(Left) Rendering of the Loop’s existing three-story Block 37 retail center with a new 34-story apartment tower on top of it. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

30-Sep-15 – The apartment tower rising from Block 37 has topped out, with the last steel beam put into place last Wednesday on the 37th floor.

CIM Group, a real estate and infrastructure investment firm with headquarters in Los Angeles, is building 690 apartments on 34 floors above the retail center that it purchased in 2012 for $84 million. Open since 2008, Block 37, a project mired at times in controversy and financial problems, takes up the entire block bordered by State, Washington, Dearborn, and Randolph Streets.

The apartment tower, rising from the north end of the complex, was announced in September 2014. It will be completed in mid-2016.

(Right) Construction progress on September 30, as seen from the southeast. Photo by Bob Johnson.

“The tower will be a great addition to the Chicago skyline and will contribute to the growing residential base in Chicago’s Loop,” says 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly.

The 275,000 square foot retail center is getting improvements, too, including an eleven-screen AMC movie theater on the fourth floor, a dining area on the third floor that will offer various Latin cuisine options, and a bar called The Dearborn, being built on the ground floor at the corner of Dearborn and Randolph Streets.