A pair of curvilinear glass-and-steel buildings would join the vintage greystones and brick low-rises in the Bronzeville area on the Chicago’s mid-South Side under a proposal by Capri Capital Partners and Judson Investment Company.
The two six-story buildings, designed by Ross Wimer of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, would surround an open green space. Later phases may include 15- to 16-story towers, says Quintin Primo III, chairman and CEO of Capri Capital Partners.
During the early part of the 20th century, a swath of Chicago’s mid-South Side was known as the Black Metropolis, home to numerous thriving African-American businesses. Capri and Judson chose the name “The Metropolis” to honor that history, says Primo.
The project’s first phase would bring 330,000 square feet of retail and 102 condos to the site bounded by Pershing Road on the north, 40th Street on the south, State Street on the east and the Rock Island Railroad Embankment to the west. About 20 percent of the units would be set aside as affordable housing.
Primo says he would like to see a grocer, a bank, a discount department store, a bookstore and a movie theater at the development. An arts and technology center on site would celebrate African-American history and culture, Primo says, functioning as “a supercharged library – in essence, the library of the future.” Primo says he’s “in active discussions with a couple of very major retailers” seeking to tap the location’s potential.
The Bronzeville area used to be walled off by massive public housing complexes. Those met the wrecking ball beginning in the late ’90s, and are now being replaced by mixed-income communities including Legends South, Park Boulevard, Lake Park Crescent, Jazz on the Boulevard and The Arches at Oakwood Shores. This new housing, most of it comprised of brick low-rises, is meant to blend with the surrounding neighborhoods, breaking up the poverty-stricken blocks dominated the old CHA high-rises.
The Metropolis, which will be sandwiched in between Legends South and Park Boulevard, has a different mission: to bring architectural daring and consumer appeal to Bronzeville. “What we have designed is something very unusual for the city and this area,” Primo says. “We think we’re creating an environment that will allow us to create a higher price point.”
The Metropolis still has a few hurdles to jump before it can progress. The developers own two acres of the site, and are in the process of buying the additional eight acres from the city. Primo says he expects to complete that transaction within three to four weeks. He’s hoping to break ground on the project in March 2008.