The owner of a shopping center in Chicago’s Clybourn Corridor is close to launching a redevelopment that later could include a big residential tower.
CRM Properties said it plans to begin demolition in the next few months on structures within the Clybourn Place shopping center at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave. to create 43,900 square feet of new retail, reconfigured parking and open areas for community events.
The plan comes after the loss of the original Goose Island Beer brewpub, Patagonia and Bed Beth & Beyond as tenants in recent years.
CoStar News first reported the vision, dubbed the Willow Street District, in May 2024.
At the time, CRM said the three-acre project could include an apartment tower with as many as 500 units on the southwest corner of the property.
CRM Principal Jeff Malk said in an email that the first priority is to begin demolition work in the coming months on buildings along Clybourn and Sheffield avenues and Willow Street.
The timeline and scope of a contemplated residential construction phase, which would require a zoning change, has yet to be determined, Malk said.
Savills brokers are representing CRM in the search for potential retail tenants.
The relatively rare example of new, large blocks of space in Lincoln Park will test the strength of the North Side retail market.
Deerfield, Illinois-based CRM is emphasizing proximity to the Armitage Avenue shopping district that has thrived in recent years just a few blocks from the Willow Street District.
“We see the site as a natural extension of the vibrant Armitage corridor — supported by convenient on-site parking — so it works equally well for people arriving on foot or by car,” Malk wrote in the email to CoStar News. “The vision is a walkable neighborhood retail district with a thoughtful mix of local boutiques and select national brands, soft goods and services, restaurants with outdoor patios, and rotating art and cultural elements.”
Willow runs separate portions of the shopping center, with most of the new retail to be built on the north side of the street. Spaces as large as 9,500 square feet are available in what will be new construction incorporating some existing elements of the center.
That includes masonry towers that remain from a former William D. Gibson Co. spring plant that was built on the site. The property later was a Turtle Wax plant before being converted to retail.
For the record
Savills brokers Todd Siegel, Phil Golding and Kimberly Wiskup have the leasing assignment.