Metropolis development coming to Bronzeville
By Christine Mangan
Capri
Capital Partners LLC has announced a joint venture with Judson Investment
Co. to develop The Metropolis, a mixed-use building that will be located at
the intersection of south State Street and Pershing Road.
Capri expects the proposed building will bolster economic development in Bronzeville and Grand Boulevard and generate both temporary construction jobs and permanent employment.
“Beyond economic development for the community, the ultimate design intent for Metropolis is to create a city center for the Near South Side of Chicago,” said Quintin E. Primo III, Capri’s chairman and CEO. “Importantly, the project addresses the chronic lack of commercial retail in the area and will offer market rate and affordable housing to the growing community.”
Primo said 20% of the 102 condominiums planned for phase one will be set aside for low- and moderate-income buyers.
Although specific retailers have not been named, Capri’s media spokesperson, Trish Hoffman, said the company is looking at the usual amenities, including a grocery store and a clothing store.
According to Todd Caruso, regional head of retail for CB Richard Ellis Group, a commercial real estate firm, “The Metropolis is well positioned between the Roosevelt Road retail corridor north and new retail development occurring on 87th Street south. The lack of retail supply in the general area should allow the project to readily draw shoppers from the surrounding 15 neighborhood communities.”
“This project is important to the South Side, and the numbers speak for themselves,” Capri’s Primo explained. According to MetroEdge, a market research arm of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., "approximately $671 million of the total $909 million in Mid-South consumer expenditures represent 'retail leakage,' or dollars spent by residents outside their community,” Capri explained.
Hugh Williams, president and CEO of Judson Investment Co., noted the building’s historical significance. “As minority-owned firms, Judson and Capri understand that Metropolis sits in the middle of an underserved area in the early stages of a rebirth," Williams said. "It will attract middle and upper income residents who will integrate with existing low-income area residents, who have been denied access to grocery stores and other simple amenities that people want in their neighborhoods.”
A three-phase project, the Metropolis will consist of approximately one million square feet. The initial phase will consist of 500,000 square feet; besides its 102 residential condominiums, it will create a green space surrounded by two six-story curvilinear buildings of steel and glass housing approximately 330,000 square feet of commercial retail space. Future phases call for more residential space and hotel facilities.
The Metropolis also will feature a public venue celebrating African American history, located in the building’s central, curvilinear public park. “It will encourage learning activity and dialogue between the retail spaces and the public," explained Ross Wimer, design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. "At the corner of State and Pershing, the proposed digital clock tower announces both the new landmark development and the renaissance of the historic Bronzeville/Grand Boulevard neighborhood.”
The firm’s architectural vision for Metropolis is “an abstract expression of Bronzeville’s unique cultural history,” Wimer continued. “The building facades recall the repeated musical patterns of blues and jazz, and the residential unit layouts invoke harmonious rhythms and the ideals of freedom and flexibility.”
Media contact Trish Hoffman said Capri anticipates breaking ground on phase one in fall 2008 and expects that phase will be completed by spring 2010.
