Construction update: Office high-rise, a coach house, bus lanes, basement ADUs, a boozy shake restaurant, St. Boniface, and Guinness

I saw a lot of construction happening on a meandering bike ride on Saturday between the Loop and Ukrainian Village, and passing through the West Loop. I even serendipitously encountered the owner of a coach house under construction who gave me a tour!

Map of the buildings seen on the Saturday bike ride through the West Loop and Ukrainian Village.

360 N Green Street

Sterling Bay is building this office tower between Recess and the Metra tracks. It was reported a year ago that BCG (Boston Consulting Group) would move here, and now a sign at the construction site advertises that fact. The site was still a parking lot in May, hadn’t yet gone vertical in August, but now has 10-story core!

Three photos of the 360 N Green St development site: May 11, 2022; August 11, 2022; and December 10, 2022.

360 N Green St was designed by Gensler; our Proposed Projects database says it will be 26 stories tall (425') and have 90 car parking spaces. The permit for deep foundations and superstructure up to level 14 was permitted on July 12, and the second and final building permit was issued yesterday. (There will still be permits issued for office buildouts.)

Sterling Bay has updated its new-constructiong-building-signage style: Bigger, bolder, and lots of red.

Guinness taproom

Since the last time I visited the construction site of the forthcoming Guiness taproom an eastern wall has been built and it appears that all brickwork has been completed. The first permit was issued in September 2021, the most substantial permit was issued in June 2022, and a permit for 208 photovoltaic solar panels was issued last month.

Three photos of the Guinness taproom: August 11, 2022; and December 10, 2022.

Chicago Avenue bus lanes are now open 24/7

The city striped limited-visibility bus-only lanes on Chicago Avenue between Ashland and Laramie Avenues in 2020. This month, however, in the one-mile section of the route that’s in the 1st Ward, the city restriped them to be more visible and permanent with red paint. Read more about this project in Streetsblog Chicago.

CTA buses travel and east and west in 24/7 bus lanes in the 1700 block of West Chicago Avenue.

Conversion of former St. Boniface church to residences

The project to convert the former St. Boniface church — closed since 1990 — into residences achieved the major milestone of obtaining building permits in October and November.

The former church will be converted to 18 units, plus a new building will be erected to the east and contain nine units, 14 parking spaces, and ground floor commercial space facing Eckhart Park.

Workers were renovating the former St. Boniface church for use as housing.

Shake-It

This restaurant proposal from an Ohio-based company for was originally heard, approved, and permitted in 2019, but work didn’t start until 2021. In 2022, improvements to convert the former car repair shop into a burger and “boozy shake” restaurant are prominent but behind what a rendering from 2019 shows.

The future home of “Shake-It” restaurant at 820 N Damen Ave.

New coach house

While I was biking through the alleys looking for backyard and coach houses under construction — using Chicago Cityscape’s map of ADU permits — I came across the owner of one in Ukrainian Village. The owner graciously let me look inside and show these photos of it under construction.

Here are the details: it will have a mix of gas and electrical appliances. The water heater will be on-demand (tankless) powered by gas, the stove will be gas, and the heating and cooling will be provided by an electric heat pump. There will also be solar panels and the coach house is tied into the electrical meter for the main house, so energy generated by the panels can be shared.

From left to right: A wide-angle view showing the living & sleeping room on the left and the kitchen and its peninsula on the right; the reclaimed brick wall facing the new outdoor patio; the coach house’s alley elevation.

The coach house has a studio space with 480 s.f. of floor area. The owner said that 480 s.f. was the maximum that the zoning code allowed. (Use Chicago Cityscape’s ADU Portal to learn how to determine the maximum size of a coach house on your property.)

Additionally, the coach house’s exterior wall facing the main house was covered in a new pattern of reclaimed Chicago common brick to complement the new outdoor patio.

Special note to architects that affect ADUs:

• starting January 1, 2023, any new Chicago residence that is built to have gas-powered appliances — excluding HVAC — must also have electrical infrastructure to support a swap to electrical-powered appliances.
• a proposed zoning code change (O2022–3777) would exclude the interior stairs from the floor area, potentially expanding the floor area allowed for many new projects.

Four basement ADUs!

Construction is apparent at this 12-unit building in Ukrainian Village that is getting four new basement accessory dwelling units (ADU) — no zoning change necessary. The project was permitted in March and is designed by one of the architects in the Chicago Cityscape ADU Service Provider directory.

Per the zoning code, half of these must be rented at an affordable rate set by the Chicago Department of Housing. Landlords must attest, through proof of a lease, that two of the units meet that requirement.

This apartment building is getting a glow up (I mean, four more apartments).

Construction of 1201 W Fulton Market starting soon

Ominous green-fabric demolition fencing appeared around 1201–1215 W Fulton Market, which hosted the Revel events venue for many years. A new 34-story building with 433 dwelling units was approved in 2021 here.

The demolition permit for the former Revel building was issued yesterday.

This is happening next to the 28-story building with 350 dwelling units that’s currently under construction at 225 N Elizabeth St.

Left and center photos: Construction site of 225 N Elizabeth St; right: 1201-1215 W Fulton Market shown surrounded by green demolition fencing.

Chicago Cityscape members received this construction update as a newsletter a day before this blog post was published. Become a Chicago Cityscape member to know about development in Chicago.