CMK Confirms Joint Venture to Develop $1.5 Billion Project on the Chicago River

A view of one of the empty lots that CMK bought next to the Chicago River - looking north from Roosevelt

Some big development (and big money) news has been buzzing around the interwebs recently.

First off, on Thursday last week Chicago Real Estate Dailey had a blurb about a business agreement to development a large swath of prime South Loop land:

Australian construction giant Lend Lease Group confirmed that it has entered into a joint venture with Chicago-based developer CMK to develop 13 acres of land in the South Loop along the Chicago River. The $1.5 billion development will include apartments, condominiums, retail and commercial space and community facilities, Lend Lease said in a statement. The site, which runs on the east side of the river from Harrison Street south to Roosevelt Road, will be developed over 10 years, the statement said. The venture aims to file plans with the city “over the coming months” and break ground in early 2016, according to the statement.

We've spent some serious (digital) ink on this website talking about CMK's recent land grab along the Chicago river.  While they've shown that they can develop properties, a project of this magnitude requires some help which is why bringing on Lend Lease makes a lot of sense.

The same story was featured on the Chicago Architecture Blog yesterday and provided more information on the city's "River South" TIF district.  In the article, they seem to suggest that the CMK/Lend Lease Group are also developing the huge piece of land south of Roosevelt between the the river and Clark (aka the Rezko Land).

Wells/Wentworth Connector Plan

While this may be the case, this is the first we've heard of this and would assume it would have received more "mainstream" news.

Before the lot south of Roosevelt is developed, the city needs to provide some infrastructure to this urban wasteland (which has been coined the Wells/Wentworth Connector project by the city).

Anyway, the point of this post is that more news has emerged on CMK's intentions for their land along the Chicago River.  Seems ambitious, but looking forward to seeing what they have in the works.