$20 billion One Central project, which would bring skyscrapers and 9,000-plus residences near Soldier Field, gets a public hearing tonight
Chicago tonight will get another peek at one of the biggest developments ever proposed in the city, in a public meeting that comes during an uncertain real estate market because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landmark Development is set to update its $20 billion vision for One Central, which proposes skyscrapers as tall as 89 stories over train tracks, a transit center and 9,050 residential units near Soldier Field.
The virtual meeting at 6 p.m. will be hosted by the city’s planning department and Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd.
Landmark Development, led by Wisconsin-based developer Bob Dunn, seeks city approval to build, over the next two decades, as much as 22.3 million square feet of buildings on a more than 31-acre platform above tracks near the football stadium.
There would be more than 11 acres of open space on the site, which stretches between the Field Museum and McCormick Place. The project also would create connections to the lakefront over Lake Shore Drive.
Landmark is not seeking tax increment financing or other city dollars, but it is asking for $6.5 billion in state financing over 20 years, toward building and operating the transit center and other structures during the first phase. After 20 years, the state would take ownership of those buildings.
Dunn’s experience with complicated real estate projects includes leading NFL stadium constructions and renovations for teams including the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
Now, near the Chicago Bears’ home field, Dunn’s pushing forward with the most complex plan of his career — and his first in Chicago — almost a year into a near shutdown of downtown Chicago real estate because of the pandemic. The large scale of the plan, first unveiled almost two years ago, has generated pushback from neighbors and the site’s alderman, Dowell.
Chicago was more than a decade into a development boom when the COVID-19 pandemic complicated efforts for several massive projects to get off the ground. Still, megadevelopments that appear to have moved close to the starting line include Related Midwest’s $7 billion The 78 south of the Loop and Sterling Bay’s $6 billion Lincoln Yards to the north.
One Central’s even larger scope, and the huge transit center proposed as a key element of the first phase, add to the challenge.
The $3.8 billion first phase would include the creation of a new transit hub for Metra, Amtrak and CTA trains, as well as a new bus or tram route between called the CHI-Line. The transit line would run from McCormick Place to Navy Pier, with stops at several museums and tourist attractions along the way, mostly using an existing roadway alongside train tracks below Lake Shore Drive.
The initial phase also would include construction of 1.5 million square feet of entertainment, dining and retail, plus 200,000 square feet of mid-rise residential structures and 3,500 parking spaces.
The transit center plan would involve rerouting several existing train lines, including creating a CTA Orange Line extension onto the site.
The $16 billion second phase would bring a row of skyscrapers with a combined 9.45 million square feet of commercial and mixed-use space, 9.3 million square feet of residential, 1.5 million square feet of hotels and a 350,000-square-foot welcome center.
The second phase includes nine towers from 45 to 89 stories tall between 2025 and 2040.
The first phase would create $77 billion in tax revenues and other economic benefits for the state, $59.9 billion for the city and $14 billion for Cook County over four decades, according to a fiscal impact study conducted for the developer by AECOM.
Landmark unveiled its One Central plans in March 2019, when the developer addressed a community meeting hosted by Dowell.
Landmark still faces meetings with neighborhood groups and other steps before eventually going before the Chicago Plan Commission — and later the City Council’s zoning committee, followed by the full City Council — in order to secure approval for the planned development.
Another Landmark Development is executive is Chicago developer Gerald Fogelson, who acquired air rights over the tracks while previously developing the nearby Central Station residential community.
Twitter @Ryan_Ori
