City Grants Permit For Oxford Capital South Loop Project
One of Oxford Capital's Michigan Avenue redevelopments has a green light to move forward. The city issued a demolition permit for Oxford to raze the parking garage and swimming pool at the Essex Inn at 800 South Michigan Ave, paving the way for Oxford to build a 620-foot-tall skyscraper on the site.
Oxford bought the 245-key hotel in 2014 as an adaptive reuse play and almost immediately targeted multifamily for the site, seeing all the apartment developments sprouting in the area. But Oxford had to wait for the Chicago Commission on Landmarks to approve razing the parking garage, Curbed reports.
Oxford's tower will include 479 apartments, ground-level retail, a new pool and winter garden, and four levels of parking. It's one of several high-rise projects rising in the South Loop. Others include Crescent Heights' twin towers apartment project designed by Rafael Viñoly, and a 73-story tower designed by Helmut Jahn. [Curbed]
