A seven-story office building at the corner of W. Harrison Street and S. LaSalle Street could soon be stripped of its cubicles and filing cabinets in favor of studios, lofts, and a rooftop deck. Senco Properties is planning to convert the roughly 1912 heavy timber loft structure at 601 S. LaSalle into 70 apartments, with zero car parking spaces included anywhere in the design.
The adaptive reuse plan, designed by FitzGerald, would transform the aging office building into housing while honoring the building's historic character, according to Urbanize Chicago. The building currently functions as office space, but that use would end entirely under the proposal. Notably, the plan calls for no retail space and no car parking spaces at all — instead, the development would offer 70 bike parking spaces for residents.
What the Building Would Look Like Inside
The residential entrance would face W. Harrison Street, leading into a ground-floor lobby and package room alongside six residential units on that level. The second and third floors would each hold ten units, while floors four through seven would carry eleven units apiece. Down in the basement, residents would find a fitness center, coworking space, dog wash, bike storage, and additional resident storage, and the top floor would cap things off with a tenant lounge and an outdoor roof deck.
The unit mix leans heavily toward smaller households: 8 studios, 28 one-bedroom units, and 10 one-bedroom-plus layouts make up the bulk of the building, according to the same report from the same outlet. Rounding out the mix are 18 two-bedroom units, five three-bedroom units, and a single four-bedroom unit — a modest nod to larger households in a building otherwise built for singles and couples.
Zoning Hurdles Still Ahead
Before any of it can happen, Senco Properties needs the Zoning Board of Appeals to sign off on two requests: a variation to eliminate the building's required loading space, and a special use permit allowing the structure's conversion to multi-unit residential use. If the board grants that relief, the developer says it will be able to move forward with permitting and construction, per the Urbanize Chicago report.
The building's ownership shifted hands in 2015. A joint venture led by the Magnus Charitable Trust purchased 601 S. LaSalle for $9.9 million, according to Bisnow. The 74,000-square-foot building had been 80% leased when it was first listed for $10.5 million in November 2014, Bisnow reported.
Part of a Citywide Shift Away From Office Towers
The 601 S. LaSalle proposal lands amid a broader transformation of Downtown Chicago's office stock. As of June, 25 office-to-residential conversions were already underway Downtown — more than the total completed over the previous 20 years combined, according to the city's Department of Planning and Development as cited by the Chicago Sun-Times. Those conversions were expected to generate more than 3,900 housing units citywide while erasing 4 million square feet of vacant office space.
Bradford Allen put Downtown's direct office vacancy rate at 24.4%. Chicago's La Salle Street Corridor Revitalization program, which pairs conversions with tax increment financing assistance, is expected to bring more than 1,000 apartments to the area on its own.
Comparable Conversions Nearby
A completed conversion gives a sense of what's coming to the corridor. Bellwether Residences at 79 W. Monroe St. — the R2 Cos. and Lagfin conversion — became the first completed project under the La Salle Street program, delivering 117 units, including 41 affordable apartments, as part of a $64.2 million project that received $28 million in TIF funds. The conversion turned seven upper floors of vacant office space into 76 market-rate and 41 affordable housing units, according to REBusinessOnline.
Elsewhere Downtown, the Wacker Place conversion at 65 E. Wacker Place is expected to bring 252 units, with 51 designated affordable under the city's Affordable Requirements Ordinance. That $106 million project is being supported by $17 million in historic tax credits, the Sun-Times reported. Whether 601 S. LaSalle will include any affordable units has not been disclosed in available project materials.
For now, the fate of the LaSalle Street building rests with the Zoning Board of Appeals, which is reviewing Senco Properties' requested variation and special use. If approved, the century-old office tower would join a growing list of Downtown buildings trading desks for doorbells.
