Tall & Urban News

A $6 billion development that would transform 55 acres (22 hectares) along the North Branch of the Chicago River is a key step closer to becoming reality after winning over the Chicago Plan Commission on January 24, 2019.

After a meeting that included heated testimony from North Side residents calling for more time to review the proposal, the commission approved developer Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards megaproject, which would redraw historically industrial riverfront land with a sprawling campus featuring skyscrapers as tall as 650 feet (198 meters). The panel’s sign-off potentially sets Sterling Bay on a fast track to win other city approvals in the weeks ahead for one of the most ambitious developments ever concocted for the North Side. The developer will need to pass through the City Council zoning and finance committees and the city’s Community Development Commission as it vies for full City Council approval before pro-development Mayor Rahm Emanuel leaves office in May of 2019.

The Plan Commission approved new zoning for the Lincoln Yards plan despite Sterling Bay’s release of the most recent iteration publicly just five days previously. North Side community groups admonished 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins for backing the plan so soon after new details were unveiled.

The version approved by the Plan Commission had far more details than the one Sterling Bay presented at a community meeting Nov. 29, 2019 and a Lincoln Yards concept plan the developer presented at a community meeting in July 2018.

Hopkins said he worked closely with Sterling Bay in recent weeks to address community concerns and arrive at the latest revision, which he supported with an impassioned speech to the Plan Commission in the City Council chambers.

“I’m here to put my name and my reputation on the line in support of moving forward with Lincoln Yards today,” Hopkins said during the standing-room-only meeting. “We’re here today because this is the right time to be here.”

Hopkins outlined details of the process he and various community stakeholders went through to vet the Lincoln Yards plan, pointing to meetings with neighborhood groups in 2016 that discussed what the community wanted to see along the Chicago River between Lincoln Park and Bucktown as it transitioned from its industrial past.

“If you came to this community process last Saturday, welcome to the party—you’re really late. A lot of us have been at it a lot longer,” he said. The scope of developments along the river, he said, was approved in 2017 when the City Council approved a framework plan relaxing land-use rules on 760 acres along the North Branch of the river.

While the initial Lincoln Yards plan was revealed publicly in July, “it’s changed, it’s evolved in response to community outcry and demand,” Hopkins said. “If you’ve been with us for that period of time, you’re ready to make a decision.”

But the majority of the scores of people who testified before the Plan Commission disagreed. That included Lincoln Park Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd, who chided the commission for voting on the plan so soon after key details were shared publicly.

“During the (North Branch) framework discussion, we were told, ‘Don’t worry about this because there will be plenty of time to review plans during the (planned development) process.’ Now we are being told we had plenty of time to review this because of the framework (discussion). It’s a circular argument,” Smith said.

Some in attendance supported the Lincoln Yards plan, particularly labor and construction group representatives excited by the prospect of the 10,000 temporary construction jobs and 24,000 permanent jobs that Sterling Bay estimates would be created by and located at Lincoln Yards.

Opponents who testified before the commission pleaded for more time to dive into details of the plan before the city gives the developer the green light.

“They have figured this out at a level of detail that is not being disclosed to you,” said Robert Gomez, owner of the Subterranean club in Wicker Park and a spokesman for a group of independent music venue owners that have opposed aspects of the Lincoln Yards plan in recent months. “Please, hit the pause button.”

Much of the testimony focused on the use of tax-increment financing (TIF) dollars to support new infrastructure in and around Lincoln Yards. Separate from the plan approved today, city officials are working to designate a TIF district that would encompass the Lincoln Yards site.

If the TIF district were to be created, property tax gains generated by the development would be used to reimburse Sterling Bay for certain infrastructure investments, which could cost around $800 million over the course of the 10-plus-year project, according to the city’s Department of Planning & Development.

The next step in that process comes Feb. 19, 2019 at a specially scheduled meeting of the Community Development Commission.

