Four more high-rise projects ready to break ground in Chicago’s West Loop

With Spring in the air, the last two weeks saw construction in Chicago’s West Loop shift into high gear thanks to four major projects landing building permits in rapid succession.

Featuring office, hotel, residential, and retail components, the quartet illustrate the diversity of new developments flooding the area west of the Kennedy Expressway.

Here’s a look at what’s breaking ground.

Gensler

Gr333n

First up is Gr333n, the 19-story office tower replacing a parking lot across from Coyne College at 333 N. Green Street. The Sterling Bay-developed and Gensler-designed building scored a building permit on April 12 and is already drilling its caisson foundation system. When complete in early 2020, Gr333n will house the new Chicago offices of London-based advertising firm WPP as well as new retail space. The developer plans two more office towers nearby.

bKL Architecture

Union West

Meanwhile on the same day, the city issued the first permit for a 15-story twin apartment tower complex at 939 W. Washington Boulevard. Known as Union West, this development from ZOM Living and bKL Architecture includes 358 rental units, 255 parking stalls, and roughly 12,000 square feet of retail space. With demo crews in the process of clearing an existing low-rise building from the site, foundation work is likely to follow.

Eckenhoff Saunders Architects

Extended-stay Hyatt

A 16-story hotel development at 113 N. May Street received the all-clear to begin work just a few days later. Also developed by Sterling Bay, this 191-room extended-stay project is expected to serve attendees of the Hamburger University training program at McDonald’s soon-to-open world HQ at nearby 110 N. Carpenter Street. The site is already fenced off and crews are prepping for construction.

Fitzgerald Associates Architects

Milieu

The fourth major West Loop building cleared to move forward in the last few days was Milieu—a 19-story apartment project slated for 205 S. Peoria Street. Although the 275-unit development from White Oak Realty Partners and Crayton Advisors scored a foundation permit, the existing low-rise building at the corner of Adams and Peoria still needs to come down before construction can officially begin. Milieu targets a summer 2019 delivery date.

For a comprehensive look at all the new projects headed to the area, check out Curbed Chicago’s updated West Loop development map.

• Previous Chicago construction coverage [Curbed Chicago]
• West Loop archives [Curbed Chicago]