ZSD Plans Apartments on Chicago River North Parking Lot

Another long-dormant River North development site is showing signs of life.

Chicago-based ZSD plans a $50 million, 149-unit apartment building on the parking lot at 320 West Huron Street, Crain’s reported.

The site has cycled through multiple developers and proposals over the past decade. ZSD, led by Zev Salomon, bought the parcel for $9 million earlier this month, acquiring it from North Wells Capital, which paid nearly double that price in 2019 and had once pitched a 24-story office building for the site.

That plan fell apart in the wake of the pandemic and weakening demand for downtown office space. North Wells Capital began quietly shopping the site last year and asked the city to withdraw its planned development approval.

ZSD intends to build an eight-story rental project on the full-block parcel, between Orleans and Franklin streets, using lower-density zoning.

“It’s deliberately more simple and restrained,” Salomon told the outlet, citing high construction costs and tight capital markets. “We have to do everything we can to be smart right now.”

The plan includes an indoor parking garage and a pocket park along the lot’s western edge, which was negotiated as part of a 2016 condo proposal that never materialized.

Salomon is partnering with Reed Edwards, formerly of Sterling Bay, to help secure financing for the project, which is expected to start construction this fall pending final approvals. Delivery is targeted for early 2027.

The development reflects broader trends across the city’s urban core, where office-to-resi pivots and ground-up multifamily plays are becoming par for the course as developers chase demand from renters priced out of ownership. Downtown apartment rents are near record highs, and elevated borrowing costs have kept new supply tight.

ZSD, launched in 2017, is developing several condo and townhome projects and has a 23-story apartment proposal pending at 1333 North Kingsbury Street. The firm is committed to working locally despite development headwinds, said Salomon, adding that he’s “long on Chicago still.”

— Judah Duke