Historic West Loop Building Could House $2,400-A-Month Microapartments

By Mae Rice in News on Feb 3, 2016 4:23PM



The West Loop post office building (via Chicago Boulevardier on Flickr)

A developer plans to turn Chicago’s old main post office, located at Canal and Van Buren streets, into a complex of microapartments called The MicroChicago.

British developer Bill Davies plans to build 300 tiny apartments in the landmark bulding, each measuring between 280 and 600 square feet. He could build more, too. According to the Sun-Times, he plans to build 1,200 microapartments in total.

As for rents, tenants could be looking at more than $4 per month per square foot. Ellen Phillips, a managing broker at Loop Apartments who will help rent out the microapartments, told NBC that studios would be priced at $1,140 per month, and two-bedrooms at $2,400.

She added to the Sun-Times, depressingly, that $1,140 for a 250-square-foot studio apartment makes them “the least-expensive rents in downtown.”

The plans for The MicroChicago mark a change of tack for Davies. He’s owned the erstwhile post office since 2009; two years ago, he shared much more lavish plans for the property, featuring hotel rooms, commercial and office space, and most boldly of all, “a tower taller than the Willis Tower.”

Construction on the microapartments could start as early as April, according to the Sun-Times. The property, which covers two city blocks, has been empty for 20 years.