The Canadian developer planning to build almost 2,700 apartments on the southern tip of Goose Island has a deal to buy another big development site a block away, likely teeing up what could be well north of 1,000 more residential units along the North Branch of the Chicago River.
Onni Group is finalizing a deal to buy the 7-acre (2.8-hectare) property at 700 W. Chicago Ave. from a joint venture of Irving, Texas.-based Nexstar, and Chicago developer Riverside Investment & Development, according to sources close to the agreement. The financial terms of the deal are not clear, but people familiar with Onni’s plans said the Vancouver, B.C.-based developer would likely transform the property at the northeast corner of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street with a residential project. The site is immediately north of the land where gambling giant Bally’s could win the right to build the city’s first casino and sits just south of the site where Onni is poised to build a 2.7 million-square-foot (250,838 square meters) development on Goose Island, dubbed Halsted Point.
If the deal is completed, Onni would bolster a downtown apartment development boom that has come with a fast-paced recovery for the rental market. After the COVID-19 pandemic slashed demand in 2020, occupancy bounced back in a big way last year and rents hit new highs. Onni could potentially develop a project as large as 1.5 million square feet (139,354) on the site, based on the property’s zoning, a size that could accommodate more than 1,000 apartments. Onni would need to win City Council approval for such a development.
The purchase would also add to Onni’s already massive bet on downtown’s post-COVID comeback: In addition to its Goose Island plan, the company is revamping a mostly vacant 31-story office building in the Loop, building a new apartment tower in River West, and earlier this year bought and rebranded the former Ace Hotel in the Fulton Market District.
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