Tall & Urban News

The US$3.8 billion redevelopment of the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Chicago was approved by the Chicago City Council. 

The only one of three multibillion dollar projects approved in the city to be located in a minority community, Bronzeville Lakefront will be a mixed-use project covering 724,644 square meters (7.8 million square feet). 

The city will sell the 19.7-hectare (48.6-acre) site to Farpoint Development team for US$96.9 million. Aldermen also approved spending US$60 million from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s capital plan for street repair and construction and a two-acre park, and agreed to rezone the property.

Over the next two decades, GRIT plans to transform the site, building 4,800 residential units and 1.4 million square meters (15 million square feet) of office and retail space. The team includes Draper & Kramer, McLaurin Development Partners, Loop Capital, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives and the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership.

The US$600 million first phase will develop the site as a life sciences campus focused on health and biomedical technology. The plan includes a 46,452-square-meter (500,000-square-foot) laboratory and office facility housing the first U.S. arm of the Israel-based Sheba Medical Center, which will occupy 25 percent of the ARC Innovation Center.

Infrastructure construction is expected to begin this fall on the first phase, which also will include senior housing and the Bronzeville Community Center. It could be completed by 2023.

The project’s US$3 billion second phase is expected to include more medical research facilities, office, retail, and residential units, including 1,000 for low-income tenants. 

For more on this story, go to The Real Deal.