Growing Fulton Market And Future Google HQ Could Get Landmark Status
By Rachel Cromidas in News on May 15, 2015 4:45PM
One of Chicago's hottest neighborhoods for commercial real estate—and the future home of Google's Chicago headquarters—has been granted landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
Plans for the Fulton-Randolph Historic District, which will include parts of West Randolph Street, West Lake Street and West Fulton Market Street, from North Halsted Street to North Racine Street, have been opposed by a number of community and business development organizations who worry the historic status will inhibit development.
Development is booming in the Fulton Market District on the city's Near West Side, spurred on by tech giant Google's plan to put its growing Chicago headquarters at 1000 W. Fulton St. in a former cold-storage plant. The area has since become a hotspot for real estate developers hoping to turn the predominantly-industrial area into a kind of live-work yuppie playground, similar to River North and parts of the growing West Loop and Greektown.
The landmark district status is meant to preserve the area's legacy as a food-related manufacturing district, according to Landmark Commission Chairman Rafael Leon. The area is 74-acres large and includes 142 properties, with 87 of them "contributing" to the historic character of the community, Curbed reports.
The City Council still must vote on the landmark proposal later this season.