IBT Group's Fulton Market Development Proposal Could Be The Center Of A Fulton Market Amazon HQ2 Site
The western end of Fulton Market is overflowing with developments in the pipeline and announced projects. IBT Group has one of the larger planned developments in the neighborhood, one that may be used as an example of what the submarket holds as a potential Amazon HQ2 site.
IBT Group is partnering with hedge fund investor Andrew Bluhm's Lamb Properties to build a 1.2M SF mixed-use development at 1200 West Fulton Market, Crain's Chicago Business reports. The JV paid $65M for the one-block site in February. That sale was contingent on a zoning change.
The designs for 1200 West Fulton, by S9 Architecture, will be another test of how high developers will be able to build in Fulton Market, as well as how much density residents will tolerate and local aldermen will allow. The plans call for a 24-story building connected to a glass structure that would encompass 900K SF of office space. A 60-room boutique hotel and retail is also planned and, in what may be one of the project's biggest obstacles with neighbors, 700 underground parking spots are on the docket.
The development is estimated to cost $500M but IBT and Bluhm believe it can be the centerpiece of a Fulton Market Amazon HQ2 site. Bluhm is speaking with other landowners in the area about joining forces to present up to 25 acres as a Fulton Market Amazon HQ2 campus. That campus would include the site of Archer Daniels Midland's milling plant at 1300 West Carroll, which went on the market in September. Bluhm believes the energy that transformed Fulton Market from a meatpacking district to a thriving submarket of real estate activity would also be attractive to Amazon.
