The Chicago Plan Commission has approved updated plans for Big Deahl, a development generally located at 1450 N Dayton Street in Near North Side. The V-shaped project site is bound by N Kingsbury Street to the west, W Blackhawk Street to the north, and N Dayton Street to the east. Structured Development is in charge of the proposal.
Site Plan for Big Deahl at 1450 N Dayton Street. Drawing by GREC Architects
Planned to update an existing planned development, the project will produce four separate buildings. The site will be divided into five sub-areas for the four buildings, with the final sub-area holding a privately-owned public space. The underlying zoning for the lot will be rezoned to C2-5 and then back to a planned development.
Street View of Building A at Big Deahl. Rendering by GREC Architects
The first building, located in Sub-area A, will consist of a 27-story mixed-use building rising 299 feet. It will be rooted with retail space on the ground floor, hold 110 parking spaces, and 327 dwelling units. Designed by GREC Architects, the structure flanks the street with active uses on the ground floor. Parking and service areas are placed in the back, screened from the park with art and landscaping.
Ground Floor Plan for Building A. Drawing by GREC Architects
Topped by a green roof, the 27-story market-rate project will utilize a variety of materials in the design. The varied facades relate to the surrounding neighborhood, while different colors connect to neighboring buildings. The materiality changes with the height of the building. Materials at the base are rendered in a smaller scale, while larger scale materials are used at the top of the tower.
Building B and the Park at Big Deahl. Rendering by GREC Architects
The second structure, located in Sub-area B, will rise five floors high. Also designed by GREC Architects, the residential building will hold 36 dwelling units and rise 64 feet. 36 parking spaces will be located in the base of the structure. Active uses will be placed along the street in front of the parking. The building’s base will rise 17 feet and be faced with masonry. The upper four floors are clad with metal panels. The sides of the building that are facing the park will be distinguished with brick details to create architectural interest.
Ground Floor Plan for Building B. Drawing by GREC Architects
Designed by Built Form, the third residential structure, located in Sub-area C, will be a 10-story, co-living residential project. Rising 117 feet, the building will hold 126 dwelling units with a maximum of 432 beds, as well as 41 parking spades on the ground floor. There will be four unit types among the 126 total dwellings with the majority of them as four-bedrooms.
West Elevation for Building C. Drawing by BuiltForm
The structure is located immediately adjacent to the next building in Sub-area D. The ground floor will feature active lobby and lounge spaces along the street, with amenities along the park side of the building. Additional amenity space will be placed on the second-floor roof deck. The use of materials responds to the height of the building, in a similar way that the other two buildings do. The design utilizes storefront windows and dark-colored brick at street level, while the upper portion of the building façade is clad with warm gray and wood-tone fiber cement panels.
Ground Floor Plan for Building C. Drawing by Built Form
Designed by CallisonRTKL, Sub-area D will consist of Planet Granite, an indoor sports and recreation facility currently under construction. Rising 80 feet, it will hold 16 park spaces for patrons. First approved back in 2018, the building is located on the eastern portion of the site, at the intersection of N Dayton Street and W Blackhawk Street.
Planet Granite. Rendering by CallisonRTKL
The final area on the site is the location for a new 25,557-square-foot publicly-accessible open space. The park is poised as an active gathering space, being well-connected to the surrounding area with no dead-end corners. The main access is intended to be from the north. Components include a playground, a dog run, and a mix of hardscaping and landscaping. Dubbed the Paseo, a corridor between Building A and B will connect the park to the street.
Site Plan for Park at Big Deahl. Rendering by GREC Architects
The development will incorporate and fund public right of way improvements, including the construction of a new traffic signal along N Halsted Street and W Blackhawk Street. The design intends for each building to have its own character while connecting between the others to create a unified project. Vehicle access for each building has been spaced apart from one another to alleviate traffic and give a pedestrian focus to the public areas. Loading and parking access has been combined for each building as well.
View of Big Deahl at 1450 N Dayton Street. Rendering by GREC Architects
The $250 million project will be broken down into two phases of construction. Phase 1 will consist of constructing Buildings B and C, while Phase 2 will complete the development with Building A. Planet Granite is expected to be completed in spring 2021. A timeline for the construction of the residential buildings has not been announced.
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Of course the tallest building is in the second phase–hopefully that one gets built as I think it’s the most important piece. Good to see high rises outside of downtown and the lakefront. This is one such area that can support them with the numerous transportation options in the area.
Sidenote: Chicago has got to get rid of its outdated and unnecessary parking requirements.
It’ll get built, I joined the call with the developer. I also tried suggesting it could be even more affordable if they got rid of the parking podium considering this is a TOD play but the developer said this much parking is still the minimum Chicago requires given all the variables of this site. I even suggested investigating sharing the enormous parking garages surrounding the British School. They hadn’t even considered that. Oh the downsides of a pure private property system – zero incentive to think of the public experience of an individual development except when forced to.
Wicker Park/Polish Triangle is another area away from downtown and lakefront that should be filled with mid & high-rises but the terribly restrictive zoning has ruined that from occurring. They successfully fought off a 16 story and 12 story tower the last couple years with typical NIMBY outrage.
As for this development the constant smallest-to-tallest phasing approach of projects in Chicago is super annoying. It is customary at this point to chop these up into long timelines with waiting periods in between and never beginning with the largest building. The Riverline/Southbank project and Wolf Point are both great examples of this practice. One Chicago and Cirrus/Cascade are the exception to the rule and the sky didn’t fall. It’s so much more rewarding to see multiple cranes building simultaneously. The Spire site was originally planned for two tower construction in tandem which was shocking they even suggested it. Now they will be spread out over 8 years or so as suspected.