The Future of the Trib’s Seven Acre Site

Yesterday, Tribune Real Estate Holdings said it plans to redevelop its land at 700 W Chicago on the riverfront, currently home to a defunct insertion plant (a 115k SF giant gravestone marking print’s demise). So what’s next?

Tribune Real Estate (a subsidiary of Tribune Media, which recently spun off its publishing business) plans an RFP to find a JV development partner for the site. The Marquette Cos prez Darren Sloniger says the only logical choice is multifamily, most likely mixed-use with residential on top. Hot off the firm’s 223-unit Catalyst apartment project in the West Loop, he knows firsthand that apartments remain the city’s top-performing asset class. The Trib site’s River West location should help it command upper-end rental rates, and for the right price the competition among developers could be fierce, Darren predicts (he’d certainly take a peek).

With the amount of supply already in the pipeline, getting a new multifamily project off the ground could be challenging, he admits; it depends on how the deal pencils. The strategy: first crunch the numbers on what you can swing in terms of unit size, unit mix, and amenities, then drill down and make sure there are tenant demographics hungry to fill that type of product. Up next on Darren’s plate are projects further afield, including the Water Street District hotel development in downtown Naperville and the 29-story Block 52 apartment tower in Houston.

What's next for the Trib site? Tell [email protected] your ideas (serious or half-baked)!