Plans for a 19-story condo development near Mary Bartelme Park in the West Loop have been scrapped in favor of an apartment building and community center.
Local developers Fern Hill and Free Market Ventures revised their project at 37 South Sangamon Street in the West Loop, opting for a 33-story apartment tower, Crain’s reported. The move comes as condo development has dried up in downtown Chicago amid high interest rates, while average rents have increased.
The updated plan, estimated to cost $125 million, features 283 rental units, with 20 percent (57 units) designated as affordable, per the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance. The cost comes to a little under $442,000 per unit.
The proposal also includes a three-story community center and field house facing Mary Bartelme Park. They will be privately funded, publicly accessible, and operated by a nonprofit that will be picked by the development team during the city approval process.
The community center and field house will offer amenities such as sports courts, a lounge, and event space, but their final features will be shaped through input from community leaders and officials.
After the Chicago Plan Commission approved rezoning for the condo building, West Loop neighbors raised concerns about crowded parks amid the influx of new residents. The community center offers “a more inclusive and equitable neighborhood vision,” Fern Hill founder and president Nick Anderson said.
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Interactive Design Architects is attached to the project. Current renderings for the project show a glass structure with an angular wood screen at the base of the apartment tower, which “serves as a vital extension” of the adjacent park, Interactive Design Architects president Dina Griffin said.
This is not the first time Fern Hill has changed course on a project. The developer also tweaked plans to build a hotel in the historic Motor Row corridor, opting instead for a 256-unit multifamily complex. Fern Hill is also working to develop a 500-unit apartment tower in Old Town.
— Andrew Terrell