Latest news with #SterlingBay
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
F.K. Plous: Build the CTA Super Loop to get Lincoln Yards and The 78 developed
In April, the Tribune Editorial Board asked: 'Is Lincoln Yards becoming Chicago's new Block 37?' Block 37, for those too young to remember, was the space surrounded by State, Dearborn, Randolph and Washington streets that stood empty for 20 years until an exasperated Mayor Richard M. Daley found a developer willing to build what amounted to a disappointing assembly of retail stores. Today, a similar drama is unfolding on a much bigger scale 2 miles north of downtown on a vacant 54-acre tract of former industrial land dubbed Lincoln Yards. Developer Sterling Bay announced its intention to build a mix of office, residential and commercial buildings on the tract back in 2019. But in five years, Sterling Bay has finished only one Lincoln Yards project, a life sciences building that today stands empty. Famishing for capital to keep the project alive, Sterling Bay surrendered ownership of more than half the tract to Arkansas-based lender Bank OZK. Now Los Angeles-based Kayne Anderson and Chicago-based JDL are planning to acquire the entire tract for a bargain. But the partners' plans — at least at this point — suggest a much more modest scale of development than Sterling Bay's: shorter high-rises, a lower residential population, and less commercial and office space. What went wrong with Lincoln Yards? Most of the postmortems name the usual suspects: the pandemic, the massive conversion of office work to remote work, rising interest rates and political foot-dragging by Lori Lightfoot when she was mayor and Ald. Scott Waguespack. Those factors may have played a role, but so does another element that everyone seems to overlook: geography. The map of Lincoln Yards looks forbidding. In a flat city where all private and public property is organized into rectangles and triangles aligned with the principal points of the compass, Lincoln Yards is defined by a series of wedges, lumps and lobes that don't adjoin with the rest of the Chicago street map. Like its deviant neighbor to the south, Goose Island, Lincoln Yards is full of confusing little streets that don't line up with the Chicago grid and bear names not found in any other neighborhood. The problem is the river. Early Chicago may have craved a clear and simple street grid, but it craved growth even more, and that meant quick access to the docks where schooners delivered the coal, salt, lumber, shingles, iron, flour and whiskey the new city needed for growth. Because the river winds, the streets accessing the docks in Lincoln Yards had to deviate in their headings. Even veteran Chicago motorists find the place confusing, and transit hardly goes there. Elston Avenue, which forms the tract's western edge, lost its CTA bus service in 1997. Elston should be the gateway to Lincoln Yards, but when a popular band is performing at the Salt Shed between Division Street and North Avenue, Elston seizes up. Should Elston attract more new businesses and residents, Lincoln Yards could become inaccessible. By surface vehicles, at least. But more than 20 years ago, the CTA was pondering a new subway that could have provided Lincoln Yards, Bucktown, Noble Square and adjacent neighborhoods with a fast, frequent mass transit service to the Loop, Near North Side, Near West Side and the Illinois Medical District plus connections to the Blue Line to O'Hare International Airport and the Orange Line to Midway Airport. The proposed Super Loop, sometimes known as the Circle Line, seemed achievable and practical because more than half the route would use existing CTA infrastructure. Northbound trains would follow the Red Line subway from the Loop to the North and Clybourn station. Then, just north of the station, a new underground junction would enable Super Loop trains to switch onto a new pair of tracks running west under North Avenue. That westbound segment was to include a station at North and Elston at the southwest corner of the area that would become Lincoln Yards. From North and Elston, the underground tubes would head west half a mile, then turn south under Ashland Avenue. At the busy corner of Division Street and Ashland and Milwaukee avenues, the line would pass under the existing Blue Line subway station, where Super Loop passengers could ride an escalator up one level to transfer to trains to O'Hare or downtown. Proceeding south under Ashland, trains would stop at a new station under Chicago Avenue. Just south of the Chicago and Ashland stop, the line would swing slightly west, climb out of the tunnel and ramp up onto an unused segment of the old West Side Elevated Railway. At Lake Street, it would