A Chicago developer that wants to add a brightly colored apartment tower to the North Side skyline plans to bring a grocer and a temporary Walgreens store to a nearby former Treasure Island grocery store as it seeks sign-off from neighbors and city officials to build the 395-foot-tall tower in Old Town.
Fern Hill on Tuesday said it has an agreement with the Commissary Market, which recently closed after a lease dispute with the owner of a nearby tower after 45 years in business there.
The Commissary plans to lease 3,200 square feet of the former Treasure Island building at 1635 to 1639 N. Wells St., where it will join a temporary Walgreens store, Fern Hill said.
The announcement comes more than two months after the latest community meeting in which Fern Hill outlined plans to put a 500-unit apartment tower on a site at 1600 N. LaSalle Drive, a plan in which a Walgreens store would be demolished and eventually moved into the new tower.
As part of feedback for the project and a broader vision for the area along the wealthy Old Town, Lincoln Park and Gold Coast neighborhoods, residents have emphasized the need for a new grocer to fill the nearly 44,000-square-foot former Treasure Island.
Fern Hill said it will continue seeking a larger tenant to take over the Treasure Island building, at which time the Commissary could join Walgreens in becoming a tenant in the new tower.
The new tower is not adjacent to the Treasure Island building, but the properties are just feet apart.
At least one more public meeting is expected to be called before 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins decides whether to support Fern Hill’s project.
Renderings unveiled in September showed a 36-story tower overlooking the city’s largest park and Lake Michigan, with fins along the windows painted with shades of blue, yellow and orange. Fern Hill, led by former Related Midwest executive Nick Anderson, has said it will seek public input on the final color scheme.
As part of the plan, Fern Hill said Walgreens has agreed to sell its building at 1601 N. Wells St. to the developer and become a long-term tenant at the base of the new tower.
“We are so proud to take these steps toward bringing a local market to the Old Town community,” Anderson said in a statement announcing the deal with the Commissary. Anderson described the grocery store and deli as “the perfect puzzle piece” to the broader development proposal.
“We were devastated to close our Gold Coast location but are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue serving the community we love,” George Bockwinkel, founder and owner of Old Town Commissary Market, said in the statement. “Our new location will allow us to provide even more offerings to residents, and we’re grateful to partner with Fern Hill for this exciting development.”
Block Club Chicago, which earlier reported the Commissary’s closure at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive over a dispute with its landlord, previously reported its plan to move to the former Treasure Island building.
Fern Hill has owned the former Treasure Island building since late 2019, when it paid $14.8 million for the already vacant property.
It also owns two gas stations along The Moody Church nearby and has agreements to develop land owned by the church, including the parking lot on LaSalle Drive where the high-rise with an eye-catching, multicolored exterior is planned.
Fern Hill’s broader plans for the area were first disclosed in September 2021.