Written by 
DOWNTOWN — More than 1,700 apartments could be coming to the West Loop and Downtown as four development proposals head to City Council for approval Wednesday.
Two of the Downtown proposals — at 500 N. Michigan Ave. and 208 S. LaSalle St. — would include a gut rehabilitation of office buildings.
The proposals were approved at Tuesday’s zoning committee meeting, but they still need full City Council approval.
208 S. LaSalle St.
The LaSalle Street plan is part of a larger city initiative — LaSalle Street Reimagined — that aims to help the financial corridor bounce back from pandemic office vacancies. The initiative includes using tax-increment financing, or TIF, to repurpose underused office buildings along LaSalle Street.
In April, after a nearly year-long vetting process, the city announced 208 S. LaSalle St. as one of four proposals being considered for a combined $151.2 million in TIF funding as part of the effort. Overall, the proposals are slated to bring 1,000 apartments to the neighborhood, with at least 319 of them affordable.
The plan for 208 S. LaSalle St. calls for developing 226 apartments, with 68 of them affordable. The rezoning to make that happen received an OK from the Committee on Zoning Landmarks and Building Standards on Tuesday, and it will be considered for final approval at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The rezoning allows for a portion of the building to be redeveloped for multi-family residential units.
The apartments would be built in between the JW Marriott Hotel on the building’s lower levels and the LaSalle Hotel on the upper levels. Previous renderings included amenities like a fitness center and a tenant lounge.
The Community Development Commission has OK’d the redevelopment to receive $26.2 million in TIF funding — but that still needs to go through City Council to happen.
Once the TIF funding plan is introduced to council, it will need to get the finance committee’s OK before receiving a final green light from the full City Council.
500 N. Michigan Ave.
Along the Magnificent Mile, another adaptive reuse proposal would convert office space at 500 N. Michigan Ave. into 324 apartments, including 64 affordable units. The project, which also received the zoning committee’s OK Tuesday, is being spearheaded by Connecticut-based developer Commonwealth Development Partners and, unlike 208 S. LaSalle St., is not a city-funded redevelopment project.
Retail space would remain on the first two floors, which are occupied by a Vans store, a Bank of America branch and a Chick-fil-A. Office space will be retained on the third through fifth floors, according to planning documents shared with the city’s plan commission.
Amenities will be available on the seventh floor, with a rooftop on the 24th floor featuring indoor and outdoor space, according to the documents. Developers also plan to add 68 valet parking spaces.
More Density For West Loop
Two additional apartment towers could be headed to the West Loop if approved at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The two developments would bring more than 1,200 apartments to the neighborhood.
One of the proposed developments would see two towers built at 1200 W. Fulton St. Proposed by JDL Development and Fulton Street Companies, the plan includes a 43-story tower and a 37-story tower that would, together, bring 1,079 apartments to the neighborhood. The towers would have studio and one-bedroom units, and 20 percent — or 217 — would be affordable units.
The ground floor of the towers would have a large, open public space, bike parking, 24,000 square feet of retail space, parking entrances, loading zones and lobbies for the residential buildings.
The complex would include a pool deck, 97,000 square feet for a “lifestyle fitness” tenant with access to a roof deck and a two-level parking garage that could hold 440 cars.
The other proposal, at 1220 W. Van Buren St., would repurpose an existing eight-story commercial building into an apartment building with 112 units. Twenty percent of those units will be affordable under the plan.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: