On the scale of ambitious real estate developments, Chicago’s ONE Central is near the top. The immensely complicated $20 billion proposal near Soldier Field and the city’s lakefront in the South Loop neighborhood is one of the largest development proposals in the city’s history.
The 31-acre development would include as much as 22.3 million square foot of buildings, including skyscrapers potentially as tall as 89 stories, a transit center, and more than 9,000 residential units.
But developer Landmark Development, which proposes to build the development in several phases over the course of two decades, has an uphill battle convincing Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker to provide $6.5 billion in state funding for the proposed transit center and other structures, according to the Chicago Tribune. The developer is also working through the application process to secure federal loans for the project.
But it’s not just the governor who the developers will have to convince. The ward’s alderman and neighbors have expressed concerns about the project’s scope, construction noise, effect on traffic in the area, and property values. At a recent meeting with officials, the developers unveiled some changes to the design to address some of these concerns, including moving the proposed skyscrapers farther away from existing buildings, and keeping a park instead of building over it.
The proposed $3.8 billion first phase of the project would include the transit center that would, at long last, provide easy public transportation access to McCormick Place and Soldier Field.
This post was submitted by Greg Zimmerman, editor, Building Operating Management and FacilitiesNet.com.
