The Chicago Committee on Zoning has approved plans for the upcoming residential development at 1201 West Kinzie Street in the West Loop. Sitting on the corner with Racine Avenue, the proposal is part of nearly 2,000 units approved by the committee this week after a three-month recess as it works to establish a new head chair member.
Site context model of 1201 W Kinzie St by Dirk Denison Architects
Site context map of 1201 W Kinzie St by Dirk Denison Architects
Developer LG Group has been working on the low-rise project for around a year now with local firm Dirk Denison Architects. The five-story structure would rise on the eastern portion of a large vacant lot bound by Metra tracks to the south. Its linear form would be broken up by four inset landscaped terraces, which would bring much-needed greenery to the area.
Floor plans of 1201 W Kinzie St by Dirk Denison Architects
Inside, the ground floor will hold a small lobby, two amenity spaces, liner units, along with a 14-vehicle parking garage in the rear against the tracks. The floors above will contain the remaining 66 residential units made up of studio, one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom layouts. Of those, only 15 percent will be considered affordable in exchange for larger unit sizes.
Rendering of 1201 W Kinzie St by Dirk Denison Architects
Materials of 1201 W Kinzie St by Dirk Denison Architects
Residents will all have access to a large rooftop deck with city views. The building itself will be predominantly clad in dark green glazed brick with bronze metal panel accents. The $25 million project will now only need to clear City Council prior to applying for permits. If all goes according to plan, the team hopes to break ground by the end of the year for a 2028 delivery.
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This is indeed beautiful! Thanks for allotting space for 4 bedroom units. Thanks for the bringing native plants to the design alongside the special attention to windows and the main entrance. I’m amazed at the size of the lot. Certainly,worked that space!
Great project. I am glad the developer is using a very good architect.
Would have loved this to be 12-14 stories but I’ll never scoff at progress. Mid sized housings are what makes a developing neighborhood vibrant. Like the brickwork, west side should embrace the green colorways.
Certainly better than a parking lot but being surrounded by high rises this location should have density comparable to the existing high rises in its proposed location .
Why should it? Is there some kind of economic, aesthetic, practical, etc reason why it should be another highrise? Not everyone wants to live in a highrise.
“Is there some kind of economic, aesthetic, practical, etc reason why it should be another highrise?”
Yes lol. There are economic, aesthetic, and practical reasons why it should be a highrise.
But as the other guy said, it’s still better than a parking lot. The design is quite nice it should just be taller.
Well, what are they? You people keep yammering on about height but you can’t give a cogent, objective reason why EVERYTHING should he higher. It’s like you’re fixated on it for no other reason than emotions.
Construction costs rise the higher you go. If the developer found it more profitable to build a taller building, I imagine they would have proposed one.
The site may have constraints we don’t fully know about. It’s a very narrow site and railroad may limit the foundation (just speculating). It also looks like they may be keeping it short enough to not need high-rise fire ratings.
A practical reason is financial , a highrise of 300 units would pay Chicago substantially more in taxes than the proposed 69 unit lowrise .
It’s also more costly to build; would take longer to build; the developer has to borrow more $ to build it; the infrastructure (gas, elec, water, sewer) may not be able to support it and so would have to be modified/upgraded; their broker may have told them not everyone wants to live in a highrise and they’d get a better return on being the oddball/lowrise in the ‘hood; etc.
Can’t help but laugh at those tree balconies but this is gonna look fantastic I think.