Developer Sterling Bay and partnering private equity firm Ascentris have broken ground on a 28-story mixed-use tower, situated at 225 N Elizabeth Street (formerly addressed as 1245 W Fulton) in West Loop’s Fulton Market District. Plans for this 314-foot-tall edifice include 350 residential apartments atop first-floor retail. Unit sizes will be split into 66 studios, 46 convertibles, 140 one-bedroom, 92 two-bedroom, and six three-bedroom floor plans. To meet the 20 percent affordability requirement under the latest ARO guidelines, the development will have 70 on-site units for residents making up to 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). These units will be distributed as 13 studios, nine convertibles, 28 one-bedrooms, 19 two-bedrooms, and one three-bedroom.
Context rendering of 225 N Elizabeth with future West Loop buildings by HPA
225 N Elizabeth. Photo by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
First floor plan of 225 N Elizabeth by HPA
Residential amenities will include a third-floor pool deck with a dog run, as well as various interior common areas on the same level. At the top, meanwhile, will be an outdoor skydeck and an additional indoor lounge. There will also be a 95-vehicle garage and a 199-bike bike room. Both the lobby and entrance to the garage will be accessible from Elizabeth Street, while the retail portion will reside along W Fulton Street.
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth. Photo by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth. Photo by Jack Crawford
July (left) and most recent (right) renderings of 225 N Elizabeth by HPA
Chicago-based firm Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is behind the design. The rectangular building will be wrapped in a glass facade lined with rows of balconies. The outermost layer of the exterior will come with horizontal and vertical dark metal beams to further add a sense of texture. This grid of metal will extend up past the roofline and form part of the amenity penthouse.
Typical floor plans of 225 N Elizabeth by HPA
Closest transit is available for the Green and Pink Lines at Morgan station via an eight-minute walk east. Meanwhile, bus service for Routes 8, 9, X9, and 20 are all within a 10-minute walk.
225 N Elizabeth. Photo by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (orange). Model by Jack Crawford
225 N Elizabeth (gold). Model by Jack Crawford
McHugh Construction is serving as general contractor for the high rise now underway, expected to cost $110 million. With foundation permits having now been issued, a completion is anticipated for 2024.
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this building has nice portions and scale. It will be a great addition.
In other news, I really like the ‘proposed, approved, under construction, etc.’ comparative bird’s eye view of the surrounding neighborhood. That really emphasizes the good redevelopment happening and seems to indicate a continued desirability to live in central Chicago.
Thank you! There’s a lot going on. And that’s not even taking into account what may happen once Google moves into The Loop, not to mention increased demand around mega-projects like North Union and Lincoln Yards once those come to fruition
Loving the development towards the west end of the West Loop. We desperately need a grocery store here and hoping with all these new residential buildings, someone will take the jump.
Oh heck yeah I love the Purple, Green and Blue color scheme!
Here to stay! Will use both going forward
It seems like Fulton Market proposals have finally started to slow down dramatically. 301 S. Green is the last one I can remember. There’s obviously a whole lot of projects in the pipeline but new proposals in the area have come to a halt for the first time I can remember in the last 6 or 7 years. It seemed like there was something announced every month for 5 years which is insane. We need to see a new generation of proposals to offset projects that will fail to materialize. This way the cycle stays active without long dry-spells like we see in the Loop, Streeterville and River North.
The slow down in new proposals is due to new DPD deputy first commissioner Melvin Wesley. He has been singularly difficult for the development community to deal with and many are not bothering with new projects in town anymore due to his antics.
Previous reply was moderated out.
Lack of new proposals is due to DPD making planned development process order of magnitude more difficult within last +/-18 months. Between personality issues, ambiguous demands and increased scrutiny by true questionably qualified it is much worse than prior administrations. It is to the point where many developers are not bothering.
Moderators of this site should allow this comment, the above situation and ones like it are one of the primary causes of nation wide housing crisis and consequent death of middle class, it does not do anyone favors to protect the feelings of city officials.
Hi Dave, there is a delay before posting comments so YIMBY can review for replies that are inappropriate or spam. Your submissions are informative and add to the conversation, and both have been approved
Jack, my sincere apologies.
Very much appreciate the explanation, this is an important news source for the industry, keep up the great work.
No worries and thank you!
Thanks for the response. I agree Chicago has entirely too much scrutiny on projects, like the recent Committee on Design which was allegedly to expedite the process but has only slowed it down and added yet another layer of bureaucracy for developers to appease. For a long time it felt like Fulton Market was immune to a slow down despite the design-guidelines, NIMBY groups and even the pandemic. I wasn’t aware that they made it even more difficult still.
This is a major problem with legacy cities that makes it hard to keep up with Sun-Belt cities that are booming and have much less extortion to get a project off the ground.
An illustrative anecdote:
The PD for the Sears tower is about 5 pages.
Recently a 5 story largely affordable housing building on north side spent 12+ months on ice over the location of a garage door and a few parking spaces.
DPD is completely out of control. Unclear how Lightfoot keeps this current department staff around IF she is lucky enough to get re-elected. Completely unworkable as it.
Yes, regarding approvals, a relatively straightforward process was one of the few advantages Chicago still had. Now it has become arguably as asinine of a process as Boston (notoriously bad) without the compensating financials to make it worthwhile.