Fern Hill Scales Down West Loop Housing Tower Proposal

Fern Hill is taking another swing at developing a long-vacant lot near Mary Bartelme Park in the West Loop, this time with a downsized version of its previous plan.

The latest proposal calls for a 27-story hybrid condo and rental tower at 23 South Sangamon Street, along with a community center and field house to be gifted to the neighborhood, Block Club reported.

The updated design follows earlier iterations that never made it past the drawing board. Chicago-based developers Fern Hill and Free Market Ventures initially secured approval for an 80-unit condo building in 2021 before shifting gears in 2024 with a $125 million, 283-unit apartment tower with 33 stories that added a community center to the mix. The lot has sat empty for almost a decade.

The revision scales back the height from the second version — now 27 stories — as well as the unit count, settling on 193 units: 130 apartments from the fifth to 16th floors and 63 condos on floors 18 through 26.

The four-story community center remains a key feature, with Fern Hill committing to fully fund, maintain and staff the space while adding a restrictive covenant requiring future building owners to maintain public access. It’s offering legal access agreements to the Mary Bartelme Park Advisory Council, West Central Association and Neighbors of West Loop neighborhood groups to allow them to schedule events and programs.

Most of the 193 planned residences will have two to five bedrooms after community feedback requesting more family-sized units.

The proposal includes 26 affordable apartment units, priced for households earning 40 to 80 percent of the area median income. The upper-level condos will range from $900 to $1,000 per square foot, according to Fern Hill president Nick Anderson. A pre-sale campaign is expected to launch after city approval.

The project still needs a zoning change from the City Council. Alderman Bill Conway is gathering feedback from neighbors before making a decision, he said.

Fern Hill will likely be developing another multifamily project, in the North Side, after Anderson purchased a $5 million Edgewater lot from Quest Realty in January.

The West Loop project is also Fern Hill’s second to recently go through substantial cutback. In Old Town, Alderman Brian Hopkins rejected Fern Hill’s proposal for its 500-unit project in January, but shortly thereafter approved the firm’s a 349-unit plan for the site, with a building more than 100 feet shorter than originally proposed.

The developer is, however, no stranger to scrapping and restarting project plans — the company originally planned to build a hotel in the historic Motor Row corridor but switched to a 256-unit multifamily complex in April last year instead.

Anderson’s partner on the project, Free Market Ventures, is led by John Buck III, son of Chicago real estate dignitary John Buck II. Free Market’s participation in the West Loop deal follows the firm signing over the deed to an office building near the O’Hare airport to its lender after defaulting on the property’s $18 million debt.

— Judah Duke