City Council Green-Lights a 30-Story Tower at 215 N. Racine — and The Fulton's 11-Story Office Building Just Wrapped Construction on Sangamon
By Socialhood News · Near West Side ·
Near West Side neighbors, the week heading into October delivered two concrete milestones for Fulton Market that underline just how much the neighborhood's transformation is still in full swing: the Chicago City Council voted to approve a brand-new 30-story mixed-use tower at 215 N. Racine Avenue, and construction officially wrapped on The Fulton, an 11-story office building at 217 N. Sangamon Street. One project is just getting its green light; the other just crossed its finish line. Together, they capture the full arc of Fulton Market's building cycle in a single week.
Start with the bigger headline. The City Council's approval of the development at 215 N. Racine is a significant step forward for one of the most closely watched proposals in Fulton Market's current pipeline. The project will deliver a 30-story tower with 347 apartments and ground-floor retail — a scale that places it firmly among the neighborhood's largest residential undertakings. City Council approval is the final major hurdle in Chicago's zoning and development approval process, clearing the way for the project to move into permitting and eventually construction. For residents tracking the neighborhood's housing pipeline, this vote means 347 new apartments are now officially on their way to a Racine Avenue address in the heart of Fulton Market.
The 215 N. Racine site sits in the western stretch of Fulton Market, where the district's restaurant and office density begins to give way to the residential blocks beyond. A 30-story residential tower here is exactly the kind of housing investment the neighborhood's growth has been calling for: density at scale, with retail at the base to serve the residents who will live above it. The project had previously cleared the Chicago Plan Commission review, with the City Council vote representing the culmination of a months-long approval process. No construction start date has been announced, but with Council approval now in hand, the development team can move immediately into the permitting phase.
Meanwhile, just a block away on Sangamon Street, a different kind of milestone was being recorded. Construction is now complete on The Fulton, the new 11-story office building at 217 N. Sangamon Street. The building represents the latest addition to Fulton Market's office inventory — a submarket that has consistently posted the tightest vacancy rates among all downtown Chicago office districts in 2026. The Fulton's completion adds a finished, move-in-ready office product to a corridor that continues to attract corporate tenants at a pace that outstrips most other Chicago neighborhoods. Its Sangamon Street address puts it squarely in the walkable core of Fulton Market, steps from the restaurant row and transit access that make the district one of the city's most desirable places to do business.
For Near West Side residents, the practical meaning of these two milestones is layered. The Fulton's completion means new workers — and new lunchtime foot traffic — arriving on Sangamon Street in the near term. The 215 N. Racine approval means 347 new households are eventually coming to a tower that will reshape the Racine Avenue skyline. Both projects reflect the same underlying reality about Fulton Market in the fall of 2026: this is a neighborhood where the pipeline is not slowing, and where each approval and each ribbon-cut adds another layer to one of Chicago's most consequential urban transformations.
And if you want to mark the season with something more community-rooted than a construction update, don't forget: Maxwell Street Market returns to the Near West Side tomorrow, Sunday, October 4th, per the WTTW 2026 Chicago Festival Guide. The open-air market — one of Chicago's most storied neighborhood institutions — brings vendors, street food, and the particular energy of a tradition that has survived and adapted across more than a century of West Side history. Whether you're hunting for a find, grabbing a bite, or just soaking in the neighborhood, Sunday's market is one of the most accessible community events on the Near West Side calendar this weekend.
Keep following Socialhood as 215 N. Racine moves from approval to groundbreaking, The Fulton opens its doors to new tenants on Sangamon Street, and your neighborhood keeps building on everything that makes it one of Chicago's most dynamic places to live.
Sources:
1. https://chicago.urbanize.city/neighborhood/fulton-market
2. https://news.wttw.com/2026-chicago-festival-guide-summer-fall-events