City Council approves Class L and landmarking for 111 W. Monroe

The Chicago City Council has approved the landmark designation and a Class L tax incentive for the Harris Trust & Savings Bank at 111 W. Monroe. The building consists of a traditional Classical Revival skyscraper built in 1911 and an East Tower addition from 1960 designed in the modern idiom. The subject site measures approximately one acre, and the buildings are constructed to the sidewalks along the southwest corner of the intersection of Clark and Monroe streets. 

Planned by Prime/Capri Interest, LLC, made up of The Prime Group and Capri Investment Group, the building will be converted into a mixed-use building, set to include 345 apartments, 226 hotel keys, and meeting/event space on the second floor. Designed by Stantec, the roof level will be reactivated by reopening the original Monroe Club as an amenity for residents and hotel guests. The former mechanical penthouse will become a restaurant, with the outdoor deck including a pool. 

Twelve floors of the historic building will be converted from office space to 345 mixed-income residential units. Measuring 315,000 square feet, the commercial space converted into new residences will include 104 units that will be made available to households earning an average of 60% of the area median income.

The Class L tax incentive will focus on the hotel and retail portions of the project only, with hotel rooms on floors 3 through 10. The building’s facade will be cleaned, repaired, and restored and a large light well will be carved into the back of the building to provide light and air down to interior facing spaces. 

With a $107.5 million development cost for the hotel portion of the project, the Class L tax incentive will provide a tax abatement of $19.4 million over 12 years. With City Council approval secured, the Class L incentive will take effect and help to finance the project.

The residential portion is expected to cost $179.2 million and will be supported with $40 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits.

With City Council approval secured, the building will officially become a Chicago landmark. The designation has identified the significant features to be protected as all exterior elevations of the 1911 Harris Trust & Savings Bank and the 1960 East Tower as well as the pair of bas relief bronze lion sculptures on the front façade of the 1911 Harris Trust & Savings Bank.

Construction is anticipated to begin sometime in 2025 and wrap up work in early 2027.