The Newberry Shift: What the Gold Coast’s Retail Realignment Means for Residential Values

The Physical Blueprint: Stripping Away the 1970s Bunker at Newberry Plaza

Total Word Count: 848 words | Estimated Read Time: 3 minutes, 24 seconds

For the past few years, the broader headlines have been eager to write a post-pandemic obituary for Chicago’s premier commercial corridors. While observers fixated on the highly visible vacancies along North Michigan Avenue, those of us anchored in the Gold Coast were watching a completely different game play out at street level. The massive 75,000-square-foot redevelopment of the lower levels at Newberry Plaza—affectionately known as Newberry on the Triangle—is hitting its stride. Demolition crews have begun work at 1030 N. State Street, and it's not just a win for local retail leasing. It is a structural recalibration of the neighborhood's residential gravity.

What 11 East Partners and Blackbird Investment Group are pulling off at the base of this 1973 modernist tower is a direct challenge to its old Brutalist footprint. They are stripping away the uninviting, street-facing concrete walls that historically choked off traffic, extending the floor plates outward to the sidewalk, and wrapping it all in a new multi-colored brick facade with massive window bays. Leopardo Construction is handling the buildout, transforming an isolated, bunker-like podium into an open, highly visible asset directly across from the energy of Mariano Park.

This strategy is a textbook example of institutional validation. Much like we recently called out in Lakeview—where intentional corporate and infrastructure capital stepped in to stabilize and elevate a core residential pocket—the same defensive play is underway here on the Gold Coast. For decades, this pocket was a historic dining hub, defined by the subterranean legacy of Arnie Morton’s original 1978 Morton’s The Steakhouse location, which finally went dark during the 2020 lockdowns. But legacy alone doesn't carry a neighborhood's property values forward. By replacing that old layout with contemporary lifestyle titans, institutional money is stepping in to underwrite the neighborhood's long-term residential value.

The tenant lineup represents massive commitments from major corporate entities. Fitness International LLC—the Irvine, California-based parent company behind LA Fitness—has secured a massive 32,000-square-foot footprint for its ultra-premium concept, Club Studio, filling out the majority of the second floor and the entirety of the third floor. On the ground level, Anthropologie is anchoring a 16,000-square-foot flagship retail presence. Right next to it, Canadian hospitality giant Northland Properties—owned by the billionaire Gaglardi family—is bringing its high-energy, premium-casual dining concept, Moxies, into a 13,600-square-foot space designed to face the Triangle. And don't worry about Dublin's. An institution of its own, the famous eatery is staying put.

The clients we represent today are fiercely data-driven and intensely protective of their time. They are moving away from the old paradigm where luxury means driving twenty minutes to access wellness, premium shopping, and elite dining. They want it curated within a three-block radius of their door. When institutional capital pours millions into transforming a legacy concrete fortress into an open lifestyle hub, it acts as a stabilizing force for the surrounding residential real estate. It validates the heavy carrying costs of nearby co-ops and condos because it directly elevates the daily experience of living in the neighborhood.

Today, we look at where capital is committing long-term. The activity around the Newberry Triangle—complemented by major brands like Kith, Cartier, and Skims anchoring the nearby blocks—demonstrates that the Gold Coast isn’t just retaining its position; it is actively modernizing its defense. In luxury real estate, better simply costs more, and the values of the high-end homes surrounding this corridor are fundamentally tied to the vitality of the streets below them. The noise of the macro headlines is temporary; a structural retail realignment of this scale is a decades-long bet on the neighborhood's enduring premium.

This is an exciting time for the area! 

Learn More About Gold Coast

The Trifecta Edit: The Insider’s Guide to Gold Coast, Streeterville, and River North

— Craig Hogan & Rudy Zavala
Hogan Zavala Group | Engel & Völkers Chicago

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