LG Development is doubling down on Chicago’s multifamily sector, as it looks to supersize an already ambitious project in the West Loop’s booming Fulton Market District.
The local firm, led by CEO Brian Goldberg, has submitted a proposal to build a pair of apartment towers, totalling 667 units, along the south side of Lake Street, Crain’s reported.
LG previously planned to build a 29-story high-rise with 486 units, for which it received approval in 2021. Under the revised proposal, the firm wants to construct a 25-story building with 287 units, at 170 North May Street, and later, a 38-story tower with 380 units, at 175 North Racine Avenue. Construction of the North May Street project is set to begin in mid-2025 and be completed in 2027.
City Council approval is required for the updated development plan to proceed.
LG’s decision to switch gears was prompted by high interest rates and construction, which have made large-scale developments increasingly difficult to finance. While the tweaked plan calls for more units, it also necessitates a phased development, which is more financially feasible.
“If market conditions are more favorable in two to three years, maybe we get a head-start. If not, we would wait and do one at a time, sequentially,” LG’s Gabriel Leahu told the outlet.
Meanwhile, LG is chugging along with another Fulton Market development: a 20-story, 179-unit apartment project along the north side of Lake Street. In addition, the firm recently completed a 19-story tower with 363 units at 210 North Aberdeen Street, also in Fulton Market.
Despite tough lending standards and high borrowing costs, which have hindered projects across the city since last year, multifamily developers continue to flock to the West Loop area, where rents and demands are steadily rising.
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Other Fulton Market projects in the pipeline include a 29-story, 308-unit project at 220 North Ada Street, spearheaded by a joint venture of Shapack Partners and CRG. The venture recently received an $84 million construction loan from Pacific Life Insurance.
Furthermore, Chicago-based Range Group recently unveiled plans to replace a vacant two-story industrial building, at 455 North Carpenter Street, with a 72-unit luxury apartment complex.
—Quinn Donoghue