135 South LaSalle (Field Building) Residential Conversion, Chicago

Bank of America walked out of 135 South LaSalle in 2022 and left 624,000 square feet of empty Art Deco behind it. What’s going back in is 386 apartments, and the reason this one is the flagship of Chicago’s LaSalle Street Reimagined programme rather than another stalled proposal is that the public money arrived first.

Project Scope

Phase 1 delivers 386 units, 228 studios, 106 one-bedrooms and 52 two-bedrooms, with 30 percent affordable at 60 percent of area median income. That’s a higher share than the 20 percent citywide baseline. Another 92,000 square feet stays commercial. Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the architect for Riverside Investment & Development, AmTrust RE and DL3 Realty. Preservation scope covers the multi-level Grand Arcade, which stays open to the public, the original office corridors, and even the below-window radiators. Window replacements are historically sympathetic and, unlike the originals, operable. Four non-historic build-outs come off the 25th-floor setback to create a pool, grill and dog-run terrace. Floors 15 through 42 stay office in Phase 1, with later conversion phases possible.

Why It Matters

The capital stack is the story. City Council approved $98 million in TIF in late 2025, roughly $40 million in federal historic tax credits are in play, an $86 million loan sits on top, and a Class L landmark abatement runs underneath. The building has been a City of Chicago Landmark since 1994 and is NRHP-listed, which is what makes the credits available.

The garage detail is the sort of thing that separates a conversion that pencils from one that doesn’t. Rather than excavating, the team is taking the upper two floors of the four-story base for a 177-car garage, reached by a new ramp carved out of back-of-house space. Marshall Field’s estate built this as the largest office building in Chicago in 1934. First residents are expected in summer 2027.

Project Team & Details