Cobalt Partners is dialing back its ambitions for the next mixed-use building at OneNorth in Bayside, trimming both the grocery store and the number of apartments in the plan. The updated concept for “Building E” now calls for roughly 119 to 142 apartments paired with a large fitness destination and street-level retail instead of a supersized grocery-heavy setup. Those tweaks arrive as the developer gets ready to bring a more polished version to village officials and could shift which grocers and service providers are willing to plant their flag on the North Shore.
Design shifts: fewer apartments, smaller grocer
Public reporting and local filings indicate the grocery space has been cut from about 50,000 square feet to roughly 30,000 square feet, while the apartment count has dropped from an earlier 180-unit idea to a significantly smaller layout, according to BizTimes. The reworked plan keeps a 60,000-square-foot fitness center in play and leans harder on ground-floor, everyday services meant to boost walkability and meet residents’ basic needs. In other words, OneNorth is leaning into a steady mix of amenities at street level rather than a single giant big-box anchor.
Village documents show the details
Village staff documents prepared for a March pre-petition conference sketch out a “Building E” concept with two possible apartment counts. One scenario shows about 142 apartments, while another lists roughly 119 units, depending on whether a fifth floor is treated as residential space. The same packet lays out a parking schedule and pins the address at 8969 N. Port Washington Road, with ground-floor space labeled for a full-service grocer alongside a substantial fitness use. Those planning materials appear in the Village of Bayside staff packet.
Rents, tenants and developer comments
The projected rents for Building E are turning heads on the North Shore. BizTimes reported guidance of around $1,800 for one-bedrooms, about $2,500 for two-bedrooms and roughly $3,500 for three-bedrooms. Cobalt Partners president Scott Yauck told reporters that “no users have been confirmed for the new building,” adding that he would not name the potential fitness or grocery players currently in the mix. He said conceptual plans are slated to go before village officials in the coming months while tenant negotiations continue behind the scenes.
Where this fits in OneNorth’s timeline
Building E represents the next phase of the 25-acre OneNorth master plan, which has already delivered The Symphony and a new North Shore Library. The earlier vision for the next phase, rolled out last fall, floated about 180 apartments, a 60,000-square-foot health club and a 50,000-square-foot grocery store, as reported by The Daily Reporter. With the first phase wrapped, the developer now appears to be fine-tuning later stages to match the current realities for suburban grocers and fitness operators.
Bayside’s Architectural Review Committee and Plan Commission have already taken an initial look at the concept in a pre-petition conference and will dig into design, parking and traffic impacts when a formal application arrives. Residents and nearby business owners can follow filings and meeting agendas on the village website, while Cobalt’s OneNorth project page offers renderings and program updates. For now, the biggest question marks are which grocer and which fitness operator, if any, will claim the ground floor and whether the final apartment tally lands closer to the lower or higher end of the range shown in the current drawings.
