Crews are putting the finishing touches on a 17-story micro-apartment development at the northwest corner of Wells Street and Chicago Avenue. Known as AMLI 808, the 225-foot-tall Near North project is on track to welcome its first renters in July.
Designed by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture in collaboration with NORR, the soon-to-open structure has a four-story masonry base topped by glass and metal-clad upper floors. Though early renderings show a conceptual exterior "green wall" of vegetation at street level, it doesn't look like that feature made it into the final design.
Jay Koziarz/Urbanize Chicago
The transit-oriented project boasts 318 mostly studio and one-bedroom apartments, retail space, and parking for lots of bicycles but no motorvehicles. Based on available floorplans, rents in the building start at $1,540 per month for a 387 square-foot studio. The priciest apartment is a 998-square-foot two-bedroom with a private terrace renting for $4,165 a month. AMLI is currently offering concessions of up to two months free rent, according to the building's website.
Building amenities include a two-story work-from-home space with private offices and a conference room, a "podcasting room," and a 17th-floor landscaped terrace with a fire pit and lounge seating. The project also features exterior bike pumps for use by the community and a "pollinator garden" geared toward attracting bees and butterflies.
Jay Koziarz/Urbanize Chicago
Walsh Construction broke ground at 808 N. Wells Street in early 2020. Before developer AMLI Residential took over the downtown site, the location was slated for a 23-story luxury condominium tower from developer Smithfield Properties. That project stalled due to slower than expected sales and the sudden passing of Smithfield executive Bill Smith in 2016.
AMLI 808 is the latest development in the Wells Street construction boom taking place in River North and the Near North area. It joins other apartment projects like Exhibit, Marlowe, Gallery on Wells, and the three towers of Old Town Park.
As the massive multiphase North Union project prepares to go before the Chicago Plan Commission later this month, it's probably safe to assume that this area of the city will keep on booming.
