Remember when River North brought to mind adult bookstores, seedy bars and endless parking lots? Hard to believe, friends, but it wasn’t so long ago. Now the incongruous enclave (have their ever been stranger bed fellows than the gallery district and the kitschy joints that comprise Wisconsin Dells South?) is about to see one of its last vacant parcels filled by a $600 million development of offices, hotel rooms, condos and retail.
Kinzie Development South, LLC is looking for zoning changes that would allow it to build a 300-unit condo tower, 35,000 square feet of retail space, a 525-room hotel and a 42-story office building at a site along Hubbard between Dearborn and Clark. Players in the development team include Richard Stein, of Mesirow Stein, and Albert Friedman, the raja or River North.