Bronzeville Lakefront Mixed-Use Megadevelopment Project Updates, Chicago

A new partnership for the Bronzeville Lakefront, a mixed-use megadevelopment project coming up on the former Michael Reese Hospital site has been established. GRIT, a consortium of six varied organizations dedicated to the development of the project announced the partnership with premier real estate services firm JLL.

JLL’s mandate according to the partnership is to advertise the Bronzeville Lakefront megadevelopment that Farpoint Development, Bronzeville Community Development Partnership, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, Draper & Kramer, Loop Capital, and McLaurin Development spent four years designing.

With the multibillion-dollar development’s wheels in motion and speeding swiftly, JLL will be an important partner in marketing the project, which includes mixed-income housing, retail, offices, and life sciences real estate. The 500,000-square-foot Bronzeville Innovation Center will be driven by the Chicago ARC, a life sciences accelerator established in collaboration with Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.

The Innovation Center at Bronzeville Lakefront will encourage a flourishing life, work, play, and study environment, while Chicago ARC will focus on pioneering healthcare entrepreneurs focusing on solutions to important health concerns affecting local and global populations.

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“Bronzeville Lakefront is not your typical commercial real estate project. It’s complicated, and its significance extends far beyond economics. Beyond strong experience in the marketing office, retail, and life sciences leasing prospects, the most essential criterion for us in picking a marketing agency extended beyond deep expertise in the marketing office, retail, and life sciences leasing opportunities. We also wanted our lease partner to believe in the initiative.

This is about more than just selling houses. It’s about a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a positive impact on the surrounding community, to break negative social and economic cycles and reverse them with a healthy and vibrant Bronzeville that will set an example for inclusive development not just in Chicago, but nationally “Farpoint Development Principal Eric Helfand stated.

About the Bronzeville Lakefront Mixed-Use Megadevelopment Project

Bronzeville Lakefront is a mixed-use project set for development on the former Michael Reese Hospital site that is located south of McCormick Place in Bronzeville, Chicago, the most populous city in the U.S.A state of Illinois.

Sitting on more than 100-acre s of land, the project is developed by Global Research Innovation & Tourism (GRIT). The latter is a partnership between Loop Capital Management, Farpoint Development, Draper & Kramer, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, McLaurin Development Partners, and Bronzeville Community Development Partnership.

Implementation of the Bronzeville Lakefront project

Generally, the Bronzeville Lakefront project is designed to establish new standards for healthy living. It incorporates a set of regenerative design principles to provide a healthy outcome for people, the community, and the natural ecosystem.

The project is set to be implemented in two phases to avail up to eight million square feet of mixed-use space that include commercial, institutional, and housing areas along with parks, trails, and community spaces.

At a cost of US$600m, the first phase of the project, which is expected to begin in late 2021, will involve the revitalization of the southern end of the site to establish approximately 1.35 million square feet of retail and office space, more than 300 units of mixed-income senior housing, a new data center, and a community-focused welcoming center.

This phase will also involve the adaptive reuse of the Singer Pavilion, the only remaining building on the former Reese complex, and the development of a 500,000ft² Chicago ARC Innovation Center, which will be the anchor of the project.

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The second phase on the other hand will involve the redevelopment of the northern portion of the site which covers more than 6.45 million square feet at a cost of US$ 3bn. Under this phase, the construction of which is expected to begin in 2023, the developers plan to build medical research facilities, 6,800 mixed-income residential units, a data centre, and office, retail, and open spaces.

The maximum height of the buildings within the Bronzeville Lakefront site will be limited to 450ft.

An accessible mixed-use community that will comprise more than nine acres of green space, sidewalks, bike parking areas, and utilities, will also be built as part of the project. Infrastructure improvements to the road network across the site will cover the 26th, the 27th, the 29th, and the 30th streets, Cottage Grove Avenue, and Lake Park Avenue.

Pedestrian accessibility and safety will be given utmost priority in the street redevelopment works. Particularly, the streets will be installed with pedestrian-friendly features such as wayfinding, signage, and markers, and their design will feature unique characteristics that reflect the Bronzeville community.

Reported earlier 

2016

The city administration issued a request for proposal (RFP) for the purchase and development of the site.

2017

The City selected GRIT to purchase and develop the site in the framework of the 2016 RFP.

2019

In the fall of 2019, GRIT’s proposal began to move forward in close collaboration with the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), Ald. Sophia King (4th Ward) and the Michael Reese Advisory Council.

Multiple city commissions and committees approved the plans, which required a Redevelopment Agreement that allows the sale of the site from the City to the developer for US$ 96.9M.

2021

In July, the final City Council approval of the extensive agreements took place.