Mac Property Management has outlined at a Hyde Park community meeting its plans for a residential development at the northwest corner of 53rd St. and Cornell Ave.
The 27-story high-rise designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) would contain 250 units, a fifth-floor amenity space with an outdoor pool, and 10,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail space.
Retail space would take up the first floor of the building (approximately 10,000 sq. ft.), which Eli Ungar, the founder of Antheus Capital and its affiliate, Mac Properties, said would be a continuation of the bustling 53rd Street on the other side of the Metra tracks.
“The activation of that space in the ground level is one of the most important aspects,” he said at the meeting, held at East Hyde Park Tower, 5242 S. Hyde Park Blvd.
Above the retail space would be a four-story parking garage with 160 spaces, both for residents of the building and for retail guest parking. The entrance to that parking garage would be on Cornell Ave.
DNAinfo reports that while the tower at 1600 E. 53rd Street will require city of Chicago approval to proceed, the developer hopes to break ground roughly one year from now and open in the summer of 2019.
SCB associate My-Nga Lam said the designers were inspired by other buildings in the area for the exterior of 1600 E. 53rd.
“We wanted to create a rich collaboration of the unique architectural styles that make up Hyde Park,” she said.
Lam said buildings like the Del Prado, 5307 S. Hyde Park Blvd., and the Rapp and Rapp-designed building, 5490 S. Shore Dr, inspired them.
About 20 community members attended the Dec. 20 meeting, Curbed Chicago has reported. Some of them asked questions about affordable housing and the fate of the vacant six-flat building that sits directly north of the East Hyde Park Tower.
