A closer look at apartment development headed to Huron and Wells

As parking lots in River North get snatched up by high-rise developers at an unprecedented rate, the next asphalt slab to disappear could be the 24,000-square-foot parcel along the east side of Wells between Erie and Huron. Here, Miami-based Lennar Multifamily Communities plans to construct a 15-story mixed-use tower containing 180 rental units, 84 parking spaces, and 11,400 square feet of commercial retail.

While early exterior renderings of the glassy project were first revealed in a marketing brochure last year, Chicago-based design architect Antunovich Associates now features the project on its website—providing a glimpse of the building’s interior lobby and tenant amenities spaces. The images also show an official address/name of 181 Huron.

UPDATE: According to Alderman Reilly’s most recent email newsletter, the development is officially named ‘Marlowe.’

Antunovich Associates

Antunovich Associates

Antunovich Associates

Antunovich Associates

While no building permits have yet to be issued for this project, there have been a number of clues indicating that construction could be getting ready to commence. In January, crews removed the freestanding billboards overhanging the site. Just this week, Chicago’s Divvy bike-share system moved its Wells/Huron station to a new location across the street.

The moved bike dock also provides a bit more breathing room for a neighboring project from Cedar Street to rehab and expand the old office building at 676 N. LaSalle into 149 apartments. Though interior demolition of the existing structure has been underway for some weeks, a permit green-lighting foundation work for the eight-story addition was issued just yesterday.

With a recently-revealed 15-story luxury condo project dubbed “The Bentham” in the works to replace the nearby former Erie-LaSalle Body Shop building, this rapidly-developing downtown block will likely be unrecognizable two years from now.

• Three new residential projects could completely transform this River North block [Curbed Chicago]
• Proposed 180-Unit Rental Tower Would Replace River North Parking Lot [Curbed Chicago]