One of Fulton Market District’s most prolific developers wants to build more than 2,200 apartments and a hotel on a series of sites between the former meatpacking corridor and the land that could soon be home to a Bally’s casino, a massive bet that booming demand for rental units downtown isn’t slowing down.
In one of two zoning applications, Chicago-based Shapack Partners is submitting to the City Council this week, the developer aims to transform a property along Grand Avenue between Desplaines Street and Union Avenue with a 1,110-unit apartment building rising 600 feet (182.2 meters) and a 141-room hotel. A Shapack venture paid US$25 million last month for the site, which is home to a shuttered Salvation Army family store and donation center.
Separately, Shapack proposes to redevelop a trio of sites southwest of the Salvation Army property near the intersection of Milwaukee and Union avenues and Hubbard Street, according to the other zoning application. The proposal includes three buildings on three parcels totaling 1,159 residential units, as well as ground-floor retail space and a small amount of office space.
The project is also on-trend with a huge mix of huge apartment projects near the Chicago Tribune’s Freedom Center, which is set to be redeveloped into a US$1.7 billion Bally’s casino, hotel, and entertainment venue if the gambling giant can win final approval from the Illinois Gaming Board and Chicago Plan Commission for the project. Canadian developer Onni Group recently won City Council approval to build almost 2,700 apartments just north of the casino site on the southern tip of Goose Island. Onni is also finalizing a deal to buy another big development site along the casino property’s northern border with a plan to develop what could be well more than 1,000 more residential units.
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