Located in the heart of Chicago’s diverse Lincoln Park neighborhood, the site upon which Lincoln Common sits was previously home to Children’s Memorial Hospital. When the hospital relocated in 2012, the site was left vacant and dilapidated, and surrounding businesses that depended on the hospital’s traffic shuttered. Hospital stakeholders needed to reposition the asset to support its 100+ year mission and the Alderman and neighbors desired a new community asset that would return vibrancy and vitality to the neighborhood. In short, the neighborhood faced the potential of an unexpected crisis.

The four-year process of working with Lurie Children’s Hospital began when McCaffery responded to an RFP to acquire, entitle, and develop the site. McCaffery was selected based on its expertise in navigating a vigorous community process (which included six neighborhood groups, the Department of Planning and Development, the Mayor, and the Alderman) as well as McCaffery’s unique ability to execute complicated master-plan projects with high-quality institutional partners.

In early 2015, McCaffery inked a joint-venture partnership with Hines to co-develop the site. Seeking to create a lively new neighborhood crossroads, McCaffery and Hines partnered with SOM and Antunovich Associates to design the 1.1 million-square-foot mixed-use development. The project broke ground in April 2017.

The master plan organizes new buildings around existing buildings with retail, apartment, condominium, senior housing, and office programs to create a new vibrant neighborhood center. Anchoring the development are two multi-family towers, strategically set back from the street to reduce presence in the low-rise community. The tower façade profiles were inspired by the artistic terracotta profiles featured prominently throughout neighborhood architecture.

The Orchard, a seven-story condominium building, and Belmont Village, a 156-unit senior living building, provide complementary, inter-generational residential uses to the apartments.

Retail storefront elevations and materials are varied to reflect the existing streetscape. To maintain a connection with the history of the site as well as contextual relevancy within the community, historic buildings and façades were renovated for adaptive reuse. A new boutique office building adds to the largely brick character of the block while 100,000SF of diverse retail creates a critical mass and synergy of uses that have reactivated and revitalized the surrounding area.

Designed to integrate seamlessly within the neighborhood, the master plan was designed to be purposely porous. Lincoln Common’s network of connected open spaces extends to surrounding streets, creating a welcoming district hub.

Lincoln Common’s architecture is a unique combination of new construction and adaptive reuse, creating an urban fabric that celebrates Chicago’s historic as well as contemporary architecture and presents an organic, authentic community development. Overall, Lincoln Common exemplifies sensitive and elegant density, preserving the neighborhood’s heritage while fostering new mixed-use environments and open spaces.