Foundry Park Opens Decade-Long Chicago Build
Chicago contractors and subcontractors gain a long-term project pipeline as the first phase of Foundry Park gets underway.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Construction
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Chicago has selected a contractor to build the first phase of Foundry Park, a $1 billion riverfront neighborhood on the former A. Finkl & Sons steel plant site, with groundbreaking on the initial phase held October 21. For construction operators, the project signals a multi-year pipeline of residential, retail, office and infrastructure work.
Why it matters
The project converts a long-idle industrial parcel into a mixed-use district, a type of large urban infill job that tends to draw general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers over an extended period. Chicago's approval of zoning in early 2026 and its tax-increment financing commitment moved the development from planning into active construction.
The initial phase carries a $1 billion price tag and includes 709 mixed-income homes, 183 hotel rooms and a 777-space underground garage, within a plan for up to 3,737 residences, 435,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 100,000 square feet of office space. Chicago authorized about $201.6 million in tax-increment financing toward roughly $235 million in infrastructure improvements.
The players
City of Chicago
The municipal government that approved Foundry Park zoning, authorized tax-increment financing and oversees the district's infrastructure improvements.
A. Finkl & Sons
The Chicago steel producer whose plant operated on the Foundry Park site for 112 years before relocating in 2013.
The details
Foundry Park is being built on land that held a steel operation for 112 years before the plant relocated to Chicago's far south side in 2013 and the buildings were razed in 2015. The city's tax-increment financing directs future property tax growth from the district toward infrastructure, including work on Southport Avenue, Cortland Street and Kingsbury Street. Construction on the site is expected to continue through the next decade, and the city says the project will employ about 700 construction workers a year.
Timeline
Buildings on the former steel plant site were razed in 2015, after the plant relocated in 2013.
Project work with the city began in December 2025, and the project passed city council in mid-February 2026.
Groundbreaking on the $1 billion initial phase took place October 21, 2026.
Full development of Foundry Park is projected for completion by 2034.
Market Landscape
Chicago is using tax-increment financing to fund infrastructure on a former industrial riverfront, the same public-finance tool used to reshape older industrial corridors. Large mixed-use infill projects like this one tend to set the pace for regional construction activity over a decade-long build-out.
Contractors, subcontractors and suppliers in the Chicago area should monitor bid opportunities tied to later Foundry Park phases, since the project is expected to employ about 700 construction workers a year. Firms weighing participation should consult qualified counsel on contract and bonding requirements before pursuing work.
The takeaway
Large multi-year projects like Foundry Park reward firms that can staff for a long, phased pipeline rather than a single contract. Operators should track the city's infrastructure schedule for Southport Avenue, Cortland Street and Kingsbury Street as an early signal of when subcontract work will open up.
Further reading
For context on how large urban redevelopment projects move from approval to build-out, see the Construction section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine.
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