cross the elevated Green Line just west of the Ashland stop, where a platform would enable passengers to transfer to Green and Pink Line trains. Continuing south on what's today known as the Pink Line, trains would stop at a new station serving the United Center, the existing station serving the West Side medical district and the 18th Street stop serving the Pilsen neighborhood. But just south of 18th Street, where the Pink Line turns west, Super Loop trains would continue south on a new elevated right of way paralleling Ashland Avenue, crossing the sanitary canal and curving northeast to join the Orange Line elevated just west of its Ashland stop, where passengers could catch an Orange Line train to Midway. At Chinatown, trains would switch onto the Red Line and repeat their itinerary. All seemed to be going well for the new Super Loop plan until around 2012, when the CTA quietly dropped the project. The Red Line subway lacked the capacity to handle the increased train frequencies generated by the Super Loop. Under then President Dorval Carter Jr., the CTA switched its growth focus from circulation within the urban core to outreach toward the margins with a $6 billion, 6-mile extension of the Red Line to the Far South Side at 130th Street. But today, with the Red Line extension barely started and two giant tracts of real estate waiting for development deep inside the city, it's time to rethink the Super Loop not just as a people mover but also as a tool for jump-starting development and generating vital real estate tax revenues. It would work like this: With the Red Line off-limits to more trains, switch those Super Loop trains at Chinatown into a new subway running parallel to the Red Line three blocks west under The 78. Build two underground stations: one at the south end of The 78 just north of 16th Street, the other a half-mile north at, or under, the Chicago Fire's proposed new soccer stadium. Rapid transit stations serving a major stadium are essential in preventing traffic congestion on game days. One reason Chicago and New York are the only remaining cities with two Major League Baseball teams is that both ballparks in both cities are on the rapid transit system (and in Chicago, Rate Field is served by Metra as well). Heading north from the Fire's new stadium in The 78, the Super Loop tube would cross under the South Branch of the Chicago River and head north under Canal Street to a long-overdue two-block-long underground station serving Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center, neither of which was ever directly connected to the city's rapid transit infrastructure (or to each other). The new connectivity would take thousands of daily vehicles, buses and taxis out of the congested West Loop — especially on Canal, Adams, Clinton and Jackson streets — and create a long-delayed all-weather pedestrian connection between the two busy rail terminals. Continuing north under Canal, the new subway would bring precious new mobility to the congested and fast-growing River West and Fulton River districts, two formerly obscure tracts of warehouses and railroad spurs now throbbing with residential development — and auto traffic. The next stop north would be Goose Island, another once-obscure tract of factories and rail yards now generating explosive commercial development (and congestion). As originally proposed, the CTA Super Loop running west from North and Clybourn would have merely grazed Lincoln Yards with an underground station at the far southwestern corner of the tract, North and Elston. On its new north-south orientation, the subway could head directly northwest from Goose Island into the heart of Lincoln Yards, with two underground stations — one in the south tract at a location next to Cortland Street and the Armitage Avenue bus line, and another in the longer north tract, around Dickens Avenue. The line would access the popular 606 trail, then loop west to Ashland and turn south on the original Super Loop heading (but with a 'Gateway to Bucktown' station under the busy intersection of Ashland and North). There's no reason to scratch heads and ponder why two large and promising tracts of urban real estate continue to stand empty in a city full of eager, experienced and well-financed developers and young families seeking an urban home. Those promising properties are inaccessible. The missing element is the mass mobility provided by a new rail transit infrastructure. Expensive? Compared to what? Has anybody calculated the real estate taxes never paid by two empty prairies?
Chicago Tribune
11-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Former Lincoln Yards site to become smaller, walkable residential community, developer says. ‘Bigger is not necessarily better.'