Lincoln Yards would run between North and Webster avenues along the river, with the first phase of development starting close to Webster. If the plan moves forward, the first developments would be a pair of office buildings and a retail and parking structure just south of the new C.H. Robinson office building at 1515 W. Webster Ave., according to Sterling Bay’s plan. The office buildings would total more than 1.3 million square feet (120,773 square meters) with 233 combined parking spaces, while the parking garage would include 1,139 spaces and 74,000 square feet (6,874 square meters) of retail space.

The biggest change in the Plan Commission-approved plan from the one Sterling Bay proposed in November was the elimination of a 20,000-seat soccer stadium at Hopkins’ direction. Much of the previous stadium land would be replaced by park space, creating a contiguous 11-acre (4.4-hectare) recreational park in the center of the development. But as a result, there will be more buildings and more density. The new proposal calls for as much as 15 million square feet (1,393,545 square meters) of buildings, up from the previously proposed 12.8 million square feet (1,189,158 square meters) The entire site would include 6,000 residential units, up from a previous estimate of 5,000.

The approved plan includes five towers that would be at least 500 feet (152 meters) tall, including two just under 600 feet (183 meters) and one at 650 feet (198 meters). Those building heights and the density that could come with them have been a point of concern for residents in a neighborhood with few buildings taller than about five stories.

Officials from the city’s Planning & Development Department disclosed more details about park space and housing, including that Sterling Bay will be required to build a 2-acre (0.8-hectare) “interim park” on the southern portion of its development by the end of 2020. The planning department also laid out how Sterling Bay would meet the city’s affordable-housing requirements at Lincoln Yards, where at least 20 percent of units would have to be affordable because the project would receive tax-increment financing money.

Under the approved plan, 25 percent of affordable housing units would be on the Lincoln Yards site, and Sterling Bay would pay $39 million to the city’s low-income housing trust fund to benefit affordable housing elsewhere in the city. That payment would be in lieu of another 25 percent of the housing requirement, which is an option for developers. The remaining 50 percent could come from a combination of affordable housing within three miles of Lincoln Yards and more payments in lieu of affordable housing, planning officials said.

Other payments from Sterling Bay would be a $91.9 million contribution to the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus Fund in exchange for increased density at Lincoln Yards and a $29.1 million payment into the city’s Industrial Corridor System Fund, which would be invested in other industrial corridors throughout the city.

One piece of the Lincoln Yards puzzle not publicly disclosed prior to the Plan Commission meeting was a Sterling Bay-commissioned traffic impact study compiled by Rosemont-based consulting firm KLOA. Hopkins posted a copy of the 740-page study on his website after today’s meeting (read it below). Sterling Bay told community members at its November meeting that the report was being reviewed by city officials, so it couldn’t share the findings.

Traffic congestion has been one of the top concerns of North Side residents in a corridor that today is frequently plagued by gridlock.

Hopkins cited some preliminary findings from that study during today’s Plan Commission meeting, suggesting that new traffic technology implemented at various intersections could reduce travel times in Lincoln Yards.

“Lincoln Yards could relieve congestion rather than cause it,” Hopkins said. “That’s the direction we’re looking to go.”

Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld also spoke during the meeting and cited the traffic study, saying the report shows that the infrastructure upgrades contemplated for Lincoln Yards will be sufficient to meet demand.

Scheinfeld said CDOT is close to finalizing plans for a $150 million reconfiguration of the Armitage-Ashland-Elston intersection and widening and building bridges. She added that Sterling Bay will be required to return to the Plan Commission for approvals in phases as it develops Lincoln Yards and will have to prove with updated traffic studies that infrastructure improvements “keep pace” with development.

In a statement summarizing the traffic impact report issued after today’s meeting, a CDOT spokesman said the study found that bridges over the Chicago River today between Division Street and Webster Avenue are over capacity by about 7 percent, but that new bridges created as part of Lincoln Yards would make capacity exceed demand by about 10 percent.

Hopkins said the study is now being reviewed by the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, and that he expects the results of that group’s analysis soon.

For more on this story, go to Crain’s Chicago.