A West Loop rental apartment high rise from the pre-recession boom years which never got off the ground may actually be moving forward now. According to an announcement today in Crain's Chicago Business, a new design for 1035 West Van Buren Street and details for the plans indicate that developer Related Midwest is pushing ahead with the project. Related Midwest, who also last year acquired the site of the Chicago Spire, plans to reboot the 1035 project with the aesthetic shifting from postmodern with "ye olde architecture" touches to a decidedly clean and modern design. The property is sandwiched between the Automatic Lofts to the east, a loft conversion featuring student housing and a building housing Blue Plate Catering to the west. The Blue Plate building is the location of where Ohio based Pizzuti Companies proposed a 32 story apartment tower last year designed by the architecture firm of Arquitectonica. Last year, the Pizzuti project with its distinctive Harry Potter style zig-zag slash running down the center of its north and south facades proved to be a contentious issue for some West Loop residents opposed to any new high-rise construction along Van Buren Street.
What is different about the 1035 site is that zoning for a high rise is already in place through Planned Development number 867, which also includes the Automatic Lofts directly to the east. The big question is though, does the new design fit into the massing envelope of what was already previously planned and approved for that particular site? If not, this new design may need a zoning amendment that will surely bring a future debate in West Loop community meetings where new high rises tend to be hot button issues.
— Shawn Ursini
·Related Midwest plots West Loop push [Crain's]
·Previous West Loop coverage [Curbed Chicago]