[M II A II R II K]

SOM Chicago and Sasaki Associates have designed a massive 369 acre development on Chicago's South Side


05.14.2010

Read More: http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=4530

On Tuesday, Chicago’s Community Development Commission agreed to award $96 million in tax-increment financing for the massive mixed-use project located between 79th Street and the Calumet River known as South Works. Based on a masterplan by SOM Chicago and Sasaki Associates, the development could eventually include millions of square feet of retail and residential space as well as a series of new lakefront parks, and function as a new center for the city’s South Side.

The public money will fund construction of roads, sewers and other elements currently absent from the former industrial land. “The TIF money is absolutely necessary for us to move ahead, since there’s no public infrastructure on site,” said Nasutsa Mabwa, a project manager with McCaffery Interests, the project’s co-developer along with U.S. Steel. The most important piece of infrastructure is a new access road, U.S. 41, which will function as a four-lane extension of Lake Shore Drive with a landscaped median. “It’s an important catalyst,” said Phil Enquist, SOM’s partner in charge of urban design and planning. “This will allow access to the lakefront and spur development on a site that isn’t currently being used by anyone.”

The total project area covers 369 acres, approximately 120 of which have been reserved for lakefront parks. The project follows LEED for Neighborhood Design guidelines, so it emphasizes connectivity with pedestrian-scaled streets, along with innovative water management to filter much of the runoff back into Lake Michigan. The project, which would be built out over a 20- to 45-year period, could eventually include up to nearly 14,000 units of housing and a new elementary and high school, as well as extensive retail and some office space, plus a 1,500-slip marina. A smaller tract of land to the south, owned by Solo Cups, remains undeveloped, and no plans for the property have been announced.