The largest project so far in the LaSalle Street Reimagined program inched closer to reality Tuesday when the Community Development Commission recommended that City Council green light it.
That would unlock $98 million in tax increment financing funds for redevelopment of the landmark Field Building, a 44-story tower at 135 S. LaSalle St. in the Central Loop. The funds would help help developers transform vacant floors into hundreds of apartments and other uses, possibly including a neighborhood grocery store or full-service health club.
The redevelopment would be the largest effort so far in the city’s LaSalle Reimagined project, which was launched by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to transform obsolete LaSalle Street office space in several buildings into more than 1,000 residences, including hundreds of affordable apartments.
“The $98 million is what enables all the financing to come together,” Mike Potter, executive vice president of Riverside Investment & Development, told commission members. “We feel like there is a lot of good momentum here.”
Riverside, along with its partner DL3 Realty and property owner New York-based AmTrust RE, will also secure a private loan, other private investment and historic tax credits to complete the $241 million project, an adaptive reuse of nearly half the space in the mostly vacant art deco tower. Floors five through 14 will hold 386 apartments, including 116 affordable units. Lower floors will have parking garages and other commercial uses, with indoor and outdoor amenities on the 25th, 43rd and 44th floors.
Potter said work could begin shortly after the partners receive final approval from the full City Council, and they hope the new residential community will open in time to provide easy, walkable commutes to thousands of workers at Google’s new headquarters, now under construction, in the James R. Thompson Center.
“It could be as early as July of next year that we pull construction permits,” he said, and finish the job by “let’s call it spring ’27.”
The developers hired Solomon Cordwell Buenz as their architect. The firm has completed several historic adaptive reuse projects in Chicago, including the Tribune Tower.
The 1.35 million square foot building, completed in 1934, lost its largest tenant, Bank of America, in 2020 when the banking giant departed for more modern space in the West Loop’s Bank of America Tower at 110 N. Wacker Dr. Designated a Chicago landmark in 1994, the vacancy rate of 135 S. LaSalle St., stands at 83%, according to the developers.
Other aging Central Loop towers also suffer from high vacancy rates after losing tenants to the West Loop, and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration decided this year to go forward with LaSalle Street Reimagined projects at 111 W. Monroe St., 208 S. LaSalle St., 30 N. LaSalle St. and 79 W. Monroe St.
A revived LaSalle Street will need a full range of new retail and services, DL3 Realty CEO Leon Walker told commission members.
“From DL3’s perspective, downtown is now a neighborhood,” he said.
The developers want to include a grocery store at 135 S. LaSalle St., although its size has not been determined, and possibly introduce the Central Loop’s first full-service health club.
“The topic of a grocery store has been discussed extensively, and we think it’s a value-add for the building and the neighborhood,” Walker said.