urbanize Chicago reported.

Vista’s three-tower complex targets the lots at 370, 400 and 401 North Morgan Street, which include the Fox Deluxe building and some small masonry buildings that will be torn down.

Demolition will make way for the latest big multifamily projects proposed in Fulton Market, where developers such as Sterling Bay and Shapack Partners have lured a wave of new residential highrises since turning formerly low-slung industrial buildings into office towers tenanted by the likes of Google, Snapchat and McDonald’s over the previous decade.

Property being eyed by Vista also hosts the 32,000-square-foot Morgan Manufacturing building at 401 North Morgan and a 24,000-square-foot brick building at 413 North Carpenter Street, both of which will be preserved as part of the project.

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Gensler is designing the three-tower project. The smallest building, rising 360 feet high, will bring 529 residential units and 10,000 square feet of retail to the lot at 370 North Morgan Street. The first phase will also include the 450-foot-tall tower at 400 North Morgan Street, which will have 478 apartments and 7,000 square feet of retail.

The final phase, plans for which haven’t yet been finalized, will bring either 548 residential units, or office space to the site at 401 North Morgan Street. Without a firm commitment either way, Vista has time to shift to offices should the market for them bounce back from the pandemic’s impact, although Fulton Market felt it minimally as the only office submarket in Chicago to avoid a rise in office vacancy amid the health crisis.

Vista already showed it still has confidence in the West Loop office market with a proposal made this fall to develop a second 15-story boutique office building at 640 West Randolph Street, a block west of a similar development it completed in March.

Vista will present the Fulton Market multifamily plans to the Committee on Design next week, when changes to the proposal could be set in motion in response to feedback on the project. It will also need approvals from the Chicago Plan Commission, the Committee on Zoning and the City Council.

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— Victoria Pruitt