Tall & Urban News

A Canadian developer has unveiled plans to bring up to 2,650 apartments to a part of the city that now has no residents.

Onni Group wants to build apartment towers as tall as 56 stories on 3.2 hectares at the southern tip of Goose Island.

There haven’t been homes on the traditionally industrial island, which is just north of downtown, for decades.

The four-phase plan, called Halsted Point, would include glassy apartment high-rises of 56, 55, 46 and 30 stories, as well as a 28-story tower with 247 hotel rooms and 107,500 square feet (9,987 square meters) of offices.

The proposal also includes a pedestrian bridge over the Chicago River, linking the site to the sprawling 600 West Chicago office building. The bridge would require approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Vancouver-based developer, which needs a zoning change to move forward, seeks public backing in order to win the support of 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett, and eventually the full City Council. The plans were presented in a virtual meeting Thursday night, 15 April, 2021 hosted by the Neighbors of River West and the Near North Unity Program.

Onni said it expects to submit a planned development to the city by May 2021. It does not plan to seek public funds such as tax increment financing.

The project involves about 2.7 million square feet (250,838 square meters) of buildings, constructed over 10-plus years, and 20 percent of the apartments would have affordable rents.

The design by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture includes 3.8 acres (1.5 hectares) of public open space, including 1,340 linear feet (408 meters) along the river. There would be almost 1,500 parking spaces, mostly below ground.

Retail is expected to include a grocery store, day care, fitness center, and a central plaza for a farmers market, food trucks and other events.

Onni Group said it hopes to begin demolition and construction work in the first quarter of 2022, when previous property owner Greyhound vacates the bus maintenance facility on the site.

Onni Group bought the former Greyhound bus maintenance facility along the Chicago River for US$38 million in early 2019.

The Tribune first reported the scope of the developer’s plans in February 2020. At the time, the developer said it was considering plans for 2,100 to 2,500 apartments, as well as hotel, office, retail and other space.

The former Greyhound site is mostly at 901 N. Halsted St. It includes a smaller parcel across the street at 904 N. Halsted St.

It is on the southernmost stretch of the 160-acre (64.7-hectare) island that was formed by creating a canal in the 1800s, combining it with the North Branch of the river. Today Goose Island includes manufacturers, distribution centers and loft offices.

The developer plans to pay bonuses to increase the amount of space it can build on the site, which it said will lead to more than US$28 million in contributions toward city funds such as the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.

The developer’s plans are years in the making. The first public glimpse came more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic that has slowed real estate development and leasing and left questions about how long it will take for the core of the city to fully recover.

“Onni is a long-term investor and community builder, and while the pandemic has changed the way we all live and work, we feel confident that our well-designed communities like Halsted Point will continue our ongoing success in world-class cities like Chicago,” Onni Group chief of staff Duncan Wlodarzcak said in an email.

Chicago’s zoning rules prohibited residential development on the island until the city in 2017 created new land use rules for 3.7 miles (5.9 kilometers) of industrial properties along the river. Major development plans that emerged from the change include Sterling Bay’s proposed US$6 billion Lincoln Yards development and the planned redevelopment of 37 acres (14.9 hectares) just south of Goose Island owned by broadcast company Nexstar.

From the city’s 2017 changes, the Greyhound site was carved out as the one Goose Island parcel where apartments are permitted.

About a mile directly east, Onni is building the three-tower, 1,289-unit Old Town Park development. That replaces the Atrium Village apartment complex on the Near North Side.

Immediately south of there, Chicago’s JDL Development seeks approval for its North Union project, which would bring 2,680 residential units to land acquired from Moody Bible Institute.

If they’re approved and built, North Union and Onni’s Goose Island project would be among the largest in Chicago in decades. By comparison, Presidential Towers’ four 50-story towers added a combined 2,346 units along the Kennedy Expressway in the 1980s.

For more on this story, go to Chicago Tribune.