A Look Back at 2015: Development Picks-Up

It's probably not a surprise that this biggest development in the Sloop this year was...well,  developments.  It seemed like every day we were reading about a new high-rise that was being proposed in the Sloop.  It eerily felt similar to the go-go boom days of the early 2000's

So much so that we started a new feature on Sloopin called the Development Tracker:

While we could spend a lot of time trying to capture everything in this post, but we would suggest perusing the map to get a sense of all the activity.

Super Tall High-Rises Proposed for Michigan Avenue

However, we do need to spend some time on the biggest ones.  Probably the most high-profile, buzzed about announcement was 80+ story building pegged for the southeast corner of Michigan and Roosevelt which is being developed by Crescent Heights.  
In a close second was an 86 story Helmut Jahn high rise that was proposed for the 1000 S. Michigan.
While both of these reveals had people across the city gawking at the sheer magnitude of the proposals, many other respected real estate pros questioned whether they would actually happen.
Beyond these two mega high developments, there were some other grand plans - maybe not as high in the sky, but equally as ambitious.  If you recall, a master plan (dubbed Riverline) for the vacant land on the east bank of the Chicago River between Harrison and Roosevelt was revealed.  Again, we will see what comes to be, but big plans none the less. 
There was also a big story that respected real estate developer, Related Midwest, had a development agreement with the owner of the gigantic vacant land between Clark and the Chicago River south of Roosevelt.  
Oh and let's not forget the high-profile Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and their slightly altered renderings just south of Soldier Field.  Again, more questions than answers on this one, but another transformative building could be coming to our neighborhood.
So...this is really only the tip of the iceberg.  By our accounts there were at least 28 developments that were discussed or proposed this past year.  Crazy!  
2015 was nuts, but it should be interesting to see which projects actually happen in 2016!