Construction on a new apartment tower is going forward at 50 E. Randolph Street and calls for 190 apartments per Chicago Curbed. This building is replacing a low-rise parking garage in the Loop.
The architect-developer, Thomas Roszak and partner Dan Moceri, have finally provided some images of their proposed building. The images show the tower rising 25 stories on top of 6,600 square feet of retail space. It will also include the following features:
- Mostly glass facade
- Outdoor cafe space
- Large inset balcony on the fourth floor
- A living "green wall" fronting Randolph St.
The building could be built "as of right" or without zoning approval from the city. Two of Moceri and Roszak's recent projects, the Linea apartments and the offices currently under construction at 145 S. Well Street, were also developed without a zoning change from the city.
The site where the tower will be built will need to have the existing garage and retail structure vacated and demolished. To the immediate north of this site, a different developer is planning a seven story 81 unit apartment project.
According to Chicago Business, there seems to be a growing glut of apartments in downtown Chicago and this has dragged rents down. But the developer is confident that supply and demand will be back in balance when he completes his tower by his first quarter 2020 target date.
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Moceri & Roszak will raze the existing building on the site, which includes ground floor retail space leased to tenants including T-Mobile, Odoba and Gold Coast Dogs. Just to the north of the property, at 171 N. Wabash Ave., another Chicago apartment developer, Ogden Properties, plans a 60 unit apartment building.
Roszak's other project, the Linea, a 265 unit apartment building located at 215 W. Lake St., opened in June and is almost 80 percent leased. Leasing has also picked up in the past few weeks after a slowdown starting in November. In downtown Chicago, developers have completed a record 4,500 apartments last year according to Integra Realty Resources.
Completions slowed down to 3,500 units in 2018 but will bounce back to as many as 5,000 in 2019 per Integra. Zidan Management Group, an Indianapolis based developer, has agreed to pay $34.5 million for the City Colleges of Chicago headquarters next to the Willis Tower. Zidan plans to convert the vintage office building at 226 W. Jackson Boulevard into apartments.
