Chicago Green-lights $3B Foundry Park

A long-stalled stretch of Chicago riverfront is back to development.

Chicago’s City Council approved zoning for Foundry Park on Wednesday, a $3 billion, 6 million-square-foot mixed-use development pitched for 34 acres along the Chicago River between Lincoln Park and Bucktown. Crain’s reported that the sign-off clears a major hurdle for the joint venture of Chicago-based JDL Development and Boca Raton-based Kayne Anderson Real Estate, which aim to break ground on the first phase this fall.

The approval marks a dramatic reset for the northern portion of the failed Lincoln Yards megaproject, originally approved in 2019 under Chicago-based developer Sterling Bay. That 14 million-square-foot vision ultimately collapsed under the weight of infrastructure costs and frozen capital markets, with lender Bank OZK seizing most of the site last year.

Foundry Park is notably slimmer. Plans call for roughly 3,207 residential units — including 305 for-sale homes and 2,902 rentals — alongside up to 350,000 square feet of office space, 420,000 square feet of retail and 250,000 square feet of hospitality uses. About 641 rental units would be set aside as affordable housing.

The first phase alone is projected to cost $800 million and span 1.6 million square feet, anchored by a 39-story apartment and condo tower on a triangular parcel bounded by North Southport Avenue, West Cortland and North Kingsbury streets. JDL CEO Jim Letchinger dubbed it the “monument” of the development.

But while aldermen signed off on zoning, the harder part may lie ahead.

The City Council has yet to approve plans for new roads, utilities and other infrastructure needed to support the historically industrial site, long plagued by congestion, according to the publication.

Under the 2019 Lincoln Yards redevelopment agreement, Sterling Bay was to front major infrastructure costs and be reimbursed with up to $1.3 billion in tax-increment financing once projects were completed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

An initial $490 million worth of public infrastructure consisting of 13 City Council-approved projects were outlined for TIF reimbursement at the time, according to city documents. Those projects included bridge extensions and viaduct work, a pedestrian and bike trail extension and various street and Chicago River sea wall improvements.

Untangling that agreement to fit Foundry Park’s smaller space remains an open question.

Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose former ward included the site, voted against the rezoning, arguing that promised improvements — including a redesign of the Elston-Ashland-Armitage intersection and two new river bridges — remain unresolved.

“All those things that were promised to the neighborhood … and as of now, we’re walking away from it,” he said at the meeting.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, whose 32nd Ward now includes the site, acknowledged “significant transportation challenges,” but framed the vote as a signal that Chicago can still execute large-scale projects after years of stalled deals.

Plans include new stretches of Dominick Street and Southport Avenue, 3,000 linear feet of riverwalk and roughly 10 acres of open space. A proposed bridge connection to the 606 trail would follow a future extension of the trail.

— Eric Weilbacher