The $3 billion Foundry Park proposal to build more than 3,200 residences on riverfront land on Chicago’s North Side has won final zoning approval, clearing the way for a new development team to build on much of the land previously known as Lincoln Yards.
The City Council voted Wednesday to approve the mixed-use plan by Chicago-based JDL Development and Boca Raton, Florida-based Kayne Anderson Real Estate.
Although the approval was expected, Wednesday’s vote represents an important step toward bringing construction crews to about 34 acres on the northern portion of the project previously led by Chicago developer Sterling Bay.
Sterling Bay’s ambitious, mixed-use Lincoln Yards stalled in recent years after just one building, a life science office and research structure at the southern tip of the project, was completed.
Lincoln Yards was unable to overcome challenges such as rising construction and borrowing costs, falling demand for office space and costly upfront costs it had agreed to pay to build much-needed infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
The lone vote against the JDL-led plan was by 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins, who led the zoning process for Lincoln Yards, but whose ward no longer includes the site. Hopkins argued that improvements to clogged traffic in the area were “promised to the neighborhood as a contingent for their support of Lincoln Yards,” adding that the new plan does not property address infrastructure improvements, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
It’s still unclear how the new developers plan to improve traffic in the area. City officials including 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, whose ward now includes the site, have said the developers are working with the city’s planning and transportation departments on potential infrastructure improvements.
The City Council’s vote came after the signoff last month by the Chicago Plan Commission and a vote earlier this week by a City Council zoning committee.
The city has said that work on Foundry Park could begin by this fall.
Foundry Park includes plans for more than 3,200 apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes. Renderings show glassy towers along the river and lower brick structures along pedestrian-focused streets and plazas.
The plan also is expected to include restaurant space, retail, hospitality and office space.
Most of the land that JDL and Kayne Anderson control was seized from Sterling Bay by lender Bank OZK and sold to the new developers for almost $84 million.
Land at the southern end of Lincoln Yards was sold in December for $34 million. The buyer of that land was Chicago construction and development firm Novak Construction, which has yet to unveil plans.