Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced that the upcoming $141 million residential and retail redevelopment of Chicago’s State Street will include the Consumers Building and Century Building, two century-old, vacant office properties that will be redeveloped into multifamily residential complexes by locally based CA Ventures.
“The redevelopment of this section of State Street will ensure its future will be even brighter than its storied past,” Mayor Emanuel said in a statement to the press. “This project represents a significant investment in Chicago that will generate economic opportunities, revitalize an underused asset, and contribute millions of dollars to expand affordable housing in our neighborhoods.”
The two structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and have been federally owned since 2007. They have been made available to CA Ventures through a request for proposals process initiated by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development and the General Services Administration (GSA). CA Ventures has made a $10.38 million offer for the properties, which would involve a simultaneous three-way transaction between the GSA, CA Ventures, and the city of Chicago. The final price and sale terms are still in the works.
The 22-story Consumers Building, located at 220 S. State St., will be renovated into about 270 micro-apartments. The original structure was designed by Jenny, Mundie & Jensen and completed in 1913. The 16-story Century Building, at 202 S. State St., designed by Holabird & Roche and completed in 1915, will become 159 furnished studio and one-bedroom apartments.
As part of the project, a building at 212 S. State St. will be demolished and replaced with a 15-story connection to the Century Building. Another building at 214 S. State St. will be replaced with a new, two-story structure that will preserve the original building’s historic features.
The State Street project will cover approximately 350,000 square feet and include a mix of exterior and interior renovation and new construction. The project plan is set to include a bonus payment of $4.38 million from the city's Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and a $5.65 million payment into the city’s Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund. The development process will create 200 temporary construction jobs, and the site itself will create 100 permanent jobs.
“The historical significance of the properties at 202 to 220 S. State St. is just one reason we're so excited to be selected to bring new residential options to this vibrant part of Chicago’s South Loop,” said JJ Smith, principal of CA Ventures, in a statement. “Our firm is uniquely qualified to maintain the character of the neighborhood via this redevelopment. We successfully converted the Old Colony Building into modern apartments and transformed the Gibbons and Steger buildings into the Infinite Apartments just blocks away, both of which have ground-floor retail as well. With this latest historic preservation project, we plan to remove and catalog the storefront and upper-level façade elements of 214 S. State St. in hopes of restoring the Art Deco accents for future reinstallation.”