A Chicago developer has negotiated a deal to purchase the northern half of the stalled Lincoln Yards megadevelopment site. JDL Development said Thursday it will give the site a new name, and instead of the grandiose vision pursued by the original developer Sterling Bay, which lost control of Lincoln Yards earlier this year, promises to build a modest-size, walkable residential community. 'Everything we build is going to be purposeful, and blend in with the neighborhood and the surrounding area,' said Jim Letchinger, CEO of JDL Development, who pictures mostly mid-rise residential buildings, with perhaps one or two skyscrapers. 'It will be much more appropriate, and we do hope to also create a very strong street retail environment. It's all about creating a neighborhood, not about trying to build a trophy for JDL.' Letchinger said the new 31-acre development, called Foundry Park, will eventually total about 2,000-3,000 units, including single-family homes, condos, rental apartments, townhomes and affordable housing. A nearly 40-story tower is also possible, but no decisions have been made. The company's gambit opens a new chapter in the decadelong saga to redevelop the vast stretch of land along the North Branch of the Chicago River, sandwiched between Bucktown and Lincoln Park. Neighborhood advocates said they like the idea of scaling back Sterling Bay's original plans, and new owners mean the community now has another chance to shape the development. 'I always thought Sterling Bay's plan was simply too big, so I'm not surprised their approach did not work out,' said Juanita Irizarry, a former member of the Lincoln Yards Community Advisory Council, a body of community residents, advocates, urban planners and other experts created by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019. JDL Development and its partner Kayne Anderson Real Estate expect to close the deal by the end of September. They did not disclose how much they will pay for the property. The firms wanted to purchase Lincoln Yards' entire 53 acres, but negotiations with J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which controls the southern half, have so far been unsuccessful. 'That's OK,' Letchinger said. 'Thirty-one acres is a lot, so we're working with city officials on the northern section. They say their No. 1 goal is to start building.' A spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development said 'it would be premature for DPD to comment at this time.' JDL is best known for developing the Gold Coast's No. 9 Walton luxury condominium building and more recently completed the 2.2 million-square-foot One Chicago in the River North neighborhood. Its work continues nearby on the North Union development, which will have up to 12 buildings and 3.5 million square feet of space. Sterling Bay's original 14 million-square-foot proposal, unveiled in 2019, called for residential and office skyscrapers, some nearly 600 feet high, thousands of apartments, riverfront parks, retail, entertainment, a high-tech science hub and an extension of The 606 trail. A project that dense would also have required costly new infrastructure, including new bridges, roads and a reconstructed riverfront. The plan was controversial from the start. Sterling Bay forged a redevelopment agreement with the city in 2019, just before former Mayor Rahm Emanuel left office. The company proposed spending nearly $500 million upfront on neighborhood infrastructure before getting reimbursed from a city tax increment financing district. The strategy angered many community groups and activists, who said TIF financing is supposed to be reserved for blighted communities, not affluent areas like Lincoln Park. 'We wanted Lori Lightfoot to hold off on agreeing to what Mayor Emanuel had put together and take more time to decide if that was the right approach,' Irizarry said. Sterling Bay ran into difficulties from the start. Lightfoot was skeptical about Lincoln Yards' long-term prospects, leading to public disagreements with the company about how to kick-start development. The pandemic then crushed the office market, soaring interest rates helped make it more difficult to secure investors and most of the land was left vacant. Letchinger said Foundry Park will not include any office towers, and scales back Sterling Bay's residential plan. The development will be less dense and generate less traffic, avoiding the need for a new bridge and other infrastructure, possibly freeing up the TIF dollars for other uses. 'Bigger is not necessarily better,' Letchinger said. 'The last developer wasn't able to execute their plan, and candidly, I don't think it was a workable agreement.' Instead of building an entirely new bridge, Letchinger said the developers might renovate an old railroad swing bridge that connects the site's northern and southern sections into a river-crossing pathway for bikes and pedestrians. 'Not only does this bridge still work, it's a true work of art,' he said. Other details on JDL's plan, including the number of buildings, their locations and sizes, can only be filled in after consultations with city planners, neighborhood groups and local Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, Letchinger added. 'I am pleased to see progress on the site with JDL and Kayne Anderson,' said Waguespack in a prepared statement. 'We will be working closely with the surrounding communities and city officials to revitalize the area with new housing and development that will help grow our local economy.' A scaled-back version of Lincoln Yards has a greater chance of success, said Jonathan Snyder, executive director of North Branch Works, a nonprofit advocate for economic development along the Chicago River, but he and other neighborhood advocates will also push JDL to bring employment opportunities to the area, once home to A. Finkl & Sons Steel, a now-demolished steel plant, and many other businesses. 'I am not talking about a new giant steel mill,' Snyder said. 'I appreciate that they're scaling down the project, but I think there is still going to be room for some neighborhood-friendly industrial uses, such as a brewery.' A brewery would provide decent jobs and complement existing neighborhood businesses, especially music venues such as The Hideout and The Salt Shed, an entertainment hub in the former Morton Salt warehouse complex, Snyder said. Snyder said he hopes JDL will allow community members to sit at the table as plans take shape. 'It would be terrific to reestablish the (Lincoln Yards Community Advisory) Council,' which lapsed after most development activity ground to a halt, Snyder said. 'It wasn't something that stood in the way of development. We just helped represent the community and tried to make (Sterling Bay's plan) better.' Letchinger said robust participation is encouraged at all of their developments. 'We've always been willing to meet with community members and stakeholders,' he said. 'We always learn something, so projects always get tweaked and improved.' Adding thousands of residents to the neighborhood will still be a challenge, said Brian Comer, president of the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, as some streets like Cortland Street are already frequently clogged with traffic, and local schools don't have room for new students. 'Oscar Mayer (Magnet School) is packed to the gills,' Comer said. 'There was not overwhelming support for Sterling Bay's plans, but everybody wants development on the site. Nobody's running away from that. So, I look forward to seeing Jim's vision and hope it fits in better with the community.'
