Chicago's ambitious bid to bankroll six office-to-residential conversions in the heart of downtown is finally coming to fruition, with the first project officially opening Wednesday.
Developers and city officials cut the ribbon on the Bellwether Residences at 79 W. Monroe St. in the Loop, a $64.2M conversion project backed by $28M in tax increment financing from the city. The city also approved a landmark designation for the building to facilitate $7.8M in federal historic tax credits.
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The development team, R2 and Lagfin, converted 11 floors of vacant office space into 117 mixed-income residential units and lower-level retail space. Of those units, 41 are designated as affordable for households earning 60% of the area median income.
The project is one of six that the city advanced through its LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative to inject new life into a struggling office corridor. The city council has approved more than $315M in TIF funds for the projects as of January.
In total, the projects are expected to bring 1,765 apartment units to the Loop and more than $900M in total investment. Other active conversions include 135 S. LaSalle St., 111 W. Monroe St., 208 S. LaSalle St., 30 N. LaSalle St. and 105 W. Adams St.
"We are incredibly proud to take a building that has been part of the Loop for more than a century and give it new life as 117 homes for Chicagoans," R2 partner Gary Stoltz said in a statement. "This project reflects our belief that the Loop’s future will be defined by a dynamic mix of people who live, work and spend time here.”
Stoltz told Bisnow in an email that 25 of the building's 76 market-rate units are leased and that applications for all 41 affordable units have been submitted. He said R2 expects the building to be leased up by early December.
R2 and Lagfin broke ground on the project in March 2025. The building, constructed in 1905, is the oldest surviving commercial high-rise designed by architect Jarvis Hunt.
As of June, 25 office-to-residential conversions were underway downtown, more than the last two decades combined, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago has the third-largest pipeline of these conversions in the country, trailing only New York City and Washington, D.C., according to RentCafe.
“The Bellwether is the vanguard for downtown office conversions that are reimagining what it means to live, work, and play in the heart of Chicago,” Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Ciere Boatright said in a statement.
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