South Loop rental development at Wells and Harrison breaks cover

Chicago’s booming South Loop could soon welcome yet another apartment project, this time in the form of twin 14-story towers slated for the southwest corner of Wells and Harrison streets.

Known officially as Alta Grand Central, the development revealed its name and a single rendering via a new Instagram account late last week, first spotted by construction blog Building Up Chicago. Prior to that, the unnamed project was listed on May’s agenda of Chicago’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), as reported by Crain’s.

Alta Grand Central is being codeveloped by Chicago-based D2 and Atlanta-based Wood Partners and features a glassy design from Pappageorge Haymes Partners. The local architecture firm previously collaborated with Wood Partners on the nearby Alta Roosevelt apartment tower at the intersection of Polk and Financial.

Currently little more than vacant land, the site at Wells and Harrison is flanked on two sides by Southbank, a separate seven-acre development calling for five buildings and up to 2,700 units. South of that, thousands more residences are slated for the multiphase Riverline development and the 62-acre megaproject known as The 78.

Although the Alta Grand Central team has yet to land a permit to start drilling the building’s foundation, earth-moving equipment is already on-site preparing the parcel for future construction.

• South Loop apartment scene about to get a bit more crowded [Crain’s]
• Here comes Alta Grand Central [Building Up Chicago]
• Alta Grand Central [Instagram]