Chicago Tribune
25-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Let's focus on Lincoln Yards' future, not the mistakes of the past
Who's to blame for the embarrassment that has become Lincoln Yards? Who cares? It's former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, says Andy Gloor, CEO of Sterling Bay, the original developer of what was supposed to be a brand-new neighborhood on 53 acres of choice North Side land that until recently was industrial. Gloor maintains that Lightfoot's administration caused so many delays that it jeopardized financing that would otherwise have materialized. For her part, Lightfoot, never one to back down from a fight, at a public appearance in May accused Gloor of 'repeatedly lying about me in public,' as the Tribune recently reported. She said she doubted he ever had the financing he said he did. We understand why Lightfoot and Gloor are arguing. It's natural to seek to protect your reputation. But that is all yesterday's news, at least when it comes to a piece of land whose productive use remains critical to Chicago's economic future. Sterling Bay is out of the picture now that its primary lender, Bank OZK, has seized a substantial chunk of the land in question and reportedly is in negotiations with another developer about building on the entire 53 acres. Brandon Johnson, needless to say, now is Chicago mayor, having defeated Lightfoot in 2023. What matters at this moment in time is that the city of Chicago, the bank and the latest (and hopefully the final) developer, Chicago-based JDL Development, move with dispatch to determine a path forward for a massive vacant lot that is beginning with each passing day to serve as a sad metaphor for a city trapped in stasis. We've said before that the original Lincoln Yards concept, which envisioned substantial commercial as well as residential development, may no longer be viable given the post-pandemic collapse of the office market. Tackling Lincoln Yards in bite sizes rather than in one multicourse meal may be the prudent way to go. Or, perhaps JDL will want to forge a new, expansive vision for the tract that connects long-established, affluent Lincoln Park with more recently gentrified Bucktown. Whichever course is chosen, let's get moving. The future is where the focus has to be now, not Monday-morning quarterbacking the Lincoln Yards failure to date.
Chicago Tribune
23-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Lincoln Yards site is poised for new chapter, but debate over what went wrong with the stalled project continues
The war of words over what went wrong with developer Sterling Bay's grand vision for its Lincoln Yards development on the North Side continues, even while the city waits to see what will happen with the sprawling site. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently fired back at Sterling Bay, saying company leadership blamed their project's failure to launch on her one-term administration. Axios reporter Justin Kaufmann interviewed Lightfoot in May at the Hideout, a music club adjacent to the 53-acre site, and asked her about Sterling Bay's failure to build the controversial Lincoln Yards project. She ripped company CEO Andy Gloor for having 'repeatedly lied about me in public,' blaming her administration for the development's lack of progress. 'The truth is, I think they never actually had the financing to pull the deal off,' Lightfoot said. 'I don't think they ever had it.' Sterling Bay says financing the project was possible. 'The financing mechanism and the capital partners were in place before she took office, with the largest core fund in the country as Lincoln Yards' partner,' a Sterling Bay spokesperson said Friday. Sterling Bay gave up control of Lincoln Yards' northern half earlier this year to its lender Bank OZK. Chicago-based residential developer JDL Development is negotiating to take over both the northern and southern halves of the nearly vacant megadevelopment site. Gloor first spoke out as Lightfoot was leaving office in 2023. He said her administration was slow in issuing needed approvals, setting the project — which originally called for thousands of apartments and offices, including skyscrapers of up to 600 feet, riverfront parks and a life sciences complex — back by several years. 'She fought the development, which is so puzzling to me because the economic impact in terms of construction jobs, permanent jobs and the ability to compete with some other cities,' he said, according to Bloomberg. 'It's in the $8 to $10 billion if you add it all up.' Sterling Bay began buying up properties along the North Branch of the Chicago River between North Avenue and Webster Avenue about 10 years ago. City Council approved the developer's vision in 2019, including the creation of a tax increment financing district, just as former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was leaving office. The approval sparked outrage among some community activists, who complained the plan would funnel hundreds of millions of tax dollars from city coffers to Sterling Bay. But the company said it would have needed to spend nearly $500 million upfront reconstructing neighborhood bridges, roads and the riverfront before getting reimbursed by the city. Lightfoot told Kaufmann that she had dropped her objections to Emanuel's 2019 deal with Sterling Bay in exchange for some modest changes. But in the first few weeks of her administration, Sterling Bay 'came back to us and said, 'You know, we actually need a billion more dollars. Will you agree to that?' Not surprisingly I said, 'You're out of your effing mind.'' 