Related Midwest on June 17 welcomed more than 200 guests, including city and state elected officials, project partners, labor leaders and community stakeholders, to celebrate the groundbreaking of phase one of 400 Lake Shore in downtown Chicago.
The two-tower residential development will bring luxury and affordable living options to the prominent waterfront site within the Streeterville neighborhood.
The first phase of 400 Lake Shore includes a 72-story, 858-foot tower on the northern end of the site that will comprise 635 rental apartments in a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. Related will designate 20% of the apartments, or 127 units, as affordable housing.
In conjunction with its development of the first tower, Related will also deliver the highly anticipated DuSable Park, named in honor of Chicago’s first non-native settler, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable. In addition to making a $10 million commitment, Related will lead construction of the 3.3-acre park, located east of Lake Shore Drive and accessible via Founder’s Way—a planned extension of the Chicago Riverwalk that will also be completed as part of phase one. Including the park, 400 Lake Shore will offer 4.5 acres of publicly available space, including a plaza between the towers with amenities, a two-story podium and public art.
Phase one of 400 Lake Shore is being co-built by LR Contracting Company, Related Midwest’s in-house contracting company, and longtime partner BOWA Construction. BOWA became the first African American-owned general contractor to co-build a high-rise in Chicago through its work on Related’s The Row Fulton Market, which opened last year.
400 Lake Shore will reinvigorate a site that has been vacant since the planned Chicago Spire ceased construction in the wake of the Great Recession. During the groundbreaking ceremony for 400 Lake Shore, guests signed a link beam that will be lowered into the site’s infamous cofferdam—a relic of the Spire that is being incorporated into the new design—to become a permanent part of the new structure and connect one side of the foundation to the other.
The 70-foot-deep cofferdam will be filled by August of this year, with vertical construction of the concrete superstructure completed by October 2025. The first phase of 400 Lake Shore is slated for delivery in 2027.
Designed by the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) with David Childs—the architect behind One World Trade Center and Related’s 35 Hudson Yards in New York City—the two high-rises have a distinctive waterfall profile, with outdoor terraces defining a series of setbacks. The towers will be set at an angle to each other, preserving sightlines for residents and forming a new gateway to the city. Their exteriors reference Chicago’s architectural history, including a reimagining of the classic “Chicago window” and metal detailing that evokes the rippling surface of Lake Michigan.
Building interiors were designed by MAWD, which previously partnered with Related Midwest on The Row. Stantec is serving as the architect of record.
Construction financing for the tower and public improvements, including the completion of the Chicago Riverwalk to DuSable Park, was a collaboration between the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), Wells Fargo, Bank of America N.A., PNC and other leading financial institutions.
