McLaurin wins initial approval of land sale for $47M Bronzeville project

McLaurin Development will develop a block-long site on 47th Street

McLaurin Development's Zeb McLaurin with rendering of Bella Noir Wellness Hub (McLaurin Development, SEEK Design + Architecture, Getty)

TRD Staff

Feb 24, 2023, 3:31 PM

McLaurin Development is nearing the closing on a block-long, city-owned site for its proposed $47 million wellness center project in Bronzeville.

Chicago’s Community Development Commission approved the sale of the land at 601 East 47th Street in the South Side neighborhood for a mixed-use development dubbed Bella Noir Wellness Hub that will aim to “eliminate community inequities,” Urbanize reported. Seek Design + Architecture is designing the project.

Led by McLaurin and Bella Noir LLC, whose backer is Chicago-area native Maurita Holmes, the wellness hub will include community fitness space, after-school activities and programs, a farm-to-table program with on-site dining, 24 residential units for veteran housing and three more that will be marketed as affordable housing.

The veteran housing will be developed in partnership with the University of Chicago. In addition, The Lyric Foundation, which will run some of the programs in the hub, will relocate its headquarters to the site.

“Bella Noir’s programs invest in the revitalization of the community and address the needs of disadvantaged youth while providing a space for the community as a whole to meet their health and wellness needs,” the website said.

The ground-floor of the wellness hub will include a pharmacy and retail space as well as 15 parking spaces for residents and 22 for commercial patrons. The apartments will be located in the eastern portion of the project with the other end holding a full-size basketball court, fitness center, medical office space and co-working space.

The developers will pay $748,000 for the land, pending city council approval. The $42 million project, which is being built by general contractor Powers and Sons Construction, is expected to begin construction next January and be completed by the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.

Elsewhere in Bronzeville, McLaurin is a part of the GRIT team, along with Farpoint Development among other partners, approved to build the $4 billion Bronzeville Lakefront project to redevelop the former Michael Reese Hospital site into a series of mixed use residential and commercial buildings across the 48-acre site. A groundbreaking ceremony is being held for that project next month as the development team kicks off work on a $60 million infrastructure package to prepare the site for further building.

— Victoria Pruitt