Foundry Park Breaks Ground on the Old Finkl Steel Site, Starting an $800 Million First Phase

Construction started Wednesday, Oct. 21, on Foundry Park, the plan to fill the northern half of the old Lincoln Yards land along the Chicago River with apartments, condos, a hotel and parks. Developers JDL Development and Kayne Anderson Real Estate held the groundbreaking at 2001 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago, Illinois' Lincoln Park neighborhood, with Mayor Brandon Johnson on hand, Block Club Chicago reported.

Urbanize Chicago puts the whole project at $3 billion. The ceremony clears the way for the $800 million first phase.

Four buildings and a square

Phase 1 fills the triangle between Southport Avenue, Kingsbury Street and Cortland Street. Four buildings go up there, with one and a half levels of parking underground and 300 spaces.

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The tallest, at Kingsbury and Cortland, will hold apartments, offices and stores, and condos at the top, along with a grocer on the ground floor, according to Urbanize. Next to it go an 11-story hotel and two residential buildings of 13 and 8 stories. The four ring a public lawn called Central Square.

The two outlets don't quite agree on the tower. Block Club says it will rise 39 stories. Urbanize lists 38 stories and 520 feet.

The first phase's housing includes affordable units, Block Club reported, with the mix set by the project's affordable-housing obligations. Neither outlet gave a finish date for Phase 1.

Up to 3,737 homes by 2034

At full build-out, Foundry Park is planned for as many as 3,737 homes, Block Club reported. Urbanize breaks that down as 3,690 apartments and condos, 19 single-family homes and 28 townhomes. The single-family homes line the river along Dominick Street.

The plan also counts 180-200 hotel rooms, about 420,000 square feet of retail and 350,000 square feet of office space. About a third of the land, 8.5 acres, is set aside for a riverwalk, parks, plazas, playgrounds and a dog park.

Construction is expected to run through the next decade, with the full development taking shape by 2034.

The money behind the streets

In September, City Council approved a redevelopment agreement with about $201.6 million in tax increment financing for the project's infrastructure. JDL and Kayne Anderson are putting in about $33 million toward roughly $235 million in planned costs. About $71 million of that is for roads and utilities, Block Club reported.

From steel mill to Lincoln Yards to Foundry Park

A. Finkl & Sons made steel on the property for 112 years. In 2019, Sterling Bay won approval for Lincoln Yards, a plan spanning more than 50 acres on both sides of the river, which stalled. JDL and Kayne Anderson agreed in 2025 to buy the northern section and pitched a smaller, housing-first plan under the Foundry Park name.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), whose ward includes the site, said the project is one "the surrounding neighborhoods look forward to," according to Block Club. Johnson said the city is turning "this vacant riverfront space" into "a home for more Chicagoans."

The site measures 28 acres by Urbanize's count. Block Club puts the full property at 31.

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Sources

• Block Club Chicago, "Foundry Park Breaks Ground After Years Of Uncertainty At Former Lincoln Yards Site" (Oct. 22, 2026): blockclubchicago.org
• Urbanize Chicago, "Foundry Park Celebrates Groundbreaking" (Oct. 22, 2026): chicago.urbanize.city
• Photo: AlphaBeta135, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org