With Lori Lightfoot’s farewell address as mayor of Chicago out of the way, Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor is done holding back.
The company is in talks to get new financing for its $6 billion Lincoln Yards megadevelopment, which, Gloor said, has been making slow progress due to Lightfoot and the city, Bloomberg reported. Financial backing of the project has so far been provided by JP Morgan Asset Management and Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, both of which Gloor previously described as “patient” and “with us every step of the way” as his firm works to bring users to its campus.
The project has been hampered by the Lightfoot administration’s sluggish pace of issuing permits for the 53-acre development, Gloor told the outlet. Sterling Bay is now in the process of recapitalizing the whole project due to the lack of municipal support, which set Lincoln Yards back by three years, Gloor said.
“She fought the development, which is so puzzling to me because the economic impact in terms of construction jobs, permanent jobs and the ability to compete with some other cities,” he told the outlet. “It’s in the $8 to $10 billion [range] if you add it all up.”
Gloor added that developments across Chicago were stalled when Lightfoot took over in 2019, as the number of cranes in the air reduced from 60 to 11 or 12. If Lightfoot’s predecessor Rahm Emanuel was still mayor, Lincoln Yards might have eight cranes up in the air right now, according to Gloor.
However, he is confident that newly elected Mayor Brandon Johnson, who will be sworn in Monday, will help see the project to the finish line and that significant progress will be made when he takes office, even though Sterling Bay was vocal in its backing of mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, who lost last month’s runoff election.
“I can’t say enough just of my initial meetings with Brandon and his team,” Gloor told the outlet. “I’m super encouraged that he understands the importance of these large developments for Chicago.”
Sterling Bay started construction on Lincoln Yards in October 2021, with plans to complete the development in 10 years. The project, amassing roughly 14 million square feet, is slated for an array of office, residential and life sciences buildings. Its first building, a 285,000-square-foot property geared toward life sciences firms at 1229 West Concord is nearly complete and the firm is engaged in leasing talks with potential tenants.
— Quinn Donoghue
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