The Community Development Commission approved on Tuesday developer JDL Development’s plan to finance the transformation of the northern half of the former Lincoln Yards site into Foundry Park, a mixed-use community.
The 31-acre site, once home to a now-demolished steel plant, is sandwiched between Lincoln Park and Bucktown. Foundry Park will eventually provide more than 3,000 residences, including apartments, townhomes, single-family homes and affordable housing, along with riverfront parks and a public plaza.
City planners told commission members that the neighborhood’s existing roads and sidewalks can’t handle such a large community. But the new plan will unlock up to $202 million in tax increment financing, allowing JDL Development to create signalized intersections, extend local streets, build new parks and a riverwalk, and connect the site to the 606 trail.
Developer Sterling Bay proposed spending about $500 million on infrastructure when it secured approval in 2019 for a more ambitious plan. It wanted to build up to 14 million square feet, including towers more than 600 feet high, offices and a high-tech science hub, but lost control of the site in 2025 after failing to raise sufficient funds.
City Council still needs to approve JDL Development’s tax increment financing plan. It approved the company’s Foundry Park site plan in February.
JDL Development and its partner Kayne Anderson Real Estate plan to kick in an additional $33 million for the infrastructure improvements. The companies purchased Lincoln Yards’ northern half last year. JDL Development is best known for building the Gold Coast’s No. 9 Walton luxury condominium building and more recently completed the 2.2 million-square-foot One Chicago in the River North neighborhood.
Chicago developer Novak Construction struck a deal late last year to buy the southern portion of Lincoln Yards but has not put forward a development plan.
Foundry Park’s $800 million first phase will create more than 700 units on a triangular patch bounded by Kingsbury Street, Cortland Street and Southport Avenue. A small boutique hotel is also planned, along with a central plaza.
Jim Letchinger, president of JDL Development, told the commission members that tax increment financing dollars will only be used for infrastructure, not the proposed housing, which will be privately financed.
The central plaza will include a pavilion, great lawn and gardens. Pedestrian walkways and a reconstructed street grid will connect Foundry Park to the surrounding neighborhoods, and eventually to riverfront parks featuring natural embankments, walkways and a beach.
Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, sent the commission members a letter pledging support for the financing plan. Waguespack had clashed for years with Sterling Bay, saying its plans were out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood.
Several contractors attended the meeting and also pledged support, including Juan Calahorrano, executive director of Chicago Unidos in Construction, a nonprofit that advocates for Latino contractors.
Others said the city was moving too fast.
Members of Unite Here Local 1, a hospitality and restaurant workers union, said the city should do more to ensure the jobs created by the planned hotel are well-paying and provide good benefits, especially if funds from a city tax increment financing district help create Foundry Park.
“Until that happens, the commission should vote ‘no,’ said Lucas Oates, a 32nd Ward resident and doorman at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel.
Letchinger said plans for the hotel are still in the early stages.
Several commission members asked Letchinger about his plans to include minority- and women-owned contractors at Foundry Park. He said JDL Development always meets the goals set by the city.
“It’s part of our DNA, how we build our projects,” he said.
The company is still looking for a general contractor to oversee the work, but will likely be ready to start construction in about eight months.
Commission member Ronald Milsap voted “no,” but all other members present on Tuesday supported the plan.
