The Gateway at Washington Park never had a chance. The real estate insiders we talked to last winter took one look at New South Partners’ mixed-use plan and dismissed it outright. After all, the climate for new construction was terrible, the city had lost its Olympics bid, and the developers hadn’t acquired all the land necessary to make the project work. Not surprisingly, there weren’t a whole lot of readers clamoring for updates on this thing through all of 2010.
Last week, after finding mock-ups of One South Halsted on FitzGerald Associates‘ website, I happened upon the firm’s designs for The Gateway. FitzGerald’s master plan calls for 80 residences and 1.2 million square feet of retail space on 12 acres bounded by 54th Street, 55th Place, Martin Luther King Jr Drive and Prairie Avenue. FitzGerald has created the master plan for this site on Garfield Boulevard at Washington Park.
“This mixed-use, transit-oriented development capitalizes on the unique proximity of multiple mass transit lines that converge at the entry to Chicago’s celebrated boulevard system,” the page says. “Our design envisions a public plaza as the hub of a multi-faceted development anchored by significant retailers. It celebrates the importance of Garfield Boulevard as an entry into Hyde Park and the University of Chicago with two prominent ‘gateway’ towers incorporating the most current green technology to create a dynamic and sustainable vision for this strategically located neighborhood.”
A Target department store is featured prominently in all three images, as are mid-rises made of glass, concrete, and brick, and lower-profile, courtyard-style buildings.
Will we ever see it? Not anytime soon, I’m guessing. But it’s still an interesting what-if.
I choose to be an optimist although sadly I’m nowhere near the real estate business, but I really like the idea of this development. It’s not like there’s anything major on the pipeline at this intersection. If it doesn’t get built near Garfield & King Drive perhaps it will be built somewhere on the south side. It can’t hurt.
It is NOT mixed-use when there are only 80 residence. They won’t even support a convenience store. Call it like it is, a strip center.
So how is this like different than the originals you presented? I would LOVE for this to happen, it’s perfect for offices (near major research university, expressway, two rapid transit lines, easy access to Midway) and shopping (transit mentioned above and two minutes from Hyde Park which has no room for a Target and has big spending dollars).
Or were Joe Z and I just having a conversation about it?
Sheridan:
Actually, I don’t recall (and can’t find) any old posts that featured renderings. The description of the development isn’t much different than what we’ve read before, but the pics seemed like a good excuse to bring it up again.
If I remember right (it’s been a while), there was something related and I mentioned it to Joe and he looked into it and found some links.
Ah yes, it was in the comments of an unrelated post: https://yochicago.com/conversions-and-oak-wood-shores-bronzevilles-dominant-features/12549/
Yeah, yes, I found it too. There’s also a bit of a threat about it here.
https://yochicago.com/touring-south-shore-a-neighborhood-natives-first-trip-to-old-country-club/14137/
It seems Joe Z did some sleuthing somewhere else and had some positive comments about some of the people behind it, but I was just wondering if there was news. I’d love for it to happen.
Thread, not threat, he notices an hour later…