Construction is underway in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood on a 33-story apartment tower that will not burn a drop of fossil fuel to keep its future residents warm or cool. Instead, 410 N. Elizabeth St. is drawing on 65 wells drilled roughly 850 feet into the ground, part of a system developers say will make it the city’s first all-electric, geothermal-powered multifamily high-rise.
Construction is underway on the tower following the closing of construction financing, according to Magellan Development Group, which is partnering with Tree Street Group and Mark Goodman & Associates on the project. The first phase is planned to include 383 residences, including 77 affordable units, with the system using the earth’s underground temperature to support the building’s heating and cooling needs, per the developer. As Bisnow reports, the project relies entirely on the electric grid and has eliminated the need for fossil fuels altogether.
Bisnow’s Ryan Wangman reports the first phase uses about 22 miles of geothermal piping threading through the 65 wells, each drilled about 850 feet underground and taking a little over two days to complete. The wells connect through piping to a central geothermal system that, per Bisnow’s report, uses the ground essentially as a thermal battery — circulating water through heat pumps to transfer heat into the ground during summer and withdraw it during winter, letting the building switch efficiently between heating and cooling as ground temperature allows.
Why The Site Chose Geothermal
The geothermal design was developed by Infinite Energy Partners, which will also own and operate the system once the building is complete. Ted Weldon, a principal of Tree Street Group, told Bisnow the building uses significantly less electricity for heating and cooling and is efficient from the outset, estimating the project saves about 1 megawatt of power and roughly 390 tons of carbon annually. Weldon also said geothermal technology has thousands of examples across the U.S. but has not previously been used at this scale inside an urban building, a milestone he believes will make future geothermal projects easier to finance.
Developers describe the geothermal design as delivering energy usage reductions of up to 60%, alongside 25% energy cost savings, per Bisnow’s reporting of developer estimates — figures that track with Magellan’s own materials projecting roughly 60% lower energy use and more than 25% energy-cost savings, alongside a 30% emissions cut. A separate account from the Chicago Tribune described the projected savings somewhat differently, citing almost 60% less energy use alongside nearly 30% reductions in both energy costs and emissions, and reported that more than 80% of the building’s heating, cooling and hot water needs are expected to come from the geothermal system. The Tribune also reported that crews began drilling the first of the 65 wells in late July, with each well reaching a planned depth of 820 feet — a figure that differs slightly from the roughly 850-foot depth cited in Bisnow’s report.
A Tight Downtown Housing Market
The timing matters for Chicago’s broader rental market. Bisnow’s report notes that energy costs have risen across the country amid the war in Iran and the rise of power-hungry data centers, adding pressure on buildings to cut consumption. Separately, the Chicago Tribune has reported that downtown Chicago saw fewer than 200 rental units completed in 2025 — the lowest total in more than two decades — with roughly 800 new downtown units expected to be completed in 2026, followed by about 2,100 in 2027.
Weldon pointed to a broader industry shift, telling Bisnow that geothermal’s viability at large scale has improved as drilling technology has sped up and heat pumps have become more efficient. He also said the system helps the project meet evolving energy codes that increasingly require large-scale buildings to use less energy. Citing Facility Executive, Bisnow’s report notes that heating and cooling make up more than 40% of energy consumption in commercial buildings and represent the largest single source of energy demand, even though geothermal heat pumps are currently installed in only about 1% of U.S. buildings.
Financing And What Comes Next
Construction financing is being provided by Bank OZK through a senior loan, with junior capital from Beach Point Capital and Circle Property Partners, according to Multifamily Executive. Bank OZK’s senior loan was reported at $102 million by REBusinessOnline. Per Bisnow’s report, Weldon said vertical construction is set to begin shortly after this week, with the project targeting completion in March 2028.
The development’s second phase is planned to start about a year after the first phase, timed to align leasing cycles, Weldon told Bisnow, and the later phase is expected to allow more efficient well drilling and reduced construction time. Magellan and the Chicago Tribune have both described the completed two-phase project as eventually delivering more than 724 residences including 146 affordable units, while Bisnow’s report describes two towers planned to deliver 724 units total. Weldon said he will use lessons from the project to evaluate other Chicago sites over the next couple of years, suggesting that sites over roughly 30,000 square feet with a large podium and suitable soil conditions could fit the model — and he told Bisnow that almost every building in Chicago could potentially use geothermal.
Comparable projects are already taking shape elsewhere. Lendlease’s 834-unit, all-electric geothermal building called The Riverie opened on the Brooklyn waterfront earlier this year, according to the Chicago Tribune, following the developer’s earlier 1 Java Street project, which Multifamily Dive reported was designed with 320 boreholes and was expected to be New York’s largest residential geothermal project upon its late-2025 completion. Closer to home, the Tribune noted that Loyola University’s largest Chicago-area geothermal system uses 91 wells and 17 miles of underground pipes to serve a 217,000-square-foot facility and nearby buildings — a reminder that while the scale at 410 N. Elizabeth is new for an urban residential tower, the underlying technology has circulated through Chicago institutions for years.
