Onni Group Unveils New Plans For River North Site
Onni Group revealed updated plans for redeveloping the former Clark & Barlow Hardware site in River North at a public hearing this week, Curbed Chicago reports. The new plans reveal a higher building but with concessions to local residents concerned about Onni's previous plan.
The designs from Brininstool & Lynch call for a 38-story tower, six stories higher than originally planned, with 354 apartments and 284 parking spaces. But the building is thinner than originally planned and pushed to the western edge of the site to allow light to the neighboring Sexton Lofts, with 11K SF of ground-level retail and a new pocket park on Orleans Street.
Onni Group acquired the site at 353 West Grand in June 2015. The firm's first plans in September 2015 stalled because the original tower's design blocked Sexton Loft's views and cut into a neighboring alley. Making matters worse, Onni Group was circulating new plans for the project to residents without the input of Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd).
The developer will pay $5M into the city's neighborhood opportunity fund, and is looking at two options for affordable housing: a $4.6M payment to the city's affordable housing fund or building 35 new affordable apartments within 2 miles of the site.
If approved, the development could open by 2021.
