Onni Group's Next Big Project May Be On Goose Island
Greyhound's maintenance center on Goose Island is one of the most attractive parcels of land in the North Branch Industrial Corridor not under developer control. That may change. Onni Group is in talks to buy the 8-acre site, according to Crain's Chicago Business. If the Canadian firm can seal a deal, it wants to build as many as 1,000 apartments on the property.
Greyhound hired JLL to market the property to prospective bidders last January after receiving unsolicited bids as high as $50M for the site. Interest in the site has only grown since. Riverside Investment & Development's The River District, immediately south of the Greyhound site, received approval from the Chicago Plan Commission last year. The River District is one of 10 proposed sites the city submitted to Amazon in its pitch to land the e-commerce giant's second headquarters. Even if Chicago's Amazon HQ2 bid fails, Riverside has ambitious plans in place for The River District, with a mix of residential, offices and retail.
If Onni Group can complete a deal, committing to building apartments on Goose Island would validate the speculation of developers like R2 Cos., which has been amassing buildings on Goose Island in anticipation it will become Chicago's next big office market. Onni Group would need a zoning change to build residential on the site. A zoning change could allow up to 1.7M SF to be built, making the site one of the densest in the North Branch Industrial Corridor.
