DOWNTOWN — The first apartments created through Chicago’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative are officially on the market, marking a major milestone in the city’s effort to transform the historic financial district into a residential corridor.
LaSalle Street Reimagined was launched under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022 as a way to breathe new life into the corridor after the COVID-19 pandemic. The program offers developers tax-increment financing and other incentives to convert vacant office space in historic buildings along LaSalle Street into housing.
The broader initiative, which has continued under Mayor Brandon Johnson, is expected to create more than 1,700 apartments across six buildings in the corridor, with 30 percent of the units set aside as affordable housing.
Furniture sits on the 14th floor roof of the Bellwether building in the Loop on Sept. 9, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
The Bellwether, inside the historic Rector Building, 79 W. Monroe St., is the first project to cross the finish line. Developers received $28 million in TIF funding toward the $64 million conversion.
“As we work to create more affordable housing across Chicago, I’m certainly thrilled that the first-ever office-to-housing conversion project is happening right here in Downtown Chicago,” Johnson said during a grand opening ceremony Wednesday.
The Bellwether, spread across seven floors, has 117 apartments. Forty-one of the apartments are earmarked as affordable. The building is mostly a mix of studios and one-bedrooms, with seven two-bedroom units.
“That’s going to ensure that the Loop and the heart of our city is inclusive to all residents,” Johnson said.
A new one bedroom unit sits empty in the Bellwether building on Sept. 9, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
As of Wednesday, the building had 25 residents across 25 units, with 41 applications being processed for the 41 remaining affordable units. Rent for market-rate units starts at $1,664 for a studio, $2,384 for a one-bedroom and $4,887 for a two-bedroom, according to the building’s website.
Square footage ranges from 430-500 for a studio, 550-800 for a one-bedroom and
1,100 for a two-bedroom.
Amenities for residents will include a tenant lounge, fitness center, outdoor terrace area, bike storage and a dog run.
Built in 1905, the Rector Building is the oldest surviving commercial high-rise by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt, who designed buildings all over the city and elsewhere in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the original buildings at the Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago.
Last spring, Johnson, along with area Ald. Bill Conway (34th) held a groundbreaking ceremony on one of the now-converted residential floors of the Bellwether. The completion of the project is in line with the slated 2027 completion of the Thompson Center, which is currently under construction and will serve as a new office for thousands of Google employees.
Equipment sits in the gym of the Bellwether Residences on Sept. 9, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
Real estate experts have predicted that the Thompson Center renovations, combined with the LaSalle Revitalization initiative, will lead to an economic boom in the city’s struggling financial district.
The idea leans into what some have called the “Google effect”: a predicted spike in investment around the Thompson Center as developers create housing and convert buildings for an influx of Google workers.
The effect has taken shape downtown with 24 additional residential conversions underway, separate from the six LaSalle Reimagined projects that are receiving TIF funding, according to Department of Housing Commissioner Lissette Castañeda.
“The old model of a central business district dominated by offices five days a week simply doesn’t work the way it wants to. To keep Downtown Chicago vibrant, we can transform it into a true mixed-use neighborhood, place where people work, but they also live, eat, shop, and raise families,” Conway said during the ceremony Wednesday.
A new two-bedroom apartment sits empty in the Bellwether building on Sept. 9, 2026. Credit: Giacomo Cain/Block Club Chicago
Other LaSalle Street Reimagined projects are located at 135 S. LaSalle St., 111 W. Monroe St., 208 S. LaSalle St., 105 W. Adams and 30 N. LaSalle St.
The five projects are in different phases of development, but once all are completed, the number of affordable housing units in the area will have increased by 1,000 percent over what’s available now, Castañeda said. The projects are slated to come online throughout 2028, Conway said.
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