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With Less Parking, McDonald's 'Vendor Village' OK'd By Key City Panel

By Stephanie Lulay | January 20, 2017 11:31am | Updated on January 23, 2017 8:49am
 The Chicago Plan Commission approved 12-story office building in Fulton Market Thursday that will house companies that work with McDonald's. 
The Chicago Plan Commission approved 12-story office building in Fulton Market Thursday that will house companies that work with McDonald's. 
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Sterling Bay

WEST LOOP — The Chicago Plan Commission approved Thursday a 12-story office building in Fulton Market that will house companies that work with McDonald's. 

The 224,000-square-foot McDonald's "Vendor Village" at 200-210 N. Carpenter St. is expected to be considered, and likely approved, by the City Council later this year. The new $47.2 million building will bring 1,100 jobs to Fulton Market, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.

“As McDonald’s prepares to move to the West Loop we are already seeing the economic impact grow beyond their four walls,” Emanuel said. “This project will create jobs that will reach throughout Chicago and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Ald. Burnett and all of the partners instrumental in this effort to get started and break ground on it.”

The new office building will not be owned or directly supported by the McDonald’s corporation, but it will likely attract vendors and suppliers that work with McDonald's as the fast food giant plans to move its corporate headquarters to the the West Loop, said Sterling Bay Principal Andy Gloor. 

"We have a number of McDonald's vendors who were in Oak Brook and want to come Downtown," Gloor said.

The 12-story building will be clad in brick, glass and aluminum, and will include a rooftop terrace and 40 parking spaces. The site, on busy Lake Street, is one block west of the CTA's Morgan "L" stop. 

Under previous plans, 94 parking spaces were planned at the site.

The project is part of the rapid growth of Fulton Market since the city’s downtown zoning district was expanded in May 2016 and McDonald’s announced its headquarters relocation to 110 N. Carpenter St. in the West Loop. 

Gloor said Fulton Market has become "a true office destination" in Chicago. 

"With the support and vision of the Mayor and Alderman Burnett, this evolution will continue to have a positive economic effect on everyone from restaurants to retailers to residents, and we’re proud to be a part of it," Gloor said. 

A rendering shows what the proposed McDonald's "Vendor VIllage" at 200-210 N. Carpenter St. would look like. [Sterling Bay]

Sterling Bay will be contributing $2 million to the Neighborhood Opportunity Bonus fund for an additional 86,000 square feet of space. The fund allows developers to build bigger and taller projects in an expanded downtown area to support commercial projects in blighted neighborhoods.

"Significant transit-oriented projects like this are an essential part of the city's initiatives to promote downtown growth while also creating resources for undeserved neighborhoods,” said David Reifman, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development.  

More than 960 permanent and 140 construction jobs are expected to be created by the project, according to the Mayor's office. 

Revised plan 

Sterling Bay originally pitched plans for a 13-story, 186-foot tall building at the Lake and Carpenter site. Under new plans, the 12-story building will be 163-feet tall. 

In November, a group of neighbors, called Friends of Fulton Market, worked to block the development. They said the planned building at Lake and Carpenter streets was too tall for the immediate neighborhood and would "dwarf" surrounding historic properties.

Under previous plans, 94 parking spaces were planned at the site. Sterling Bay now plans to build 40 parking spaces. 

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