410 North Elizabeth — Fulton Market Geothermal Tower

Chicago got its first all-electric, geothermal multifamily high-rise on July 28, 2026, when Tree Street Group and development partner Magellan Development Group broke ground at 410 North Elizabeth Street in Fulton Market. The first tower runs 33 storeys and 383 apartments against a $102 million construction loan. Archeo Design Studio did the design. Planning took more than three years before a shovel went in the ground.

Project Scope

The full development is two towers totaling more than 724 apartments plus 28,000 square feet of public green space, unusual in a district that was slaughterhouses and cold storage a decade ago. That open space carries outdoor retail, event space and a dog park. Tower one’s unit mix is 38 studios, 87 one-bedrooms, 256 two-bedrooms and two three-bedrooms, with 77 of the 383 units designated affordable. The mechanical story is the reason the project is getting attention. A closed-loop geothermal system supplies more than 80% of heating, cooling and domestic hot water, which the developers project will cut energy use by roughly 60% and energy costs by more than 25%, and reduce emissions about 30%, or 390 tons of carbon a year. There’s no gas service. Principals Ed Kruschka and Ted Weldon lead Tree Street; J.R. Berger is president of Magellan.

Why It Matters

Geothermal in a high-rise is a financing problem before it’s an engineering problem. The bore field is a large upfront cost that pays back over the hold period, which is exactly the mismatch that has kept most merchant developers on gas. Doing it at 33 storeys, with a third of the units affordable, is the version of this that other Chicago developers will actually study. If the operating numbers land anywhere near the projection, the argument for the next tower gets easier. If they don’t, this will be the building everyone cites for why they didn’t.

Project Team & Details