Open house next month for Elgin Tower Building
The project to turn the historic Elgin Tower Building into apartments is almost complete, with an open house planned around Dec. 15.
Property manager Chris Pezza of Miller Chicago Real Estate said the open house will feature a one-bedroom model on the second floor. He said he hopes the city will issue a certificate of occupancy in late December or early January so the first tenants can start to move in January.
Rental prices have increased from what was initially announced. One-bedroom units will range from $925 to $1,250, and two-bedroom units will be $1,400 to $1,600, Pezza said.
The 15-story building belongs to Capstone Development Group of St. Louis; the project manager is Skender Construction in Chicago. "Everything seems to be progressing nicely," Pezza said.
As for the exterior of the building, Pezza said, "We will do as much as we can to clean up the outside and still fall within the historic preservation guidelines."
The 1929 building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contained offices until it fell into disrepair and was shut down in 2014.
The project broke ground in September 2016 and completion was expected by May, but approval from custom-made windows that conformed to historic preservation requirements took longer than anticipated, according to the project manager.
The developers said the project amounts to about $16.6 million. That includes $6.35 million in tax increment financing from the city, plus several million dollars in state and federal historic tax credits. The city has disbursed half the promised TIF money, due when 50 percent of the work was completed, City Manager Rick Kozal told the city council via email earlier this month.
Kozal also told the council that Capstone had submitted a revised redevelopment cost budget for the project; the city denied a Daily Herald request to obtain that under the Freedom of Information Act. Capstone owner Bill Luchini did not respond to a request for comment.
The renovation of the Tower Building has generated much more excitement than the average project, Pezza said. "We're really excited about what this is going to mean for Elgin, and the support locally has been fabulous," Pezza said. "I've been overwhelmed by the number of calls we've gotten - people telling us personal stories about their ties to that building and how excited they are about the work being done."
To get an invitation to the open house, people can join a mailing list at elgintower@millerchicagorealestate.com. There are about 90 people on the list, Pezza said.
The project has sparked interested from other developers who are eyeing downtown properties for residential development, Kozal said. That includes the vacant site of the former Crocker Theater at 96 S. Grove Ave. and the city-owned parking lot on the southwest corner of Chicago Street and Grove Avenue.
"A couple of people have made inquiries, one that's kind of serious," Mayor David Kaptain said. "There has been a plan for more than 20 years to bring more residential to downtown. This is moving forward on that."