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LaSalle Street Reimagined
The City of Chicago’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative is seeking proposals to create a more mixed-use, neighborhood-oriented environment along the LaSalle corridor in the Loop.
The initiative is making City financial resources and other incentives available for the conversion of underutilized office space as residential units, among other goals. Proposed projects must be located on or adjacent to LaSalle generally between Washington Street and Jackson Boulevard and 30% of the proposed housing units must be made available to residents at affordable levels. Private investment projects to repurpose vacant storefronts and other interior spaces will also be considered.
Presentation of Proposals
Six adaptive reuse projects being proposed for LaSalle Street as part of LaSalle Street Reimagined were discussed during a virtual community meeting on March 2, 2023. A recording of the meeting and a list of questions and answers are available for review.
Brief sumaries of all nine responses to the September 2022 Invitation for Proposals (IFP) are available here.
Download the Invitation for Proposals (IFP) | Deadline to submit: 12 p.m. CST, Dec. 23, 2022
Download Addendum 1 (Revised submission requirements, Q&A)
Download Addendum 2 (Additional Q&A)
Download Addendum 3 (Additional Q&A)
Pre-Submission Conference
A virtual informational conference was held at 12:30 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022.
Watch a recording of the webinar on YouTube | Download the presentation | Download a list of conference attendees and registrants
A summary of all questions and answers are included in Addendum 1, posted above.
The Context
LaSalle Street is the historic heart of Chicago’s central business district. Lined with high-rises between Wacker Drive and Jackson Boulevard, the corridor has been a center of commercial economic activity for decades, especially for financial institutions, brokerage companies, legal firms, and other entities. More recently, LaSalle has experienced significant office and retail vacancy rates exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing market trends that has shifted most new office investment to the West Loop, leaving millions of square feet of underutilized office space along the corridor.
The Vision
Based on multiple studies and reports, LaSalle’s future can be maximized on behalf of the entire city by revitalizing its monoculture of offices with a mix of new uses and public amenities that extend beyond the typical 9-to-5 workday. The initiative’s goals include five main themes:
- Affordable housing
- Global innovation
- Public realm enhancements
- Neighborhood-oriented amenities
- Historic building sustainability
The Opportunity
A City of Chicago Invitation for Proposals (IFP) issued in September 2022 is offering assistance for the conversion of underutilized commercial spaces with mixed-income residential uses and related public amenities. IFP responses should build on the goals of the Central City Recovery Roadmap (2021), Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel for LaSalle (2022), the Central Area Plan (2009 and 2003) and the draft We Will Chicago framework plan (2022). Summaries of the nine responses are available for review here.
The Experience
To create a more neighborhood-oriented atmosphere within the corridor’s ground-level interior spaces, the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is seeking to incentivize locally owned, cultural and dining attractions in vacant storefronts, underutilized building lobbies, and on former banking floors. Grants will be made available for eligible build-out costs through DPD’s Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF), pending City Council funding authorization.
The Public Realm
To foster a more neighborhood-oriented public realm along LaSalle's sidewalks and plazas, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) will conduct an engineering assessment of existing physical and structural conditions on LaSalle to inform the procurement of a world-class team to design a safe, inviting, and innovative public realm.
Stay Connected
To stay connected and receive e-blasts for the LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative, please provide contact information here.
To provide feedback or to ask questions about the IFP, email DPD@CityofChicago.org.