The Chicago City Council has approved plans for Foundry Park, the massive redevelopment of the northern portion of the former Lincoln Yards site. Located on the western edge of Lincoln Park, the approval marks an official end to the previous megadevelopment vision and gives developers JDL and Kayne Anderson the green light to break ground this fall on Phase One.
Site map of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
In the works for several months, Foundry Park will reimagine the former steel mill site as a live-work-play neighborhood anchored by active commercial corridors and 34 acres of public green space. Earlier this year, we took an in-depth look at each phase of the $3 billion proposal which can be found here.
Foundry Park massing and program diagram by HPA and Nudge Design
Rendering of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
The master plan calls for 3,207 residential units ranging from apartments to single-family homes; 350,000 square feet of medical and traditional office space; and 420,000 square feet of retail and commercial space across five sub-areas centered on Southport and Cortland avenues.
Basement – ground – tower plans of phase one of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
Phase One will occupy the triangle-shaped parcel bounded by those two streets and Kingsbury Street to the east. Plans include a two-story underground garage with 800 spaces, topped by a large central park with year-round programming, and four buildings ranging from eight to 38 stories, with the tallest rising 520 feet.
Rendering of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
Rendering of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
This initial phase will deliver roughly 800 residential units, 180 hotel rooms, and substantial retail and amenity space at an estimated cost of $800 million. Subsequent phases will add the remaining density, 10 acres of green space, 3,000 linear feet of riverwalk, and a connection to a future 606 Trail extension.
Rendering of Foundry Park by HPA and Nudge Design
With approval secured, the team aims to break ground as soon as possible. Before that can happen, however, the developers and the city must finalize funding for required infrastructure improvements and amend the previously approved Lincoln Yards plan.
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Wow this is huge!! Cant wait to follow this project and see the impact on the neighborhood. Kudos to JDL for getting the job done, SB should get their act together after that fumble.
I’m hoping the city talks more about the 606
Agree. Please include the 606 extension in the first phase!
Did I miss it or is the funding not approved yet?
I believe the funding for infrastructure (including the 606 extension one hopes) will be from TIF T-183.
I think they got their colors mixed on the site map – no parking (grey) but huge fitness facilities (green).
It will be exciting to see this project move forward in the upcoming years, similar to how Lakeshore East develop
Absolutely awesome as long as the residents don’t treat the area as their pseudo-gated community. Yes, I’m talking to you, Riverview residents that tend to forget North Water Street is a public road and the riverfront is public space.
Do the engineers plan for possible power outages in the future?
In the sense that critical systems are designed not fail without power? Yes. But there is no need to plan for frequent or long power outages in Chicago– this isn’t Texas.
INFRASTRUCTURE!! There needs to be another auto bridge over the river and a redesign of the Courtland/armitage/ashland/elston intersection or all these lovely plans will become another traffic nightmare for residents (like the multiple bridge closings headache we are experiencing due to lack of CDOT planning).
None of this will get built.
Careful guys! We have a Chicago optimist here
Wait till they find out which city invented the skyscraper.
Yowza! Once this gets built, I hope they get an amazing artist to put an abstract statue or a pillar in the middle, the equivalent of the Picasso or the Water Tower. This has the potential to be a mini-downtown on the North side, minus the Loop trains.
Let’Put this in perspective , it’s been since 2026, a full decade for this to be approved. The amount of tax revenue lost and time involved by all is a black-eye for doing business in Chicago
This NEW project was proposed in 2025 and is now fully approved in 2026. Not even a year since the NEW developers have taken over.
It sucks what the last guys squandered. Maybe Chicago should’ve split the site up more. But this was a private development, led by private money, and dropped because the private company left the area’s market. So many other issues.
How Chicago prevents one company from bitting off more than they can chew? We’d need more government involved in the process. Those savvy money types tend to dislike that. So as the alternative, sit back and watch the new guys take over. You’ll have valid criticism if nothing comes forth in the next 5 years.
Thumbs up. This Gary doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The current developer piggy backed off the previous decade worth negotiations, that’s why it went so fast
They should have zoned the area, and let the developer divide up lots and let people build on them in conformity with the overall zoning. These Planned Development schemes all wind up looking contrived and suburban, and all that supposedly wonderful open space winds up making the development pedestrian unfriendly by creating windswept, unpeopled areas. Planners need to realize that the most loved, most valuable areas in the city weren’t master planned. They were built lot by lot.
I seriously don’t understand what you’re smoking. Other than the townhomes, which are much more in line with the area’s low density, this is the most densely urban thing these chunks of industrial sites have seen in two centuries. Maybe it’s faux urbanism and doesn’t look as organic, but neither is Lake Shore East, and it’s a beloved pocket. I think you just gotta buckle-up buterrcup.
So we are back at the city needing to take on a higher role. About 90% of your comments reflect the view that the city is too involved and that we should let private money figure things out; let the market rule the world. So which is it? Is the city fumbling, or should the developers advocate for a simpler project? I am a bystander on most mega developments, but if there were true pushback beyond the community crying foul, I have not seen developers take a more active role in governance.
Well, I think both he and you are sorta right. I like the site plan and design here, and I am optimistic.
But…………
I also agree that the city has been doing the “master planned” route a bit too much here. Nothing wrong with platting and zoning the lots and letting various developers have at it. Give it generous dosing and I bet it would still turn out great, maybe even more ‘natural’ if you will. That’s how most of the city was built, after all
Correction to my above comment: give it generous ‘zoning’, not ‘dosing’
I wish this site had an edit option
The Foundry Project is certainly the end run for the Lincoln Park Framework Plan. The community exchange of ideas and best practices is admirable. The development is forever linked to the Englewood and Far Southeast following the relocation of various industries. From infrastructure to flip provisions, the city’s Redevelopment Agreement will be closely watched by neighbors and environmental parties.