52 Buildings on the Drawing Board in West Loop Development Boom

It was once a neighborhood where family-owned meatpackers thrived, then loft condo conversions moved in, followed by trendy restaurants. Now major change is in store for the area west of the Kennedy Expressway, including the landmark Fulton Market District and surrounding areas. Curbed Chicago describes and maps 52 projects under construction or proposed, many on Green and Morgan Streets, as well as Fulton Market and neighboring streets as far away as Adams and Halsted. The structures, some by name architects such as SOM and Gensler,  will include office and residential buildings, several hotels and a movie theater. Three 500-foot high-rises are planned. The neighborhood has attracted companies such as Google and McDonald's and is one of 10 official sites proposed as possible locations for Amazon's HQ2 campus.
Nancy S Bishop

Nancy S. Bishop is publisher and Stages editor of Third Coast Review. She’s a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a 2014 Fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. You can read her personal writing on pop culture at nancybishopsjournal.com, and follow her on Twitter @nsbishop. She also writes about film, books, art, architecture and design.