Ald. Maurice Cheeks, 10th District, hailed the agreement because it does not use public funds for the private development portions.

Council members chose to enter negotiations with Beitler over Vermilion Development, both Chicago-based companies, on April 19. Negotiations had temporally stalled as the city’s negotiating team and Beitler hashed out differences in four areas of the agreement.

Both sides accepted some of the other’s terms, and the city’s finance committee passed the development agreement at its June 27 meeting.

A timeline to secure public funding for the project made the need to approve a development agreement urgent. The Downtown TIF district, where funds will be drawn from, is set to close in the early 2020s, while spending commitments need to be made by September 2017.