After more than six years of stop-and-go planning, a long-awaited Pete’s Fresh Market in Bronzeville is finally edging toward reality. Developer Zeb McLaurin says the mixed-use project would center on a roughly 70,000-square-foot Pete’s grocery store on the former Stateway Gardens footprint, with ground-floor retail, a drive-thru bank and a residential phase that could bring several hundred apartments. McLaurin told reporters he aims to wrap up entitlements by the first quarter of 2027 and start construction as soon as the weather cooperates.
To keep that timeline alive, McLaurin plans to ask the Chicago Plan Commission to approve a key land sale at a hearing set for Aug. 20, 2026. Moving the deal to the city panel is the next major hurdle after years of delays, the developer said, according to Block Club Chicago.
What’s in the plan
The proposal would anchor the site with a roughly 70,000-square-foot Pete’s Fresh Market, surrounded by a mix of neighborhood-focused uses. Plans call for retail space reserved for a locally operated True Value hardware store, room for a restaurant or café, an office building geared toward a medical provider and a drive-thru bank. A second phase is designed to add a few hundred multifamily apartments that would tap into nearby transit and a planned medical-education campus. “All the obstacles are behind us now, and we’ve got a clear path forward,” McLaurin said, as reported by Block Club Chicago.
Why the project stalled
The concept first surfaced in 2019 but quickly ran into a tangle of ownership and administrative problems that pushed the schedule years off course. McLaurin Development Partners, which highlights major South Side efforts on its website, reports that it has been coordinating traffic studies and working with the Chicago Department of Transportation on potential State Street widening and parking layouts for the property, according to the developer’s materials. Ald. Pat Dowell has hosted community briefings on the proposal and shared status reports in her ward newsletter while the team continued negotiations and outreach.
Neighbors and officials
City and neighborhood leaders are pitching the project as a long-needed anchor for retail and jobs on the Near South Side after a lengthy stretch of vacant land. Local officials say the Plan Commission’s review will offer residents and business groups a formal venue to weigh in before decisions are made on the land sale and entitlements.
Pete’s expansion gives the project fresh momentum
McLaurin has also pointed to Pete’s broader growth in the region as a sign that the Bronzeville store has wind at its back. Shaw Local reported that a Pete’s in New Lenox is expected to open in 2026, and the Village of Oak Park’s development page lists a new Pete’s location slated for 2026 as well, underscoring the chain’s continuing push across the suburbs.
What comes next
The immediate moment of truth is the Aug. 20 Plan Commission hearing, where McLaurin will press for approval of the land sale that underpins the entire package. If the commission signs off and entitlements wrap up in early 2027 as planned, site work could follow once weather allows. For neighbors, that commission meeting will be the strongest sign yet of whether this long-delayed Pete’s Fresh Market finally jumps from renderings and talking points to actual construction.
