![Draper & Kramer CEO Todd Bancroft with Royal George Theatre (Google Maps, Draper & Kramer)](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/royal-george-theater-ft2-250x179.jpg)
Trending
Draper & Kramer plans 131 units in Old Town
Development is at site of shuttered playhouse
![Draper & Kramer CEO Todd Bancroft and a rendering of 1633-1649 North Halsted Street](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Draper-Kramer-Plans-131-Units-in-Old-Town_Main-1400x875.jpg)
After making a big sale of a vintage Bronzeville asset this summer, apartment developer and investor Draper & Kramer wants to bring something new to Chicago.
The firm is proposing a 131-unit complex in the Old Town section of the Lincoln Park community area, and seeking approval for the project at 1633-1649 North Halsted Street at this month’s Chicago Plan Commission meeting, scheduled for Aug. 17.
In addition to the residential units, the nine-story building would include about 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 34 parking spaces. The proposal requires rezoning the site from a community shopping district to a residential-business planned development, according to the Plan Commission agenda.
The development is located at the former site of the Royal George Theatre, a longtime fixture in Chicago’s live entertainment scene that was constructed in the 1980s and shuttered due to the pandemic. Draper & Kramer bought the 26,000-square-foot lot for $7.1 million in 2021.
The proposed development will add more housing to one of Chicago’s most in-demand neighborhoods. Multifamily availability in the Lincoln Park-Lakeview area dropped by 190 basis points year-over-year in the first quarter of 2023, according to a report from Marcus & Millichap.
The pace of multifamily construction in the Chicago metro area slowed over the 12-month period ending in March, with just over 6,000 units completed during that time frame, per the report.
Chicago-based Draper & Kramer, a 130-year-old firm helmed by CEO Todd Bancroft, owns 6,000 multifamily units and has invested $600 million in the last five years, according to its website.
In May, Draper & Kramer cashed in on the 1,869-unit Lake Meadows apartment complex in Bronzeville for $161 million, selling it to Antheus Capital.
The firm is also planning a nine-story, 129-unit multifamily tower at 330 West Chestnut Street on the Near North Side.
Read more
![Draper & Kramer CEO Todd Bancroft with Royal George Theatre (Google Maps, Draper & Kramer)](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/royal-george-theater-ft2-250x179.jpg)
![Lake Meadows apartments at 3233 S. King Drive in Bronzeville](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Antheus-Paid-Over-160M-For-Lake-Meadows-Apartments_FT-Thumbnail.jpg)
![](https://static.therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FT-Plan-Commission-approves-2700-units-across-6-towers-for-downtown-150x106.jpg)