Chicago, Illinois, USA
Chicago has always been a city of big ideas. From the invention of the skyscraper to Daniel Burnham’s visionary 1909 Plan for the City of Chicago, the city has never made small intentions, nor has the city shied away from forward-thinking concepts to impact its urban future.
Now comes Lincoln Yards—one of the world’s largest urban planning projects on the titanic scale of recent mega developments in China.
Located along the North Branch of the Chicago River, Lincoln Yards presents an incredible opportunity to connect Bucktown and Wicker Park to Lincoln Park and create a vibrant, new neighborhood.
Developed with Sterling Bay, the master plan for Lincoln Yards envisions a comprehensive development that will transform former industrial land into a thriving urban connector with improved transportation, ample public open space and resources, and access to the Chicago River. SOM is working in collaboration with Boston-based CBT Architects and landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.
Chicago is my home — I take its growth and movement toward a brighter future to heart. I truly believe that Lincoln Yards will serve this city and its residents for decades to come, and I’m confident that the plan in place lives up to the kind of bold, innovative thinking that has made us the world-class city we are today.
Andy Gloor, Sterling Bay CEO
The $6 billion Lincoln Yards project to develop 55 acres of riverfront land in Chicago. Proposed by real estate investment and development firm Sterling Bay, the project has the potential to reshape the city’s skyline along the Chicago River. Lincoln Yards would include office, residential and hotel towers, as well as restaurants, retail and entertainment spaces along Lincoln Park and Bucktown.
The Lincoln Yards site was formerly industrial land that’s located between North and Webster avenues. Sterling Bay aims to begin construction of the first phase of office towers and a shared parking structure after gaining approval. They also hope to build one residential tower as tall as 650 feet, and two others up to 595 feet tall. The Lincoln Yards project has the potential to create 10,000 construction jobs and more than 24,000 permanent jobs, with an annual economic output of $4.5 billion.
The most recent plan includes a 11.2-acre park with sports fields for youth and recreational leagues, as well as up to 6,000 residential units as part of the 15 million square feet of build-able space. Sterling Bay still has additional steps to finalize zoning approval, including a full City Council vote. They paid $140 million for the former A. Finkl & Sons steel plant site in 2016, and have been working with architecture firm SOM.
Lincoln Yards is designed to meet the changing needs of Chicago’s business community and hospitality industry. It features contemporary office buildings flanked by a diverse offering of restaurant, retail, and outdoor amenities. The design of Lincoln Yards celebrates the site’s industrial past. It combines historic elements, such as trussed steel bridges, with contemporary buildings and amenities, including a soaring, glass-enclosed transit center, expansive public plazas, and green space. Closing existing gaps in the Chicago Riverwalk, the project will create continuous public access between the city’s North and South Side neighborhoods.
A new multimodal transit center will make the most of the project’s location, where Chicago’s transit and interstate highway networks intersect. The transit center will include a relocated Metra rail station, shuttle service to nearby Chicago Transit Authority stations, new water taxi stops, Divvy bike share stations, and an extension of the city’s 606 pedestrian and bike trail. Infrastructure improvements will streamline access to the site, especially from downtown and from nearby airports, and reduce congestion in nearby neighborhoods. Incorporating advanced sustainable infrastructure, Lincoln Yards is targeting LEED Neighborhood Development certification.
In addition to numerous new buildings, renderings of the proposed Lincoln Yards campus also reveal a dynamic riverfront and a 606 extension. Previous drawings suggested that Sterling Bay had been planning a new Metra stop and an extension of the popular 606 pedestrian trail, and the new renderings help to solidify such plans.
“While there will always be opponents to a project of this size and scope, we are very proud of the work that has gone into making Lincoln Yards a thoughtful and powerful resource to drive our city forward,” states Sterling Bay’s Managing Principal Andy Gloor.
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. and CBT Architects
Developer/Client: Sterling Bay
Transportation Consultants: Nelson\Nygaard
Landscape Architects: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
