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Watch List: Four developments redefining Chicago’s next era By Brandi Smith
1901 Project Rendering
C
hicago invented the skyscraper, rebuilt itself from ashes and turned its lakefront into a public trust. The city’s development story has never stood still and the current chapter may be one of its most ambitious. A $7 billion campus is rising on the West Side, a casino resort is taking shape on the river, quantum computers will soon be manufactured where steelworkers once poured slabs and a Fulton Market tower is about to heat and cool itself with the earth below. Here are four of the most important new projects Chicagoans are watching.
The 1901 Project The largest development in West Side history broke ground in June, launching Phase 1 of the $7 billion campus surrounding the United Center. The first phase includes a 6,000-seat music venue, a 180-key hotel, more than 80,000 square feet of retail, public open space and two parking garages with a mid-2028 target for completion, according to Colleen Quinn, Senior Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the United Center and The 1901 Project. Construction is active on the west garage and music hall sites and passersby at Damen and Adams can already see cranes in the air.
“The families are committed to developing in this community and presenting local residents with a neighborhood of choice backed by economic opportunity,” Quinn said of the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who are funding the development privately after more than 30 years as West Side neighbors. Full buildout calls for 25 acres of parks and open space including an elevated park, more than 5,000 residential units and 660,000 square feet of office space. More than 20% of DEVELOPMENT (continued on page 12)