Recently the three Chicago Product Councils met for their second meeting of 2019.  Here’s a recap of what each Flight covered:

Chicago Product Council Blue Flight

How is a P3 project different from standard projects? Who benefits? What do I need to know if I want to engage in a P3 project?

Large, high-profile P3 projects have a certain mystique about them, and on occasion, feel a little opaque in the public’s eye. As taxpayers, are we getting the highest value? Regardless of personal feelings about some of these massive public-private partnership deals, many of them can’t be completed without the partnership.

For example, Wintrust Arena, our product council meeting focus and host, is a win-win for MPEA and DePaul. Their vision, grounded in budget reality, was achieved through a complex financial agreement along with a dedicated design and construction team who materialized Pelli Clarke Pelli’s conceptual design. The result is a value-add amenity to enhance conference attendee experiences (think DreamForce, SalesForce’s mega conference and entertainment event) for the MPEA and a basketball/large event venue for DePaul University.

After our tour of the Wintrust Arena facilities, Tom Samuels shared his experiences as a developer of P3 developments spanning the IRS Detroit Computing Center with the GSA and the Skysong development with ASU in Scottsdale to the FBI Chicago Regional Office with the GSA. Tom shared a few slides illustrating what the P3 Capital Stack looks like as well as acronyms for different P3 lease structures. When sharing his experience, his story about a P3 for Walter Reed provided a key takeaway regarding the risk associated with pursing these developments: understand what the neighbors know about the project before engaging in a lengthy and expensive procurement process.

The afternoon ended with a happy hour with beautiful views of the city from the rooftop and bar at VU Skyward.

Summary by Anthony Kempa, Managing Director, Shareholder, Environmental Systems Design, Inc.

Chicago Product Council Green Flight

The Chicago Product Council Green Flight at the new Chicago Architecture Center. The Center is the culmination of many years of planning and a passion project of CAC’s President & CEO Lynn Osmond.

We kicked off our day with an overview of the CAC by Vice President of Development, Lynn Nieman. Lynn shared that her team’s fundraising efforts included $8mm for the facility; $2mm for programming and $2mm for Endowment for a total of $12mm. They exceeded their goals for the facility by $2mm and haven’t started the endowment program just yet.

Next up was a presentation of the 1000M condo project by Philip Castillo, EVP of JAHN, the architect for the project. Castillo shared the extensive design process for this project, including the restrictions for facing Michigan Avenue, submitting a total of 17 designs before the final design was agreed upon. There were (2) other firms competing for the business and JAHN was ultimately chosen. The final design is 74 stories with units ranging from 325 sf one-bedrooms to 5,491 sf penthouses. The developers expect to break ground in December of 2019.

The final presentation of the day was an extensive look at the Illinois Medical District (IMD) Master Plan presented by Teresa Fourcher of SCB Architects and Bryan Lamb of Exeter Property Group. The catalyst for redevelopment of the area is collaboration between multiple users (Education & Medical), large construction opportunities in multiple asset classes and job creation. Central focus is to extend the usage of the area from 5:30 pm to 9;30 pm; increase walkability, improving connected transportation (mostly for employees) and consolidated parking.

The afternoon ended with a Guided Tour of the Chicago Architecture Center, which is spectacular!

Summary by Ginna Ryan, Principal, Mauge, Inc.

Chicago Product Council Red Flight

The ULI Red Flight focused its Council Day on the topic of affordable housing. Starting out at the Lincoln Park Builder’s Club, Mark Angelini of Mercy Housing Lakefront provided an interesting perspective that successful affordable housing is not just developing affordable units for people to live, but also the delivery of social services to help these individuals thrive in these communities.

Community building also was reflected at the next project, Lathrop, the transformation of CHA housing by Lathrop Community Partners, a coalition led by Related Midwest, into 1,100 units including 400 for CHA tenants, 220+ affordable units, and 490+ market rate apartments along the north banks of the Chicago River. Jacques Sandberg (Related Midwest) toured the group through the project which not only includes housing but maker spaces and community gathering sites along the river.

The afternoon ended with a round table discussion surrounding the future of affordable housing in the current political climate moderated by Rich Klawiter (DLA Piper) and featured Geoff Smith (Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University), Stacie Young (The Preservation Compact) and Will Woodley (Chicago The Community Builders, Inc). The consensus throughout the day was that the Affordable Requirements Ordinance’s (“ARO”) on-site requirements were burdensome and that more dollars could be spent effectively through preservation or nearby neighboring construction. Without some type of modification to the ARO, supply will continue to dwindle and not meet the ever-growing demand.

Networking and happy hour was enjoyed by all at the Lincoln Park Builders Club.

Summary by Vera A. Halicki, VP of Portfolio Management, Ameritus LLC