Two demolition permits issued by the City of Chicago on the final day of October will usher in redevelopment on the 1600 block of North Halsted Street in Lincoln Park. Those two buildings were home to the Royal George Theatre, which closed in 2020. Precision Excavation has been contracted to tear down 1633 and 1649 North Halsted Street, which entail a four-story and two-story building plus a parking deck.
1649 North Halsted Street. Rendering by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Rendering by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Rendering by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Rendering by SGW Architecture & Design
Draper & Kramer has had plans to redevelop the site in the works for years, and they won approval from the Chicago Plan Commission back in August 2023. With the two demos issued, it appears that plan is about to come to fruition. The approval allowed for a nine-story residential building designed by SGW Architecture & Design with 131 rental units. The first floor will include 34 parking spaces and about 4,500 square feet of retail/restaurant space, plus storage for 131 bicycles.
1649 North Halsted Street. Rendering by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Site plan by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Floor plans by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 North Halsted Street. Floor plans by SGW Architecture & Design
The residential lobby will be accessed off Halsted Street, and the garage entrance will be at the north-south alley behind the building. Units will be a mix of studio through three-bedroom units, with amenities including a co-working space, fitness studio, resident lounge, and a landscaped sky terrace.
1649 North Halsted Street. Elevation by SGW Architecture & Design
1649 and 1633 North Halsted Street, with the parking deck behind them, via Google Street View
As of October’s end, there are no pending permits in the Chicago Data Portal for this stretch of Halsted Street. It is not yet known when demolition will begin, when new construction will get underway, and when the new residences will be open to tenants.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
finally, the bureaucracy in Chicago is something else, and residents are stuck looking at abandoned buildings and empty lots for years… 😬
How is this one an issue of Chicago’s bureaucracy? Abandoned buildings may be attributed to failed policies/poor economy, but unless the lot is Chicago-owned, redevelopment is at the mercy of the property owner.
The city still clings to too much unproductive land that can be privately transformed into taxpaying homes at a much faster pace than before CPH can even muster a plan on “why building housing is good.” Other than Cabrini Green and sites adjacent to transit, I can’t think of much blight that’s not the responsibility of private property owners. And a significant number of empty storefronts in the US is correlated to developers building too large retail spaces in new construction. (An issue of banks/investors and code) It’s evident on State St., in River North, and in the West Loop. Only national brands can afford to fill the spaces, while most of our family businesses need only a fraction of the square footage that is built out.
Well probably because each permit takes a year to get? It’s in every article here, developers apply for permits and construction is not happening until years later.
A reply to your falsehood below.
Commenting mechanics to this site sometimes run a foul.
Love the trees, nice streetlamps, and cafe. Halsted needs a lot more trees.
That’s not how permits work. You apply when ready. No timeline established is on tons of articles. That’s showing the investors like to have the cards lined up when ready to strike.
Not to call a foul, but you’re expressing some ignorance on the process and should do some research before making claims.
In 2023, they even made the process much quicker (not guaranteed for all project types and areas). Before, using the more traditional methods of city council, 87 days was the average. Today, the self-certification process allows permits to be issued within 10 business days. (On-line process with no paper pushing)
Months, that’s a realistic complaint. Years? You’re talking gibberish unless the project is truly problematic or has experienced a third redesign upon initial approval.(214 North Morgan, for example)
The new Chicago Fire Stadium made it through city council in a singular summer. That’s MAJOR. Construction is no dependent on when they decide to push forward.
I learned something I didn’t know the details about, so thank you Drew for this! It’s too easy to ignorantly do otherwise – blame the bureaucracy and idealize the private organizations.
Max has obviously never actually gone through the building process. Delays can be attributed to many factors including faulty design engineering, non compliance to code, incomplete plans, etc., Or even the developer not responding to bldg. dept. objections in a timely manner.
Yes, from intake to approval, it can take months but frankly I wouldn’t live in a building that couldn’t make it through the permit process – it’s like insurance the roof isn’t going to cave in on you or you’re not going to get trapped in a fire.
And as you say, none of this has anything to do with abandoned slummy property. I’m looking at a neighbor’s property across the alley from me and it’s a mess: the porch is rotting away, broken window, weeds and rats, lots of rats which neighbors and I have taken to handling ourselves. The owner is somewhere in S.C doing holiday rentals on the outer banks. She’s had offers but won’t sell for anything under 600k – this for a teardown.
Cool design. I like the angled windows
I loved Balena and the Royal George. Always a little hard to see a cultural institution disappear, but this is a lot of units and happy to see the density increase here. Glad this is getting done.
The four buildings south of this (and north of the brown line) are all for sale. Curious if those get combined ever.
We can hope: https://chicagoyimby.com/2021/01/zoning-approved-for-mixed-use-development-at-1623-n-halsted-street-in-lincoln-park.html
wow, had never heard of that before. Thank you very much!