Chicago Plans Mixed-Use Future for Downtown

Downtown Chicago could look radically different by 2045 under a sweeping new blueprint that imagines more than 100 million square feet of development and a population more than doubling to 300,000.

The Department of Planning and Development drafted its Central Area Plan 2045, set to go before the Plan Commission this fall, laying out a two-decade roadmap for private investment, infrastructure and land use across the Loop and surrounding areas, Crain’s reported.

The framework emphasizes housing, public space and transit improvements over office expansion, reflecting how the city hopes to adapt its struggling business district into a mixed-use neighborhood built for residents as much as workers.

Heidi Sperry, the city’s lead planner for the central area, called the plan a “framework” for making downtown “as livable and as vibrant as we possibly can.” That means building apartments — a lot of them. Consultants estimate downtown could add as many as 68,500 housing units over the next 20 years, largely rentals, and absorb as many as 126,000 residents.

The city projects demand for more than 100 million square feet of development based on population and job growth, available land and vacancy trends. Roughly one-third of that footprint could come from redeveloping vacant or underused parcels. While demand for office and retail space is weak, the plan assumes existing vacant inventory and ground-floor retail in mixed-use projects will meet near-term needs.

Much of the new housing supply is expected to come from office-to-residential conversions, an approach the city has already begun to subsidize along LaSalle Street. The draft calls for more conversions and zoning tweaks to support higher density on smaller sites, citing recent projects at 65 East Wacker Place and 500 North Michigan Avenue as examples.

Housing diversity and affordability are recurring themes. Planning Commissioner Ciere Boatright said the goal is to ensure that the office security guard or waitress can live downtown, not just high earners.

The plan encourages incentives for family-sized apartments and workforce housing for residents earning between 60 percent and 120 percent of area median income. Long-term, the city aims to expand support for affordable ownership models such as land trusts and down-payment programs.

To serve a denser downtown, the draft calls for more grocery stores, child care and K-12 options, along with retail subsidies to strengthen street-level activity. Developers are expected to respond to market realities — as one broker told the outlet, “Let’s get them open and occupied and then see what could be needed.”

Transit is another centerpiece. The plan backs new CTA stops on the Brown and Pink Lines, a long-discussed Metra commuter rail station in Fulton Market, and extending the Riverwalk north and south. The city also wants to explore infill Red Line stops and more robust water taxi and bus connections.

— Eric Weilbacher