Plans have been revealed for a new mixed-use development at 440-450 N Morgan Street in West Town. Located on the corner with W Hubbard Street next to the existing Metra tracks near Fulton Market, the proposal will replace a large vacant lot used as a parking lot. The project is being led by Diplomat Owner LLC.
Site map for 440-450 N Morgan Street via Google Maps
This is not the first time something has been proposed for this lot, in 2016 the previous owner gained city approval to construct a five-story office building designed by Pappageorge Haymes. However, those plans never advanced and the property was recently sold again to its current developers, who have brought on Eckenhoff Saunders as their designer.
Site plan for 440-450 N Morgan Street by Eckenhoff Saunders
The new plans, which were submitted for zoning this week, call for a seven-story building capping out around 79 feet in height. This will be anchored by a site-wide ground floor containing some amenity space, entry, a corner commercial space, bike parking, and a 20-vehicle parking garage in the rear.
Elevation for 440-450 N Morgan Street by Eckenhoff Saunders
The floors above will hold 79 residential units, although the unit make up is currently unknown, we can assume it will be a mix of studios, one-, and two-bedroom layouts. Of the unit total, we can expect 16 to be considered affordable as well. The building itself will be clad in a mix of metal panels on the upper half and an undisclosed material on the lower floors.
The project will now need to gain zoning approval from the city prior to moving forward, having been deferred in the last meeting. At the moment no timeline is known.
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Quite exciting to see this area start to density. Just wish I could see the Ohio Street feeder ramp removed so this area would be able to be far more pleasant and not cut off
Indeed, overbuilt car infrastructure keeps many areas from flourishing.
Since when is the Ohio St feeder ramp “overbuilt car infrastructure”?
The Ohio St feeder is one of the only ways to get to River North from the Kennedy, and it is heavily used. Those cars are full of people who come downtown and spend loads of money. Hilarious some of the child-like views some urbanist purists have…..
I am skeptical if even 10% of the foot traffic in River North are people who come from the Kennedy. And of those 10%, if the car wasn’t viable most of them would take one of the MANY other convenient transportation options to get there. They’d spend more money too, not having to worry about a designated diver.
Stats prove you wrong and that locals and foot traffic is better indicator of people spending money. People coming out of town usually are too scared to walk around, they spend money on one or two locations and then leave.
Nothing about being a purist, people of the city are tired of highways going through it. I’m all in favor of removing LSD, you want to enjoy the view? Leave your car, you will enjoy it for more than 10 seconds.
Most people accessing River North from the south and south west do so by LSD, Michigan Ave., or Rosevelt. The entirety of 90/94 is almost always a no-go zone if you don’t want an extra 30 minutes of traffic.
Coming from 290, it’s still a gamble of taking the Kennedy for that little slip lane.
In total, there’s no need to have another Jane Byrne interchange that takes up more land and sees far fewer vehicles. Take the land back, give it a more productive use, and we have a win of less road maintenance in the diet.
Nobody here provided anything other than strong opinions based on faulty logic.
The Ohio St feeder ramp is VERY busy at all times, pumps cars into RN, and these are cars from the N/NW suburbs and N side of Chicago, where much of the wealth is. They come downtown and patronize everything. It’s badly needed, it’s not doing any harm to the cityscape, and it will never go anywhere. So opining about how horrible it is just because you have nothing better to do but complain about roads isn’t going to change anybody’s mind.
Your attitude is almost always sour and childish. So, in conjunction with 90% of your terrible comments, how about you show the proof you’re so desperate to prove?
The comment about Ohio St. as a parkway shows you couldn’t care less about “facts.” Almost every negative voice against NYC’s congestion pricing had nothing but opinions on the subject, and the pro voices had some studies but no concrete proof if it will be as successful as it’s been.
The same can be said for every significant highway removal. San Francisco transformed its waterfront, Seatlle is just getting started, Boston’s is phenomenal, and hopefully, more are coming. Our cities can use road diets, specifically highways. Those who continue to add lanes instead of putting their residents first are fighting a losing battle of wasted taxpayer money, causing major displacement, destruction of valuable assets, enabling adverse health effects, and keeping communities segregated.
Sometimes, an educated opinion is just as valuable as a million-dollar traffic study. That’s kind of why some people go to school for these kinds of things.
Car bad!
Yes, cars aren’t great when we’re overly dependent on them, which is what happens when we overbuild/favor for one kind of transportation – the car. Cars are tools that don’t work particularly well in a dense, walkable city (see the ranking from around the beginning of the year saying Chicago has the second worst congestion in the country. Too many cars.)
John Norquist, former Mayor of Milwaukee, has advocated replacing Ohio St. from The Kennedy to Orleans with a parkway. Just have the Kennedy connect to it with regular ramps like the ones at Lake, Randolph, Washington, etc. I’m all for it.
There’s already no parking. The Aberdeen new construction along with May and Elizabeth is adding way too much density to these small streets. Morgan is dangerous and there’s a school right there!
How is Morgan Dangerous? it’s a lane in each direction with stop signs every block? This Building isn’t adding any density, the area is already dense. It’s never going to be Naperville no matter what anyone does, its the city.
I’m sorry, but by that logic, all European cities should be extremely dangerous for schools and people walking. Narrow streets ensure less traffic, fewer people bringing cars and allow for _more_ vibrant density, not less.