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LaSalle SBIF grant applications open now!
Those interested in applying for up to $250,000 in grant funding through the Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF) can visit the LaSalle SBIF website, where more information about the program is available. Small business owners can also read about available LaSalle Street properties located within the LaSalle SBIF priority area. Grant applications are due by Oct. 2.
LaSalle Street Reimagined
The City of Chicago’s LaSalle Reimagined is revitalizing the LaSalle Street corridor in the Loop with mixed-income residential uses and other neighborhood-oriented amenities. Five initial adaptive re-use proposals consisting of more than 1,600 units of mixed-income housing were selected to receive City financial assistance.
Collectively representing almost $1 billion in total investments, the projects will repurpose nearly 2.3 million square feet of vacant space, including the creation of more than 600 homes that will be affordable to residents earning an average 60% of the area median income.
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 are being made available for eligible build-out costs through DPD’s Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF).
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.