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A Look at the 33-Story Rental Tower Coming Soon to Polk and Financial

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The 354-foot apartment tower will replace a long-vacant South Loop lot

Downtown’s high-rise boom looks set to keep on rolling in the hot South Loop neighborhood as a new 33-story, 496-unit apartment tower dubbed Alta Roosevelt is expected to soon rise at the vacant lot at 801 S. Financial, located just south of Polk Street and west of the Metra rail tracks. Crain’s reported that Atlanta-based developers Wood Partners paid $15.5 million for the site in December. The property’s previous owners included McCaffery Interests, the same group originally behind the construction of the mixed-use Roosevelt Collection development located just south of the planned rental tower.

Though the developers were given the City of Chicago’s nod of approval late last year, the zoning entitlements that actually govern the building’s height and density were approved as part of a larger Planned Development (PD) dating all the way back to 1999, according to the folks at Chicago Architecture Blog. Without needing to apply for zoning variances or publicly introduce a separate PD of its own, the upcoming tower at Polk and Financial managed to sneak up on a lot of people.

Architecture is being handled by Chicago’s Pappageorge Haymes and, based on a rendering recently leaked on the SSP online development forum, the design bears an uncanny resemblance to some of the firm’s previous high-rise work at K-Station in the Fulton River District. Refreshingly, a portion of the development’s 348 parking spaces will be located below grade with the remaining spots slated for a relatively small three-story podium topped by a pool and amenity deck. With a construction loan in place and some heavy equipment already on-site, 801 S. Financial needs little more than construction permits to begin work.