City Council approves adaptive reuse of 208 S. LaSalle

The Chicago City Council has approved a rezoning for The LaSalle Residences, an office-to-residential adaptive reuse project at 208 S. LaSalle. Planned by The Prime Group, the 21-story building was Burnham’s last design before he died, built in 1914 for the Continental and Commercial National Bank. The Prime Group has already converted the lower 12 floors into a JW Marriott Hotel and opened floors 18-22 as The LaSalle Hotel with 232 keys in 2022. 

Completed in 1914, the historic 1.2 million-square-foot, 22-story building at 208 S. LaSalle St. was initially designed by world-famous Chicago architect D.H. Burnham & Co. in the Classical Revival style for the Continental and Commercial National Bank. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Chicago Landmark in 2007.

As part of the plan, roughly 222,500 square feet of office space on floors 13 to 16 will be repurposed into 226 apartments offered in studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans. The LaSalle Residences will feature a new ground-floor lobby as well as residential amenities, including a state-of-the-art fitness facility; club-inspired tenant lounge spaces supporting coworking, meetings and social events; and penthouse-level community terraces with an outdoor pool and gathering areas overlooking the historic structure’s central atrium and offering panoramic views of the Loop’s iconic skyline.

Designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Lucien Lagrange, the conversion will also upgrade all older mechanical systems with modern energy-efficient equipment and replace the existing single-pane windows with high-performance insulated glass. The mixed-income project will set aside 30% of the residences as affordable housing for qualifying individuals and families earning an average of 60% of the area mean income (AMI). The transit-oriented location is in the heart of Chicago’s central business district adjacent to the historic CTA Quincy station and within walking distance of other CTA stops, Metra commuter rail stations and Chicago Water Taxi service.

With City Council approval secured, the property’s Planned Development designation will be removed, and the site will be reverted to its underlying zoning of DC-16 to allow for the residential conversion. The developer expects to begin construction on the $130 million redevelopment in early 2025.