January 28, 2010 – In what looks to be the largest Chicago real estate project proposal of the year, Marty Paris of Sedgwick Properties announced plans for a $350 million mixed-use development on the Uptown lakefront. The new complex, currently named Lake View Station, would be the largest North Side development in decades, according to a Crain’s article this week.

If all goes according to plan, ground will be broken this year and the development will be built in three phases. Three towers, between 20 and 45 stories high, are to be located close to Montrose Harbor. There will around 850 Chicago condos and apartments, some of them senior housing, a 200 room hotel, fitness center and large grocery store. The entire project is expected to take five ears to complete, and with the housing market still not in full recovery some are skeptical about the scope of the project.

But Marty Paris was quoted in Crain’s as saying that, “It’s going to happen. But it’s not going to be easy to get done. It’s one of very few parcels left available on the lakefront in the best of the North Side neighborhoods. To us, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Mr. Paris is in the process of trying to lease 100,000 square feet of retail space for a grocery and fitness center. He believes that if he can secure those leases, it will give me leverage to lock in financing for phase one, which will be a two story retail building with parking on top. Then next year he plans to move ahead with the first 20 story high-rise that will contain 150 condos. That will be located to the north east of Clarendon and Montrose Avenues and have Clarendon Park on two sides of the development.

Before Mr. Paris can do anything though he will have to get a zoning changed passed along with around a $40 to $50 million TIF subsidy from the city. Add in winning over the Clarendon Park Neighborhood Association and he has his work cut out for him. But it is certainly nice to see some news about bigger Chicago real estate developments in the works.

[tags]Lake View Station, Chicago Condos, Chicago Real Estate[/tags]

This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Mortgage Information.