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FULTON MARKET — A 515-foot-tall residential building could break ground before the end of the year in Fulton Market if it’s approved by City Council.
Developer Sterling Bay revealed plans at a community meeting Wednesdsay for phase one of a two-building, 741-unit proposal. The development is slated to take over the 1300 block of West Carroll Avenue, the former site of the Archer Daniels Wheat Mill.
Despite pleas from preservationists to adaptively reuse the 124-year-old structure, the site was scraped clean in 2021. Sterling Bay bought it in 2020 for $25 million.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoThe first phase of the proposal would feature a 39-story building with office space and parking on the first nine floors and residential units on floors 12-38. The tower would have 371 units — 72 affordable — and 259 parking spaces, officials said.
Terraces for office tenants would be built on every floor, and there’d be a rooftop terrace for residents.
Also included in phase one would be a pocket park and a plaza totaling 35,172 square feet of open space, according to Sterling Bay.
Credit: Sterling Bay, SOMThe development company will also be making a $4.2 million payout to the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund as part of phase one. The project is estimated to create 1,000 construction jobs.
The first phase presented Wednesday night is different from what developers proposed in November 2021. After city and community feedback, developers reduced the project’s floor-area ratio to add additional open green space.
Armando Chacon, president of the West Central Association, said he hopes the green space won’t be reduced by the city’s Committee on Design, which has not yet reviewed phase one of the project.
“I know that they are well intentioned, but I surely hope that they don’t suggest that the open … park space be reduced. … There’s a priority on park and green space as big or small as it may be. So I would like to just suggest that it’s certainly not get smaller,” Chacon said.
Credit: Sterling Bay, SOMSterling Bay officials said they do not expect a reduction of green space since the proposal incorporates feedback from the Department of Planning and Development, whose officials requested an increase in green space.
No design has been released for the project’s phase two, but it is expected to at least include about 380 residential units and be 418 feet tall, according to Wednesday’s presentation.
If the plan is approved by City Council, Sterling Bay plans to break ground near the end of this year. Construction for phase one is slated to last about two years.
Renderings for phase one:
Credit: SOM
Credit: SOM
Credit: SOM
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