The state of Illinois unveiled a new design and construction timeline for the long-planned Discovery Partners Institute, moving The 78 megadevelopment along the Chicago River closer to reality.
With the University of Illinois-led research center advancing, Related Midwest’s $7 billion mixed-use project is expected to be under construction by 2024, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Friday.
It’s an example of developers throughout the country turning to emerging uses such as research space to offset softer office demand and to kick off ambitious mixed-use projects.
Related Midwest’s 62-acre site previously was a finalist in the city’s search for the site of its first casino, but a site along the river north of the Loop business district was chosen instead.
It runs along the river between the South Loop and Chinatown south of the Loop business district, on vacant land that once was a rail yard.
Discovery Partners Institute’s headquarters will be an eight-story, domed structure with more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, lab and event space, according to a statement released by state and university officials.
While the steel-and-glass structure has been planned, DPI already has short-term office space in a Loop office building a few blocks north of the site.
The institute was created to help develop technology workers and to conduct research in other areas.
Hiring Pledge
Over the next five years, an apprenticeship program will provide as many as 2,500 people with tuition-free tech training and paid apprenticeships, the statement said, with CVS Health Care pledging to hire more than 200 participants over the next three years.
“The state of Illinois is building a world-class innovation hub in the heart of Chicago on the site of an old railroad yard that has sat vacant for decades,” Pritzker said in the statement. “Already DPI has helped launch our state’s COVID-testing system, is searching for COVID-19 and other viruses in our wastewater, and is training hundreds of students for careers in tech — and has a plan to spread the opportunities equitably. This futuristic design from OMA/Jacobs matches our ambitions.”
Related Midwest’s plan for office, residential and hotel high-rises on the site appeared to be close to breaking ground in February 2020, when the Chicago-based developer — an affiliate of Related Cos. — said it was preparing to start construction on a $2 billion-plus first phase of construction that would include the Discovery Partners Institute building.
A month later, the onset of COVID-19 virtually shut down cities and froze most development projects throughout the country.
Remote work, increased online shopping and other trends that have emerged or accelerated during the pandemic have challenged some types of real estate, such as offices and retail, while boosting others such as warehouses.
But Chicago’s megadevelopments hope a focus on nontraditional office uses, such as labs and other research, can drive new demand in the areas of the city outside the traditional central business district.
Related Midwest donated an acre of the site to DPI, at the southern tip of the site along 15th Street and the under-construction Wells-Wentworth street extension through the site.
Innovation Network
DPI’s building is set to be funded as part of $500 million in state funds to create an innovation network at regional universities throughout the state. DPI is part of the University of Illinois System.
The largest university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is about 130 miles south of The 78. The University of Illinois at Chicago is just over a mile west of the site.
“Our architects describe our central atrium as ‘an active collision zone,’ and I love that,” DPI Executive Director Bill Jackson said in the statement. “We’re here to foster new relationships and bring more women and people of color into the tech industry. We can’t wait to have a building that will help us accelerate our growth and make new connections.”
The 78 is among three Chicago megadevelopments with a combined $20 billion in investments that are underway or expected to be under construction soon.
Sterling Bay’s $6 billion Lincoln Yards, which will include life science research, office and residential space, began last year along the river on the city’s North Side. Construction of an eight-story office and lab building at the south end of the site has topped out, but no tenants have been announced for the project.
A group of developers led by Chicago’s Farpoint Development have said they plan to break ground late this year on the $7 billion Bronzeville Lakefront mixed-use development on the former Michael Reese Hospital site south of the sprawling McCormick Place convention center.
That first phase of that project also is expected to have a research element: Chicago ARC, a life science accelerator developed in partnership with Israel’s Sheba Medical Center and Kaleidoscope Health Ventures, which will be based in the building.
For the Record
Discovery Partners Institute’s building has been designed by architecture firms OMA, under direction of partner Shohei Shigematsu, and Jacobs. The Illinois Capital Development Board will oversee design and construction.