With its first office-to-housing project done, Chicago advances ‘next chapter’ for its downtown

City leaders gathered in the heart of downtown Chicago earlier this month to mark a milestone: the first completed office-to-housing conversion project in the central business district known as the Loop.

“The Bellwether is the vanguard for downtown office conversions that are reimagining what it means … to live, work, and play in the heart of Chicago,” DPD Commissioner Ciere Boatright said in a news release.

The initiative comes amid affordable housing shortages and record-high office vacancies downtown.

Outside of city-backed initiatives, Chicago has almost two-dozen private conversions of office buildings in the pipeline that are expected to create nearly 4,000 new residential units.

“This project reflects our belief that the Loop’s future will be defined by a dynamic mix of people who live, work and spend time here.”