• Posted: September 12, 2018
• Community Building

Many IBEW Local 134 electricians spend their entire careers bouncing from one jobsite to the next, coming in and constructing the electrical footprint before moving on to their next task. But what if, for the next 15-20 years, an electrician could commute to the same jobsite, work on the same project, and help develop Chicago’s next transformative neighborhood? That’s one potential benefit to Related Midwest’s next big idea.

“This is a 15-20-year project,” said Don Biernacki, Senior Vice President at Related Midwest. “You could stay here for nearly your entire career. How often does that happen? You can move from one building to the next and you have another right around the corner. We’re extremely excited about this and really look forward to this project.”

The project, called The 78, is a new, mixed-use development just west of the South Loop. The 78 will be bordered by Clark St., Roosevelt Rd., 16th St., and the Chicago River where prime real estate has sat undeveloped for decades. Now, Related Midwest is set to tackle the land and develop Chicago’s next great neighborhood.

“It’s 62 acres of vacant land that is a wonderful blank slate for us to put together a plan that not only supports the amazing mixed-use concept that we have but that also will finally connect the downtown area with some of the communities down there like Chinatown, West Pilsen, and Bronzeville,” Biernacki said.

The 78 won’t just positively impact Chicago residents looking for a new place to live, or provide an economic boost to the city’s economy with premier office space for world-class corporations; it will also be a boon for the city’s construction unions.

“We anticipate that we will need 10,000 to 12,000 tradespeople to complete this project,” Biernacki said. “That doesn’t even count construction management and others involved with that aspect of this job. It doesn’t include architects, engineers, or other professional services either.”

The 78 will impact Chicago’s construction unions for years to come, but the project won’t be an easy task. It’s one of the largest development projects in Chicago’s history, and a first-of-its-kind for Biernacki.

“The challenge to this is just the scale on so many different levels,” Biernacki said. “It’s a planning exercise, it involves transportation, the riverfront, it involves good construction, and we have to work with the right apprentices.”

“For someone born and raised in Chicago not too far from here, this is what it’s all about. To have the opportunity to do this and draw in other Chicagoans who are a part of this community is great.”