Sudler Marling Inc. has agreed to develop the residential portion of the long-delayed Chicago Place project at 700 N. Michigan Ave. on the city`s Near North Side, it was announced Friday.
BCE Development Properties Inc., which owns the site, said it has agreed to sell to Sudler Marling air rights for construction of a 39-story tower with 272 rental apartments and rights to develop an underground parking garage for 116 cars.
Sudler Marling replaces Capital Associates Development Corp., BCE`s original choice as apartment developer. Capital left the project this year.
The tower, designed by architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates Inc., would rise from an eight-level, 490,000-square-foot retail base designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and constructed by BCE. That, plus two floors for mechanical systems, would make the $150 million project 49 stories tall.
Steve Bell, vice president of BCE, declined to predict when construction may begin, saying negotiations are underway for financing and with the anticipated retail anchor, Saks Fifth Avenue.
Saks would occupy seven floors, with the rest of the retail space filled with up to 100 specialty shops and boutiques. The retail mall would take about 24 months to build, and the apartment tower, 30 months, Bell said.
The development has been on hold since 1980, when Jaymont Properties acquired and razed the commercial buildings at 700-720 N. Michigan. BCE`s predecessor here, Oxford Properties Inc., bought into the project as a partner and subsequently purchased Jaymont`s whole stake.
BCE Development Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, purchased Oxford in April. The $1.2 billion deal included the 700 N. Michigan site and the Riverfront Park office-hotel development on the north bank of the Chicago River between Clark and Dearborn Streets.
