The acquisition of 855 W. Blackhawk will allow Structured to add retail frontage for The Shops at Big Deahl along Blackhawk St. and raise its profile. The company is already in advanced negotiations with what it calls key anchor tenants and begun demolition of the building at 1450 N. Dayton. It will begin construction in early 2018.

Including NEWCITY, which was completed in 2015, Drew has developed more than one million square feet of real estate in the Clybourn Corridor. Earlier this year, a partnership managed by Drew completed the sale of a 100,000-square-foot building at 1333 N. Kingsbury – about two blocks south of the Big Deahl site – following a conversion of the property to loft offices. Structured also developed Blackhawk on Halsted, a 224,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 1460 N. Halsted St. – a block east of Big Deahl – that was sold to a German investment fund in 2016.

CHICAGO—Structured Development has been one of the prime movers in transforming the Clybourn Corridor in Lincoln Park into a retail destination, and the Chicago-based company is ready to launch another significant project. It has just purchased a 40,000-square-foot loft office building at 855 W. Blackhawk St., adjacent to a property at 1450 N. Dayton St. – formerly home to Big Deahl Productions – that Structured acquired in 2015. The company plans to redevelop the 2.5 acres as The Shops at Big Deahl, a 200,000-square-foot mixed-use complex.

The neighborhood has seen unprecedented demand for new commercial and residential options in recent years; more than two million square feet of commercial space and 1,000 new residential units have come online since 2012, according to Structured research.

“The Big Deahl site represents one of the few remaining large sites just east of the North Branch Industrial Corridor,” says J. Michael Drew, founder of Structured Development. “We recognized the incredible potential of this site over a decade ago when we started NEWCITY, just one block to the east. Not long after NEWCITY was underway, we began laying the groundwork for The Shops at Big Deahl with our purchase of the building at 1450 N. Dayton. At the time, it was an investment driven by the shifting demographics of the area as well as the anticipated modernization of the North Branch Industrial Corridor.”

The Chicago City Council recently approved a major zoning revision of the corridor's Planned Manufacturing District that will encourage the development of new retail, residences and offices that will replace many of its aging industrial structures. Firms such as Riverside Investment & Development and Sterling Bay have already unveiled proposals to remake the former Chicago Tribune distribution facility and the former Finkl Steel plant.

The acquisition of 855 W. Blackhawk will allow Structured to add retail frontage for The Shops at Big Deahl along Blackhawk St. and raise its profile. The company is already in advanced negotiations with what it calls key anchor tenants and begun demolition of the building at 1450 N. Dayton. It will begin construction in early 2018.

Including NEWCITY, which was completed in 2015, Drew has developed more than one million square feet of real estate in the Clybourn Corridor. Earlier this year, a partnership managed by Drew completed the sale of a 100,000-square-foot building at 1333 N. Kingsbury – about two blocks south of the Big Deahl site – following a conversion of the property to loft offices. Structured also developed Blackhawk on Halsted, a 224,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 1460 N. Halsted St. – a block east of Big Deahl – that was sold to a German investment fund in 2016.