Three players are vying to develop a city-owned McKinley Park property with proposals ranging from a mixed-use residential and office project to video production complexes, after Chicago officials opened a request for proposals in July.

IBT Group, Quartermaster Outpost Studios in partnership with Walsh Group, and Pershing Road Studios, which is affiliated with LG Development Group, have presented competing plans to redevelop a vacant warehouse at 1769 West Pershing, reported Urbanize.

IBT’s $120 million proposal for the 3.2-acre parcel consists of a mixed-use building with 120 residential units and 200,000 square feet of office space.

The development firm led by Gary Pachucki would use the adjacent parcel, or Site B, to build a 50,000-square-foot retail building in hopes of attracting a grocery tenant. The bulk of the financing will come from $39 to $63 million in debt, with the remainder coming from C-PACE financing, a federal program that funds developers based on energy efficiency, as well as state historic tax credits, federal grants and between $12 million and $18 million in equity .

Collaborators for the project will include the company Inherent L3C for the residential part, Epstein and Site Design Group for design and ARCO Murray and Englewood Construction to build the structures. Special features described in the proposal consist of an activated roof deck with a half-mile running track and educational space

Meanwhile, Quartermaster Outpost Studios’ proposal leaned into a video production use for the property.

The development team plans to convert the warehouse into a multimedia studio space for movies, TV shows and music. The development team of Cacciatore Capital, Just Don, Chicago Media Angels and Morgan Stanley, with Walsh Construction as the general contractor, would add 40 residential units on the roof above the studio space. Site B will be an extension of the creative campus and have its own production studio.

The Quartermaster project in total is expected to cost $110 million, drawn from $50 million in debt, $36 million in equity, $12 million in tax increment financing and $10 million in tax credits.

Pershing Road Studios is also looking to maximize the space for entertainment purposes. With LG Development and KMW Communities in charge, the main site will include two sound stages, 13,000 square meters of amenities and a 45,000 square meter flex space that can be rented out or used as part of an expanded production facility.

Location B will have four additional sound stages. Pershing Road plans to work with Cinelease Studios on the sound stages and Solomon Cordwell Buenz on design.

The city will seek community feedback over the next couple of weeks. A final decision on which development team will be allocated the plot is expected to be made in early April.

– Quinn Donoghue