A three-pronged local development team secured roughly $96M in financing to develop a 19-story apartment tower in West Loop, a project set to add much-needed inventory to a bone-dry multifamily pipeline in Chicago.

A joint venture of Focus, Melrose Ascension Capital and DAC Developments landed a $71.6M construction loan from CIBC as well as $23.9M in preferred equity from Heitman to develop the project, Crain's Chicago Business reported. The development team aims to put up a 287-unit building at 1221 W. Washington Blvd. in the southwest corner of Fulton Market.

The mixed-use building will feature 3K SF of ground-floor retail and a mix of studio, convertible, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units ranging from 430 SF to 804 SF. The project, designed by Pappageorge Haymes, is expected to come online in 2026.

The development team is targeting renters who want to be near the heart of Fulton Market but want to pay a more affordable price. Rents are expected to start at approximately $1,799 per month, according to Crain's.

"We are proud to bring both market-rate and affordable housing options to Fulton Market, ensuring the neighborhood’s continued growth is inclusive and sustainable," Focus CEO Tim Anderson said in a press release.

The project is one of the few in the city's multifamily pipeline as developers battle high construction costs, a tough financing environment and tariff-related uncertainty.

Just 4,200 multifamily units are expected to come online in Chicago in 2025 — down nearly 50% from the average over the last decade, according to a second-quarter Chicago multifamily report from Marcus & Millichap. Deliveries are anticipated to be more evenly spread across submarkets than in previous years.

The area encompassing The Loop, Fulton Market and West Loop is slated for fewer than 450 completions in 2025, a steep drop from more than 2,100 openings last year.

"We've been the poor stepchild for a long time, and it seems now there's some interest," Anderson told Bisnow in June.

"Places where people flooded to [during the pandemic] have been overbuilt, and I think the demographics and the job growth in those areas will self-correct over time," he added. "But right now, Chicago looks pretty attractive.”