Massive One Central development plans call for concert venue, retail and restaurants near Soldier Field
The developer behind the proposed $20 billion One Central development revealed details for the project’s first phase: a transit center surrounded by roughly 1.4 million square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space on a 35-acre site above the train tracks near Soldier Field.
The full plans for One Central, unveiled in 2019, include up to 22.3 million square feet of buildings with as many as 9,050 residential units and 9.45 million square feet of offices. The project still needs city and state approval to proceed, and Landmark president Bob Dunn has said he expects to submit a zoning application by late October or early November.
The $3.8 billion first phase, which Landmark calls the “Civic Build,” includes a transit center linking Metra, Amtrak and CTA trains and a new bus or tram route stopping at destinations like Soldier Field, Navy Pier, the Museum Campus, Grant and Millennium parks and McCormick Center.
It would also be surrounded by roughly 1.4 million square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail options, divided into four districts. Dunn said those kinds of amenities aren’t easily accessible to people visiting those sites today.
“A convention center today is only competitive if I can walk out the front door and walk to things that define the city — restaurants, entertainment outlets, concert venues, et cetera,” he said.
Renderings show the transit center would connect to a roughly 400,000-square-foot “Experiential District,” with a 50,000-square-foot event floor meant to host programs like community celebrations, game-day tailgates, corporate events or exhibitions accompanying conventions at McCormick Place. Surrounding that area, Landmark is planning installations including a digital media center that could host live game-day broadcasts, a food hall, and attractions highlighting Chicago’s sports teams, museums and music.
Whether those tailgaters will be Chicago Bears fans is less clear. The team signed a purchase agreement for Arlington International Racecourse last month, bringing them a step closer to leaving Soldier Field. Dunn previously said he didn’t think the teams’ potential departure “affects our plans in a material way.”
Plans for a 275,000-square-foot “Neighborhood District” north of the transit hub call for shops and restaurants including a grocery store and public market for the “dramatically underserved” South Loop neighborhood, Dunn said.
South of the transit hub would be a 310,000-square-foot “Lifestyle District” focused on health and wellness, including a fitness club, outpatient health center, spa and retail space, and a 435,000-square-foot “Entertainment District” with live music and performance venues, nightclubs, bars and restaurants.
“What we’re focused on is building an urban ecosystem that will meet the demand of tomorrow’s residents and consumers,” he said.
Dunn said Landmark could move forward on One Central “in a matter of months” if it receives city and state approval, including roughly $6.5 billion in state financing over 20 years that would eventually see the state take ownership of the transit center, related infrastructure and the Experiential District.
The other districts and 200,000 square feet of mid-rise residential structures would be privately developed alongside the transit center in the initial phase of development, Landmark said.
Dunn said the $3.8 billion Civic Build is fully financed by Landmark, Chicago-based insurance and investment firm Ullico, Loop Capital and Johnson Controls, whose technology would be incorporated into the buildings, but still needs the state financing to proceed.
A spokesperson for Gov. J.B. Pritzker previously said the governor’s office has not seen a transit study showing a transit center is needed, and city approval would be required before the state took action.
Dunn said the transit study has since been completed and argued the additional infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the city’s growth. He has also pointed to its potential to create jobs on the South Side. According to a study Landmark commissioned from infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, the project would create an estimated 19,000 construction jobs, 68,000 permanent jobs at One Central once it’s complete and up to 70,000 elsewhere on the South Side.
Earlier this month, Landmark announced a partnership with the Chicago Urban League that includes nearly $500 million in community investment, including a $50 million fund to help minority-owned and women-owned businesses get capital they need to bid for contracts on One Central.
That could be “transformative” for those businesses, which “have never really had a chance to lead on big projects,” said Jim Reynolds, CEO of Loop Capital Markets, who said he was drawn to the project by its efforts to include residents on the South and West sides.
