Sterling Bay is one step closer to building its first residential development in the West Loop, where the city’s trendy district continues to attract developers despite its high vacancy rates.
The Chicago Plan Commission approved a 29-story mixed-use tower development proposal by Sterling Bay at 160 North Morgan Street. The building, rising 350 feet tall, will have 282 residential units and 2,872 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.
The developer also will provide 28 affordable units on site to meet the city’s affordable housing requirements, provide $5.3 million in affordable housing fees and pay $2 million into Chicago’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which was created in 2016 to promote the city’s equitable neighborhood development.
The proposal, introduced in February, was initially planned to have 32 stories and 320 residential units but was revised after community meetings including Alderman Walter Burnett. The proposal will need the Chicago City Council’s approval before starting construction. Sterling Bay did not respond to requests for comment.
Fulton Market has been one of the hottest office real estate areas in the city. Kimberly-Clark, Tock, Calamos Investments and TikTok have signed onto space in the neighborhood. But with offices implementing work from home policies, Fulton Market’s office space availability rate climbed to 39 percent in the second quarter this year — surpassing the downtown average of 24 percent, according to NAI Hiffman.
However, with offices starting to open up in Fulton Market, expectations are that demand for multifamily housing will follow.
“I believe we are entering a hybrid world where people are not going to go into the office five days a week,” said Aaron Galvin, co-founder and CEO of Luxury Living Realty. Galvin said that companies will still keep offices for employees to come into for meetings and that’s why “residents are going to want to live closer than ever to their office than ever before.”
There were about 2,000 new residential units brought to the West Loop in the Fulton Market area in 2019, according to Luxury Living Realty. The company doesn’t expect the supply of apartments to exceed 2,000 units in any given year until 2025, adding to the heated residential market in Fulton Market.