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CHICAGO-A joint venture between Capri Capital Partners and Judson Investment Co., both minority-owned companies based in Chicago, announced Thursday a one-million-sf project called the Metropolis for the South Side of Chicago. The mixed-use project will be completed in three phases at the intersection of South State Street and Pershing Road. The project is currently estimated at $500 million, says Quintin Primo, chairman and chief executive officer of Capri.

The first phase of the development will be two six-story, curvilinear buildings, with two stories of retail extending from each, totaling 500,000 sf. The buildings will have approximately 330,000 sf of retail on the first two floors with 102 condominium units on the remaining four floors. Construction is estimated to begin in the fall and should take between 15 and 18 months to complete.

The developers are in "preliminary discussions" with a grocery store for 50,000 sf to 70,000 sf, Primo tells GlobeSt.com. There has also been "keen interest" from a "drug store chain" and a bank. "We think that by the time we start demolition of an embankment that is there, we should have between 40% and 50% of the space accounted for," he says. Primo would not disclose the asking lease rate for the building.