* 1/12/25 - Developers unveil proposal for massive new Bronzeville community (Metropolis Pointe)....
Buzz Sawyer
Developers unveil proposal for massive new Bronzeville community
By Brian J. Rogal | bro...@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHED: December 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM CST | UPDATED: December 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM CST
Developer JC Griffin kicked off a campaign Thursday night to win approval for his ambitious proposal to construct a massive mixed-use community at the northern gateway of Bronzeville.
Metropolis Pointe would provide nearly 600 apartments and about 30 condos at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and 26th Street. The site is sandwiched between McCormick Place Convention Center and the Bronzeville Lakefront mega-development, the former site of Michael Reese Hospital.
Griffin told a Bronzeville community meeting that Metropolis Pointe will be more than a residential development. The first phase will include the construction of a data center, and the heat generated by that facility could help power hundreds of residences, increasing energy efficiency and lowering utility costs.
The 50-story tower would also stand out from Bronzeville’s existing housing, both in scale, and the quality of its amenities, including a proposed 16,800-square-foot “sky veranda” near the rooftop.
“We ultimately want to increase the standard of living,” Griffin said.
The Metropolis Pointe plan still faces hurdles. Griffin Venture Group and its partners need to hold more community meetings to build public support, and then secure the necessary approvals from city planners and City Council. Once those approvals are in hand, Griffin said he can complete a purchase of the 6.59-acre site at 2545 S. Martin L. King Jr. Drive, currently owned by a group of local real estate investors.
“JC and I have talked at length about this project, but for the project to move forward, I need to make sure the folks that live around the development are going to be happy,” Ald. Lamont Robinson, 4th, said at the meeting. “We need to make sure we have the right project.”
Some residents said they were concerned about a data center being included, especially after reading news reports about such facilities using a lot of energy and sometimes raising utility costs.“I feel everything was great until I heard about the data center,” Mercedes Williams said.
Griffin said an onsite data center was key to attracting the investment needed to launch such a huge development, and would have no more impact on the electric bills of Bronzeville residents than data centers built elsewhere in the state.
“As of today, (Metropolis Pointe) will be 100% privately funded,” Griffin said. “We have to include digital infrastructure, or we would not be able to do what we’re proposing.”
Griffin Venture Group secured a letter of interest from Houston-based CenTrio Energy, which maintains downtown Chicago cooling systems serving more than 100 buildings, he said, about developing a plan to use the data center to provide the rest of Metropolis Pointe with energy.
“This is a way to make the data center work for the community,” Griffin said.
Ahmad Shams, director of business development for CenTrio, said energy-hungry data centers generate massive amounts of heat. Instead of a traditional heating plant, it might be possible for Metropolis Pointe to use a distributed energy plant, and draw recycled hot water from the data center’s cooling infrastructure.
“It’s a closed loop that allows utility bills to be decreased,” Shams said.
Leonard McGee, former president of the Gap Community Organization and a 40-year neighborhood resident, said Metropolis Pointe’s high-end apartments and condos, along with new street-level retail and a public plaza, would be a welcome addition to Bronzeville.
“The reality is you have to have a vision, and this is visionary,” he said.
Griffin said Metropolis Pointe will also include “workforce housing,” meaning units affordable to firefighters, postal workers and other civil servants. The percentage of units reserved, and the precise income levels to be served, are still being worked out, he said.
Turqueya Wilson, president of the Bronzeville Chamber of Commerce, asked whether there will be units affordable to those with lower incomes.
“We also have in Bronzeville people who work at McDonalds,” she said.
“In order to do this, it ultimately comes back to returns,” he said.
Griffin said he hopes to secure the necessary approvals from the city in 2026, then buy the land, and kick off development in mid-2027.