Chicago Selects DL3’s 25-Story ACōDA for Loop Garage Site

Chicago officials are betting on housing — sans parking — for one of the Loop’s last city-owned scraps of land.

The Department of Planning and Development on Wednesday selected DL3 Realty’s $162.2 million proposal to replace a municipal garage and alley at 331-35 South Plymouth Court with a 25-story mixed-use building dubbed the ACōDA. The project would include 300 apartments, with 20 percent set aside as affordable under the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, Block Club Chicago first reported.

City leaders framed the proposal as a transit-oriented development in a part of downtown that has struggled to regain its retail footing. The site is close to the CTA’s Harold Washington Library and Jackson stations, allowing the developer to take advantage of an ordinance passed last July eliminating parking minimums near public transit. Despite 300 units, the building would include just 60 parking spaces.

“In addition to bringing 300 mixed-income units to a key transit node downtown, the project aligns with Central Area Plan strategies to revitalize the southern part of the State Street shopping corridor,” planning commissioner Ciere Boatright said in a statement.

Beyond apartments, the building would include ground-floor retail, restaurant space and coworking space. Chicago-based DL3 also pledged $1.5 million in upgrades to nearby Pritzker Park at State and Van Buren streets, including a new performance space, improved lighting and public art.

The Plymouth Court site is not part of the city’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative, which offers tax increment financing support but requires 30 percent affordability. DL3 is already involved in that program through its work with Chicago-based Riverside Investment & Development and New York-based AmTrust on the property at 135 South LaSalle Street. While this parcel is outside a TIF district, the developer could pursue a $5 million community development grant, according to the planning department.

DL3 CEO Leon Walker told the publication that the project will include live-work duplex lofts aimed at emerging entrepreneurs, a model the firm piloted at its Thrive Englewood development. He described the site — adjacent to the Standard Club at 320 South Plymouth Court, which recently ceased operating as a migrant shelter — as a “diamond in the rough.”

Backed by Alderman Lamont Robinson, the proposal is expected to clear the City Council’s zoning committee and full council.

— Eric Weilbacher