1901 Project
The Chicago Plan Commission approved the 1901 Project, the United Center Joint Venture’s $7B, 55-acre mixed-use development project that would fill in the acres of parking lots surrounding the Bulls and Blackhawks’ shared arena, during its Jan. 16 meeting. The project’s next steps are the zoning committee (with a meeting likely mid-February), and then final consideration by the Chicago city council. The Plan Commission, which oversees large-scale mixed-use and industrial developments, tax increment financing districts, and the Lakefront Protection Ordinance, tends to be one of the largest hurdles for developments of the 1901 Project’s size and scale.
The 1901 Project team’s presentation to the committee centered on its first phase, which includes two parking structures, a 6,000-seat music hall, a hotel, ground floor retail, and the development’s unusual rooftop park space. Asked by one of the commissioners when the 1901 Project might break ground if it was approved, DLA Piper attorney Katie Jahnke-Dale, whose firm is representing the United Center Joint Venture, said later this year, potentially summer; Phase 1 completion would be in 2028.
“It doesn’t come with gates; it doesn’t come with admission fees to walk on the campus. The 1901 Project is a neighborhood,” United Center EVP & CEO Terry Savarise said during the presentation. “We will continue to live alongside our neighbors. Our goals, the community’s goal, the city’s goals, are all the same.”
The massive project would replace what’s currently 6,500 parking spots, with only 52% average usage, according to the presentation Thursday. When fully built out, the 1901 Project will include nearly 9,500 housing units (2,000 of which will be affordable) and more than a thousand hotel rooms. Chicago’s Near Westside, which includes the United Center’s neighborhood, has seen 19.5% population growth since 2010, compared to 1% during the same timeframe for the rest of the city.
The development will be financed privately by the United Center JV, though public infrastructure will require some public investment. That could include a new stop on the Pink Line elevated train, which passes near the site but doesn’t currently stop. Jahnke-Dale said the project team is in ongoing conversation with the Chicago Transit Authority about adding a new stop near the development. And the commission confirmed during the meeting that additional phases of the project, would need approval by the Plan Commission, too, as they’re due to come online.
1901 Project
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