Giant ‘For Sale’ sign placed on Department of Fleet and Facility’s riverfront site

The city’s effort to unload a prime piece of riverfront property that housed the City of Chicago’s Department of Fleet and Facility Management is in full gear as marketing materials have now gone online and large “for sale” signs have been affixed to the garages on the site. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the plan to sell the property and move the Fleet and Facility Management operations to Englewood last summer. Like the former Finkl steel property in Lincoln Park and the adaptive reuse efforts happening on Goose Island, the former 18-acre property used by the Fleet and Facility Management at 1685 N. Throop Street represents a major opportunity for large scale redevelopment along the Chicago River.

According to the property’s marketing website from commercial real estate broker Cushman & Wakefield, the city-owned site boasts 18 acres with 737 feet of river frontage. On the website, the brokerage suggests that the site is a “truly rare opportunity to acquire an 18 acre urban infill development site in the epicenter of a global city.” And considering how much investment has been going into other nearby areas along the Chicago River, it’s just a matter of time until we see movement at this location.

The listing includes four properties in total: 1685 N. Throop Street, 1401 W. Willow Street, 1684 N. Throop Street, and 1324 W. Concord Place. And like the former Finkl steel site, the 18-acre industrial site is located within a Planned Manufacturing District (PMD)—a type of zoning that is designed to protect and maintain industrial jobs. However, it’s likely that a sale could spell a change in the zoning which would allow developers to build for other uses.

• 1685 N. Throop Street [Throop Wentworth]
• City pitches sale, redevelopment of 18-acre riverfront facility [Curbed Chicago]