Here are architects with Chicagos most big projects – The Real Deal

Pappageorge Haymes Partners David Haymes, HP Architectures Jim Plunkard and BKL Architectures Thomas Patrick Kerwin (Pappageorge Haymes, HP Architecture, BKL Architecture, Illustration by Priyanka Modi for The Real Deal with Getty)

Pencils down: Chicagos busiest architecture firms are bKL Architecture and Pappageorge Haymes Partners, which filed 28 major project permits each in a five-year stretch and cite strong residential demand.

High-rise residential buildings made up many of the larger projects. The Real Deal combed city permit data to find which architects were named for the most major projects in each of the last five years.

TRD pulled permit data from Chicagos open data portal and looked at all new construction permits reviewed. Click here to see a map of every permit approved since 2017.Those projects include new construction of buildings higher than 80 feet, non-residential projects exceeding 150,000 square feet, residential projects with 50 or more units, schools more than 60,000 square feet and projects with two or more basement levels.

Remote and hybrid work schedules dont seem to have affected someones desire to live near the downtown core.

Tom Kerwin, founding principal of bKL Architecture, said his projects during those years totaled $1.65 billion in hard construction costs. Among bKLs most notable ones is the $150 million Cascade Chicago, a luxury apartment building at 455 East Waterside Drive Lakeshore East that was the citys priciest.

Kerwin said most projects are going ahead, even after costs rose because of supply-chain issues. Demand kept up with escalation, he said.

The Loop is the hub of the firms business, and Kerwin is seeing more permits in the West Loop for major structures. He noted that the 2020 census showed a slight uptick in Chicagos population, which he said indicates that people still want to move to the city.

Remote and hybrid work schedules dont seem to have affected someones desire to live near the downtown core, Kerwin said.

Tim Kent, a partner at Pappageorge Haymes Partners, said projects slowed in 2020 and picked back up as the pandemic eased.

A lot of those projects came roaring back, he said. Chicago has shown that its pretty resilient.

Two of the firms most notable recent projects are a 444-unit high-rise at 465 North Park Drive and Wolf Point East, which brings almost 700 units to the convergence of the north and south branches of the Chicago River. The city has had significant development along transportation corridors, something city leadership is pushing for, and in Fulton Market.

Theres been a huge amount of work going on in Fulton Market, Kent said. Thats a seismic shift in the development pattern of Chicago, and well see whether that has a long-term effect on other developed areas, whether the Loop itself or River North.

More people are living in the Loop as well.

If you go back 20 to 25 years, the Loop wasnt a residential neighborhood, he said.Still, he said his firm is looking for opportunities on the South side where he said Mayor Lori Lightfoots Invest South/West initiative will help spur development.

Jim Plunkards Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture came in third, with 27 major project permits. Its designing the mixed-use megaproject that Onni Group is bringing to Goose Island.

Joe Antunovich of Antunovich Associates, who was named on 23 major project permits from 2017 to 2021, described absorption of apartments in Chicago as bottomless and said work has been busy downtown and in the West Loop. He attributed that to corporations with headquarters located there and young people wanting to live near where they work.

Who wouldve known the West Loop wouldve grown incredibly as it has. I dont think anyone saw that coming, he said. Companies like Google and McDonalds made that happen.

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Here are architects with Chicagos most big projects - The Real Deal