Another mixed-use conversion is progressing in The Loop as the historical structure at 19 South LaSalle Street has received approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Announced a few years back as part of LaSalle Street Reimagined, we most recently covered the project back in January as the building received landmark status.
View of 19 S LaSalle Street via LoopNet
Now, developer Envoi Partners is moving forward with plans for the 16-story building originally designed by the father of the skyscraper, William Le Baron Jenney. The structure long served as the central regional headquarters for the YMCA, helping bolster the popularity of basketball, which was a new sport at the time.
Original Central YMCA building (left) – expansion (right) via Chicagology
Designed by local firm HPA, plans call for the re-opening of the building’s ground-floor windows and entrances, creating 6,600 square feet of commercial space along the streetfront and the entire length of the adjacent alley. This will revive the alley as a public space. The rest of the floor will hold back-of-house spaces along with a shared lobby for the residential units and hotel.
Elevations of 19 S LaSalle St conversion by HPA
Floor plans of 19 S LaSalle St conversion by HPA
Floors above will convert over 140,000 square feet of office space into 32 hotel rooms on floors two and three, and 175 residential units on floors four through 16. Unit layouts will include studios, convertibles, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom layouts, of which 30 percent will be considered affordable.
Elevations of 19 S LaSalle St conversion by HPA
Amenities across the building will include a large co-working space, craft room, fitness center, tenant lounge, small theater, and a large rooftop deck. The overall project will cost $64 million to complete, with the team having secured a renovation permit along with Power Construction as the contractor. No timeline has been revealed.
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Let’s get this going. It will be a marvelous addition to the Loop.
This looks great! Looking forward to seeing it after the conversion.
Anything to increase the amount of residential units in the loop. Lets transition that area into a mixed used neighborhood while more offices become vacant and move to other “booming” parts of the city like West Loop.
I just wish they would have developed the empty lots in the Loop first before doing pricey office conversions. Like the massive empty lots on N Franklin near W Randolph
The issue is what to do with the old stuff not seen as desirable for 21st century offices. The charm is there, but not the amenities.
We can groan about vacancy but that’s from a host of multiples causations. At the bare minimum, we can either decimate our stock of historic stuff (like they did in the 60’s/70’s) to make way for modern touches, or find a new use with residential.
We either reuse the old or knock them down. I’d hate to demolish for something soulless.
I get that but building from a vacant lot would be cheaper first. Then who knows maybe with increased population and demand for commerical there could be some more demand for other services that these buildings can meet?
The vacant lots are better primed for full office towers or at least mix-use.
Are the conversions cheap? No. But what else are we to do with them? Letting them rot is precisely what’s happening on State with the two gems next to the courthouse.
You’re championing the Loop becoming more livable. Blight 101: vacant buildings are just as destructive to the mental state as an open lot. Open lots at least have a nature attraction. For the sake of city finances and neighborhood livability, these conversions are more valuable than building from scratch. There’s a civic pride component as well.
It also seems like you are stating a false premise. In this case, maybe they chose not to develop a vacant lot, but in general, these things can happen in parallel. They can develop vacant lots while also redeveloping existing historic buildings into residential.
Also, vacant lots are not always up for sale.
What!?! You can convert an old office building to residential without huge TIF subsidies?
Truth be told, that $152M in public tax money that our political leaders splashed out on the LaSalle St Corridor conversion projects accomplished only one thing: they bailed out existing property owners who would have lost their buildings to foreclosure. Without the huge TIF gifts, the buildings would have gone into foreclosure, been sold at prices low enough to make conversions economically possible.
Depends on how cheap you get the building for. This one sold for $4 million, which was a $26 million discount off the previous sales price.
Don’t talk numbers here. We’re trying to prove a point! Even if flawed…
I don’t love TIF subsidies myself but, you’re painting a misleading picture in this case.
(a) Virtually none of the LaSalle St Corridor TIF subsidies have yet been “splashed out”.
(b) It’s not actually a “huge” number at all given the number of buildings/units, and years, that it’s planned to be spread across.
Excellent! Love to see more residential conversions in the loop.
“The overall project will cost $64 million to complete.”
Taking a wild-assed guess that two modern business-class hotel floors plus the block-long ground-floor retail spaces will together represent maybe 16 of those millions, that would put the per unit cost of the residential apartments at around $275,000.