A former bus garage on Goose Island has a new owner — and might soon look a lot different.
Canadian firm Onni Group has closed on the purchase of a 190,555-square-foot site on the industrial island in the Chicago River for $50 million, picking up the property from seller Greyhound Bus Lines, according to public records.
The site likely became far more valuable last year, when the city removed a large area of the North Branch corridor from a planned manufacturing district as part of an effort to open the riverfront corridor up to mixed-use development.
Onni has been rumored as a likely buyer. With a zoning change, the site could accommodate up to 1.7 million square feet of new development.
If the developer builds residential units there, as has been expected, it would be the first residential development on the island, which has long been dominated by industrial land use.
Greyhound retained JLL’s Tom Kirschbraun to market the site.
The property has reportedly received unsolicited offers above the $50 million closing price.
The property, at the southeastern tip of Goose Island, is directly across the Chicago River from a 37-acre development site owned by Tribune Media, with plans for up to 9 million square feet of office and residential development.
It was among the sites shown to Amazon executives on a visit to the city last week, and will be developed with or without the company choosing Chicago as its second headquarters.