View New downtown Chicago apartment high-rises in a larger map
We’ve just put in place the skeletal framework for making it easy for you to track the status of every new apartment high-rise that’s been proposed or is underway in downtown Chicago – the area bounded by the Stevenson Expy, North Ave (1600 N), Lake Michigan and Ashland Ave (1600 W).
The first phase of this effort is an at-a-glance list and map (above) of 17 projects that are in various stages of development – from planning to zoning to financing to construction. Individual map points are color-coded to indicate the status of the development.
More than 5,000 new apartments will be built in downtown Chicago in the next few years if – and it’s a highly speculative if – all of the projects are approved, financed and completed.
We’ll update the at-a-glance list and map periodically as projects advance toward completion or into the development deadpool.
The next phase of our tracking effort will involve building an individual page of detailed, up-to-date information for each project, with renderings, photos, video and links to media reports and other sources of information. The at-a-glance list and map will link to those pages to give you instant access to the latest info on every project.
The downtown rental market has shown surprising strength over the past two years, with existing developments experiencing reduced vacancy levels, lower incentive offerings and rising rents.
Recently-completed high-rise towers – EnV, Flair Tower, Aqua, Alta at K Station, Parc Huron, 215 West Apartments and 200 Squared – all report strong absorption of their offerings.
In a further sign of strength in the downtown rental market, YoChicago has seen MLS-listed rentals plummet from 1,927 units when we first began tracking them in November of 2009 to a low of 817 units as of yesterday morning.
If you’re searching for an apartment today, be sure to check out our at-a-glance lists and maps and our rental Guides. You’ll find authoritative neighborhood boundaries, photos and more at our Neighborhood pages.
If you need to have the latest news on new high-rise developments – and everything else that’s relevant to Chicago homes and apartments – bookmark our Around-the-Web News page, which is updated several times a day from 100s of local, regional and national news sources.
As always, we welcome your feedback on how we can improve these features.