'To say we ever asked her for 'a billion more dollars' is patently false,' the Sterling Bay spokesperson said. Sterling Bay's 2019 redevelopment agreement with the city anticipated using a special service area to help fund the needed infrastructure at Lincoln Yards. These local taxing districts are used in many neighborhoods to fund improvements such as landscaping, cleanups and added security services, but Lightfoot objected to using an SSA for extensive infrastructure work. 'Unfortunately, former Mayor Lightfoot is celebrating hundreds of millions of dollars in investor losses and billions more in economic opportunity lost under her watch,' the Sterling Bay spokesperson added. 'That is her legacy.' The pandemic and a slump in the office market, followed by soaring interest rates, made it even more difficult to secure development financing. Sterling Bay did manage to complete one building, an eight-story structure dedicated to life sciences that stands alone at 1229 W. Concord Place, but its 300,000 square feet of lab space has been empty since construction wrapped up in 2023. Lightfoot told Kaufmann that vacancy shows the problems with Lincoln Yards went deep, and had nothing to do with her. 'You've got a high-rise building over here that was supposed to be a new life sciences building that doesn't have one tenant,' she said. 'They're liars. They never had the money.'
Miami Herald
15-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Chicago residential developer now negotiating to buy the entire Lincoln Yards site, which is still mostly empty
The Chicago developer that was negotiating to buy the northern swath of the stalled Lincoln Yards megadevelopment site is now in talks to purchase the entire 53-acre tract, according to sources familiar with the deal. JDL Development's move to acquire both the northern and southern parts of the site was first reported by The Real Deal. The pair of agreements would end Sterling Bay's decade-long effort to transform the former industrial land, now mostly vacant, into a glittering, $6 billion, 14.5 million square-foot mixed-use community. Early plans by the developer called for residential and office skyscrapers nearly 600 feet tall, thousands of apartments, riverfront parks, retail, entertainment and a high-tech science hub on the southern end near North Avenue and the Chicago River. JDL's potential takeover of the full site could kickstart development on land that was once partly occupied by A. Finkl & Sons Steel, a now-demolished steel plant that moved to the Far South Side in 2014. JDL isn't talking about the potential sales, or any future plans for the site. But the company, founded by CEO Jim Letchinger in 1993, is unlikely to pursue Sterling Bay's costly vision. Sterling Bay began buying up riverfront properties between North Avenue and Webster Avenue around 10 years ago. But to create a mixed-use dense community, it would have needed to spend nearly $500 million upfront reconstructing neighborhood bridges, roads and the riverfront. According to a 2019 redevelopment agreement the developer forged with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, it would then get reimbursed through a city tax increment financing district. But potential tenants for the site, wedged between Lincoln Park and Bucktown, were scarce after the pandemic, and most of the work never got underway. Company officials also complained that the administration of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot slowed down financing approval, a charge Lightfoot vehemently denies. Sterling Bay did complete one building, an eight-story structure dedicated to life sciences that stands alone at 1229 W. Concord Place, but its 300,000 square feet of lab space has been empty since construction wrapped up in 2023. It's not clear what changes JDL may need from Lincoln Yards' original redevelopment agreement, in addition to new zoning approvals. But the crash of the office market means it's probable the company will put more focus on residential development. The company developed the Gold Coast's No. 9 Walton luxury condominium building and more recently completed the 2.2 million square-foot One Chicago in River North. Its work continues nearby on the North Union development, which will have up to 12 buildings and 3.5 million square feet of space. Sterling Bay gave up control of Lincoln Yards' northern half earlier this year to its lender Bank OZK. The Little Rock-based bank confirmed in a statement that it entered into a contract to sell the land earlier this month, but did not confirm the buyer. JP Morgan Chase is the majority equity investor for Lincoln Yards southern half, according to a Sterling Bay spokesperson, and would handle any potential sale of that portion. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
