Crain's is reporting that a pair of Jay-Z's former Rocawear business partners are behind a $180M plan to develop Franklin Point, the long-vacant South Branch riverfront land that once hosted Grand Central Station (razed in 1971). The 1.9-acre parcel was purchased for $32.5M in 2008 by an investment venture tied to New York entrepreneurs Arnold "Alex" Bize and Naum Chernyavsky. It's the northern piece of a 6.5-acre vacant plot that stretches north from River City to Harrison Street. The land is a de facto park and hosts the odd movie set or festival, and somehow has gone 40+ years without the right recipe for sustained use. "We think now is the time," Chernyavsky told Crain's. The venture is "finalizing a deal" with an unnamed development partner for the provision of roughly 700 residential units in two towers— the first as rental with the distant possibility of condos for the second. The venture owns all 6.5 acres and is "quietly marketing" the remaining 4.6 acres for $35M to $40M. Pappageorge/Haymes has been hired to design the towers which means, aesthetically, expect anything. Oh, and that wooden skyscraper mock-up is as fictitious as we all knew it to be.
·Jay-Z's former partners plan $180 million riverfront project in the South Loop [Crain's]
·Wooden Skyscraper Vision Plays With Land Along South Branch [Curbed Chicago]
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