Wednesday, January 8, 2014

New Project Coming to Vacant Land Between Target and Amli on Clark?

Truck at Vacant Lot (1000 S. Clark)
A reader writes:
Saw this truck which looks like it's taking soil borings between Target and Amli on Clark. Any idea what's possibly going in there?
Not sure if this means something is coming to this land or if they're just doing some other type of work.

Last we heard about this lot was way back in December of 2008 on Crain's.  At the time developer D2 was resorting to "Plan D" due to the impending recession:
The Chicago developer originally had proposed building about 600 condos on the property at 1000 S. Clark St., later switching to apartments when the condo market tanked. Then D2 hired CB Richard Ellis Inc. to sell the 2.5-acre parcel, with an asking price of $20 million.

Unable to find a buyer, D2 has dropped that plan and now wants to develop the site in two phases. The first would include a 60,000-square-foot retail building with frontage on Clark Street. In phase two, D2 would build a condo or apartment tower on the west end of the property when the residential market recovers.

The $35-million retail development would sit just north of the emerging Roosevelt Road retail corridor, around the corner from the 400,000-square-foot Roosevelt Collection shopping mall that will open next year, and next to a Target store.

Unlike the Roosevelt Collection, which targets specialty retailers, apparel merchants and restaurants, D2 aims to attract lower-priced retailers that need bigger spaces and want to be next to a Target, says Paul Bryant, a partner at Mid-America Real Estate Corp., an Oakbrook Terrace-based brokerage hired to lease the space.
Remember this is a portion of an article from 2008, so who knows what has transpired since then.  But with activity drastically picking up along Roosevelt it wouldn't be surprising to see this land get developed some time soon.

Anyone have any scoop on this?

(Hat tip: JS!)

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