It's official: Sterling Bay completed its acquisition of the 22-acre A. Finkl & Sons steel plant site in the Clybourn Corridor, setting the stage for the largest North Side redevelopment in decades. Sterling Bay JV'd with Lone Star Funds on the acquisition, which is believed to cost more than $100M.

News of Sterling Bay's interest in the Finkl site first broke in September 2015, hot on the heels of the firm's acquisitions of the Gutmann Leather and Lakin General Tire sites. Sterling Bay also bought a 4.5-acre site from Sims Metal management in October, giving it a near-stranglehold on land in the highly attractive North Branch Industrial Corridor.

The Finkl, Gutmann Leather, General Tire and Sims Metal sites account for 35 acres under Sterling Bay's control, according to Crain's. With Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration open to relaxing zoning restrictions in planned manufacturing districts, and with developers able to buy FAR directly from the city, attention now turns to what Sterling Bay plans to do with all that land.

Clybourn Corridor residents narrowly supported relaxing the industrial zoning in the PMD during a public hearing last May. Sterling Bay hasn't announced what it specifically wants to do with the site, but one of the projects it did announce in September involves extending The 606 east over the Chicago River to the Finkl site, allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to access the neighborhood's growing office footprint.