Sixth LaSalle Street Office-To-Resi Conversion Faces Key Test For $67.5M In TIF Money
Primera Group is pursuing tax increment financing from the city for its $183M proposal to convert the Clark Adams Building at 105 W. Adams St. from office to residential as another LaSalle Street Reimagined project takes shape.
The Department of Planning and Development is set to recommend Tuesday that the city's Community Development Commission authorize it to enter into a redevelopment agreement that would see TIF funds cover $67.5M of the conversion. The agreement would formally name 105 Adams Development, which is affiliated with Primera Group, as the project's developer
The Chicago City Council will also need to approve the agreement.
Primera plans to convert existing vacant office space into roughly 400 new residential units. Its proposal is one of six office-to-residential conversions included in the city's LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative incentivizing builders to repurpose historic but vacant office buildings along the corridor.
The buildings are in various stages of the development process, but the Adams St. project was stuck in a holding pattern as of March.
Roughly 30% of the units at the Clark Adams, or 121 in total, will be affordable, according to city documents. The project will also feature 29K SF of commercial space on the ground and second floor. The 429 hotel rooms on floors three through 10 are not a part of the project.
The capital stack outlined in city documents is made up of $15M of equity, $81M of debt, $23M of historic tax credits and the TIF request, which represents 36.8% of the total project cost.
Multiple organizations expressed support for the project in letters attached to the city staff report, including Preservation Chicago, Landmarks Illinois, Chicago Loop Alliance, Chicago Central Area Committee and BOMA Chicago.
Alderman Bill Conway of the 34th Ward also offered his backing for the project.
“This project and its development team has my full support, and I am committed to assisting in any way possible to bring it to fruition,” he wrote in the letter.
The project is set to generate an estimated 15 permanent jobs and 300 temporary construction jobs, according to city documents.
The 41-story building was designed by the Burnham Brothers architectural firm and completed in 1927. Chicago-based Primera Group and a venture led by investor Marc Calabria bought the office portion of the building for about $11M last fall.
