What the 7 Billion Dollar 1901 Project Means

What broke ground on the Near West Side

On June 3, 2026, the families that own the United Center put a shovel in the ground on what they call the 1901 Project. The Chicago Sun-Times and Block Club Chicago both reported the scale: a roughly 7 billion dollar privately funded plan to transform more than 55 acres of surface parking lots around the arena into an entirely new district of housing, hotels, retail, restaurants, and public space.

Numbers that large invite skepticism, and they should. But this is not a rezoning or a press release. Crews are clearing ground, the ownership group has committed private capital, and the City Council has already attached public incentives, which we will get to. For a stretch of the Near West Side that has been a sea of asphalt on game days and empty the rest of the time, that is a genuine inflection point.

The phases, the timeline, and the honest caveat

The single most important thing to understand about the 1901 Project is its timeline, because it shapes everything else.

Block Club Chicago reports the plan runs across six phases targeted through 2040. Phase I, the part actually under construction now, is expected to finish around 2028 and includes a roughly 6,000-seat music hall, a hotel of around 180 rooms, two parking structures, retail, and open space woven through the development. The full build-out, including thousands of housing units, is a fifteen-year horizon.

Here is the caveat we will repeat because it matters: a groundbreaking is not a closing. Megaprojects get re-phased, re-priced, and delayed. Capital markets shift, leadership changes, and 2040 is a long way off. The first phase is real and funded, but the grand vision of nearly 10,000 homes and a fully built district is a promise about the future, not a fact about today. Anyone making decisions around this project should anchor to Phase I, not to the 2040 renderings.

• Phase I (to roughly 2028): about a 6,000-seat music hall, a roughly 180-room hotel, two parking structures, retail, and open space.
• Full build-out (targeted through 2040): six phases adding thousands of housing units, more hotel rooms, and public plazas across 55-plus acres.

The tax incentive and why it matters

Public money is part of this story, and owners nearby should understand it. WGN and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that a City Council committee advanced, and the Council then approved, a tax incentive estimated at about 54.7 million dollars over a 12-year term, structured as a Class 7B property tax incentive tied to Phase I.

A reasonable person can land on either side of whether a private 7 billion dollar venture needs a public break. The developers argue, per the Sun-Times, that even with the incentive Phase I produces a net benefit in tax revenue, with a share flowing to the city. We take no firm position on the politics. What we will say is that the incentive is a signal of commitment from both the city and the owners, and signals like that tend to move adjacent land values before a single new resident arrives.

Do nearby property owners actually benefit

This is the question we get from owners on the West Side, and we will give the honest, two-sided answer.

The case that nearby owners benefit is strong. A 7 billion dollar district replacing parking lots with homes, hotels, jobs, and walkable streets is exactly the kind of anchor that lifts surrounding land. New foot traffic supports local retail, new amenities make the area more livable, and large committed investment tends to pull other investment in behind it. Owners who already hold property within walking distance of the site are positioned to see that gravity work in their favor over the coming years.

The case for caution is equally honest. The biggest gains track the later phases, which are years away and not guaranteed. Construction itself brings disruption, noise, and traffic before it brings benefit. And rising land values are double-edged: they help owners who want to sell or who hold equity, but they can pressure long-time residents and small businesses through higher rents and taxes. We would be selling you a fantasy if we promised a uniform, immediate windfall.

Our take if you own property nearby

Our view, stated plainly: this is a real, durable positive for Near West Side property values over the long run, and the closer your parcel is to the site, the more that holds. But the operative word is long. The market often prices in big projects faster than the projects deliver, which means some of the value may show up in land prices well before 2028, let alone 2040.

For an owner, that creates a genuine timing decision. If you are inclined to hold for the full build-out, the patience may be rewarded, with the real risk that phases slip. If you would rather not ride fifteen years of construction and uncertainty, selling into early optimism, while the story is fresh and demand is climbing, can be the smarter play. There is no single right answer; there is only the right answer for your situation, your timeline, and your tolerance for risk.

If you own near this corridor and want a candid read on what your specific property is worth in light of all this, that is precisely the kind of question we help owners think through. You can get an offer and a straight conversation about your options, with no pressure to act.

What we will be watching

We will judge the 1901 Project by what it builds, not by what it announces. The signals worth tracking are concrete: does Phase I open on schedule around 2028, does the music hall and hotel draw the visitors the owners project, and do the later housing phases actually get financed and started rather than quietly deferred.

If those things happen, the Near West Side gets a new center of gravity and the owners who positioned early look prescient. If the later phases stall, Phase I still leaves the area better than the parking lots it replaced. Either way, the smart move for a nearby owner is the same: understand the timeline honestly, watch the milestones, and make your decision on Phase I reality rather than 2040 promise.