West Loop Clears Last Hurdle for 66-Unit Kinzie Street Apartment Building

Chicago's Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a special use variation allowing residential use on the ground floor at 1201 W. Kinzie Street, clearing the last major zoning hurdle for developer LG Group's planned 66-unit apartment building on the north edge of Fulton Market. The five-story structure, sited on the southwest corner of W. Kinzie Street and N. Racine Avenue along the north side of the train tracks, can now move toward permitting and construction.

According to Urbanize Chicago, the approval lets LG Group proceed with permitting and construction on the roughly $25 million project. The site sits on a parcel that was rezoned in May from M2-3 Light Industry District to DX-5 Downtown Mixed-Use District, establishing a maximum Floor Area Ratio of 5.0, according to City of Chicago records tied to the Plan Commission's review process. City Council approved the underlying development in May, per the same Urbanize Chicago report.

Studios, Family-Sized Units, and a Green Brick Facade

The building's 66 total residential units break down into 15 studios on the second floor, 33 one-bedroom units, 16 two-bedroom units, one three-bedroom unit, and one four-bedroom unit, plus three residential units fronting the remainder of W. Kinzie Street. Upper floors are set to hold 16 units apiece. Designed by Dirk Denison Architects, the building will wear green glazed brick facades accented with bronze metal mesh Juliet balconies and metal paneling, rising to a height of about 71 feet.

The design includes four courtyard indentations along the north and south facades, a feature the developer says was built into the 65,000-square-foot plan to boost natural light and ventilation, according to Chicago YIMBY. Amenities described in that same reporting include a rooftop deck with city views, inset second-floor garden terraces, an onsite fitness room, and a co-working lounge. Ground-floor space at the corner of Kinzie and Racine will house the residential entry and amenity areas.

Affordable Units and a Reduced Parking Footprint

Ten apartments will be set aside as affordable under Chicago's Affordable Requirements Ordinance. The development qualified for a 5-percentage-point reduction in its required affordable set-aside — from 20 percent down to 15 percent — because it includes family-sized three- and four-bedroom layouts, Chicago YIMBY reported, describing a city incentive structure that rewards larger, family-oriented floor plans with a lower affordable-unit percentage.

Parking will be limited to an interior garage with 14 spaces, accessed via a curb cut on N. Racine Avenue, alongside a bike room built for 66 bikes. A Travel Demand Management plan submitted to the Chicago Department of Transportation places the property about 0.33 miles, or 1,735 feet, north of the CTA Morgan station serving the Green and Pink lines, and the plan leans on that transit proximity and pedestrian infrastructure to justify the reduced car parking count, per City of Chicago documents.

A Site With Sterling Bay Roots

The Kinzie parcel was previously owned by Sterling Bay, one of Chicago's most prominent developers, which listed the site through CBRE as part of a broader portfolio reduction tied to financial strain on its Lincoln Yards megadevelopment, according to The Real Deal. CBRE marketed the Kinzie property alongside two adjacent sites before LG Group brought it under contract, illustrating how Fulton Market's residential expansion is spilling north of its traditional boundaries.

27th Ward Alderman Walter “Red” Burnett Jr. submitted a letter of support to the Zoning Board of Appeals this month, praising mid-rise designs along Kinzie Street as a transitional buffer between the neighborhood's commercial high-rises and its lower-density residential blocks, per City of Chicago records. That backing echoes Hoodline's earlier coverage of the corridor's shift toward mid-rise infill, which also included Burnett's praise for the scale of these projects. The 1201 W. Kinzie building joins Range Group's proposed 109-unit mid-rise at 1133 W. Kinzie Street, plus nearby proposals including a seven-story building at 450 N. Morgan Street and a 72-unit project at 455 N. Carpenter Street, as developers push low- and mid-rise residential construction beyond Fulton Market's traditional high-rise core.

Part of a Larger LG Group Push

LG Group's footprint in the 27th Ward extends well beyond Kinzie Street. The developer's pipeline includes a Plan Commission-approved two-tower project at 170 N. May Street and 175 N. Racine Avenue totaling 667 apartments anchored by a planned 17,000-square-foot Trader Joe's, according to Urbanize Chicago. LG Group also recently secured $124.6 million in three-year floating-rate refinancing from Pacific Life Insurance Company for its 363-unit Arthur on Aberdeen tower at 210 N. Aberdeen Street, opting to hold onto the property rather than sell after the building reached 92 percent occupancy following its 2024 completion.

The developer's push to break ground on new construction comes as Chicago and Midwest apartment rent growth has led national performance charts through 2025 and 2026, with high equity requirements slowing new construction starts and tightening housing supply, The Real Deal reported. LG Group is targeting a Q4 2026 groundbreaking on the Kinzie Street project, with construction expected to wrap by Q2 2028.