Higgins tapped to develop medical district complex
BY DAVID ROEDER Staff Reporter September 17, 2013 6:16PM
Updated: September 17, 2013 9:50PM
The Illinois Medical District Commission said Tuesday it has selected a developer to manage construction of a planned $163 million complex at 2020 W. Ogden.
The commission chose Chicago-based Higgins Development Partners for the work. It will manage a range of projects designed to bring services to the West Side district’s estimated 75,000 daily visitors and the people who work within it.
Among the proposed improvements are a 200-room conference center hotel, 100,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-unit residential tower for people who work in the nearby hospitals and biotechnology firms.
The work could take years to complete but will be “a game changer for the district,” said Executive Director Warren Ribley. The commission oversees a special zoning area outside of the city’s review, so it can promise expedited construction permits. It also can tap into money from a tax-increment financing district.
The work is slated for 9.5 acres of open land that Ribley said will become the “hub of the health care and biosciences sectors throughout the entire region.”
Other parts of the proposal include a 60,000-square-foot incubator for companies in the life sciences; medical offices; 50,000 square feet for “sustainable urban farming;” restaurants and parking for 500 cars.
Terms call for Higgins to lead a joint venture of nine companies. The commission would keep the property but sign the joint venture to a long-term lease.
Higgins often partners with Pritzker Realty Group and has had prior dealings with the commission. In 2006, the opened the Chicago headquarters for the FBI at 2111 W. Roosevelt on land the commission sold.
Higgins won out over two competing proposals for the development rights, including one from Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate.
Email: droeder@suntimes.com
Twitter: @RoederDavid
