Two West Loop apartment towers among projects to clear key City Hall vote

The sprawling Near South Side megaproject known as The 78 wasn’t the only development approved on Thursday at the November meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission. City officials also awarded preliminary zoning changes supporting a pair of West Loop rental towers, approved a mixed-income development in Douglas Park, and heard a courtesy presentation regarding the University of Chicago’s planned hotel.

First revealed in January, the two West Loop high-rises from Chicago-based developer Tandem Partners and architecture firm Antunovich Associates. The taller of the two transit-oriented towers, slated for 1125 W. Van Buren Street, will rise 24 stories (260 feet) and will contain 200 rental units and just seven parking spaces. Its 21-story sibling at 1050 W. Van Buren will climb 231 feet and deliver 201 apartments plus parking for 69 vehicles.

Antunovich Associates

Antunovich Associates

The commissioners also voted in favor of a 377-unit Douglas Park development known as the Ogden Commons. The mixed-income project calls for multiple buildings spread across three sub-areas on ten acres of vacant Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) land at 2600 W. Ogden Avenue. Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, the Ogden Commons is a joint venture between the Habitat Company, the CHA, and neighboring local partners Sinai Health System and Cinespace Film Studios.

Although not requiring formal approval from the Plan Commission, the University of Chicago presented new information regarding its planned hotel south of the Midway Plaisance. The 12-story building, slated for the corner of 60th Street and Kimbark Avenue—and not 60th and Dorchester, as previously reported—will contain 167 guest rooms. The Hyde Park hotel will be branded as “The Study,” a college-themed chain that currently operates locations near Yale and a Philadelphia’s University City.

• Developers want to build 401 apartments in two new West Loop towers [Curbed Chicago]
• Hundreds of apartments on tap for 8-acre site across from Mt. Sinai [Curbed Chicago]
• Chicago Plan Commission November agenda [City of Chicago]