The Chicago City Council has signed off on a $7-billion, 15-year plan to redevelop 55 acres around Chicago's United Center with housing, retail, entertainment space and a public plaza.

The mixed-use development on the city’s west side has been dubbed the 1901 Project, in reference to the site's postal address. It will feature 9,463 new homes, with 20% reserved for affordable housing, commercial office space, a hotel, retail, and entertainment buildings including a 6,000-seat music hall, all anchored by public space. The space being redeveloped around the United Center is now mostly surface parking lots, which will be replaced by underground and garage parking as part of the redevelopment. 

The project is being led by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, owners of the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls and the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks respectively, and is slated to begin this summer. The Wirtz family also controls Breakthru Beverage Group, the largest distributor of beer, wine and liquor in Illinois.

A general contractor will be announced in the coming months, says Colleen Quinn, a spokesperson for the United Center while a slate of other developers and building team members has been confirmed. These include RIOS as master planner, urban designer, experience designer and music hall architect, MKA as structural engineer, Thornton Tomasetti as facade and waterproofing engineer, HBK as civil engineer, Forza as code consultant, Field Operations as landscape designer, Sam Schwartz as transportation engineer, Desman as the parking consultant and environmental analysis by RWDI.  

The music hall, which will be part of the first construction phase, will feature a rooftop park connected to 5.3 acres of green space and perimeter retail space. Other elements include a mixed-use building that will include ground floor commercial spaces, a broadcast center, offices, and parking, a rooftop park that will include sports courts and recreational areas, a boutique hotel tower that will have 233 hotel rooms, a rooftop restaurant, fitness center and park and a public plaza that will connect the United Center to West Adams Street. 

Planners also want to see a Chicago Transit Authority Pink Line station added to the development, but it requires city approval. 

“The 1901 Project believes Chicago's West Side would benefit from an additional Pink Line station offering greater connection and opportunity to the neighborhood and its residents and thus are supportive of the efforts,” Quinn says. “The decision and next steps, however, ultimately lie with the city and its departments." 

Michael Reinsdorf, president and CEO of the Chicago Bulls, called the project to remake Chicago’s economically struggling west side “a historic moment” and a “bold and unprecedented commitment to the future of our community.” 

On the RIOS website, Richard Peterson, senior project director and architect, said "Our goal with the 1901 Project master plan is to provide an urban canvas, rich with public spaces and diverse program, for the legacy of the existing neighborhood to write its own chapter.” 

Redeveloping neighborhoods around entertainment venues in Chicago has become more popular with developers since the similarly named 1060 Project renovated Wrigley Field and redeveloped the entire neighborhood around it with financial backing from the Ricketts Family, owners of the Chicago Cubs. The Salt Shed live music venue, a former Morton Salt facility also on the West Side, also brought new development with its completion.