At 65 E. Wacker Place, the nearly 100-year-old Millinery Mart Building is moving into its next life. Mavrek Development, Cross Street and ACRES Commercial Realty have begun pre-leasing for Wacker Place, a 252-unit apartment conversion scheduled for August move
For generations of Chicago milliners, the building at 65 E. Wacker Place wasn’t just an address. It was where women’s hats were made. sold. and shipped—commonly recognized as the Millinery Mart Building. a hub that drew wholesalers to what was designed as the Merchandise Mart for the millinery industry.
Now, as pre-leasing begins for the next chapter, the terra cotta, limestone and brick-clad structure is setting its sights on residents instead of wholesalers.
Chicago-based Mavrek Development and Cross Street, along with capital partner ACRES Commercial Realty, have started pre-leasing for Wacker Place at 65 E. Wacker Place. The first residents are expected to move into the 252-unit building in August.
The project carries the weight of nearly 100 years in the Loop. The building—designed in 1928 by Rissman & Hirschfeld, which later became FitzGerald Associates Architects—was built to serve the hatmaking industry. About one-third of the city’s millinery wholesalers occupied the space. It was also once home to the offices of Esquire magazine.
Today, Morton’s The Steakhouse occupies the bottom two floors and will remain open during construction. Once the conversion is complete, it will be the building’s sole commercial tenant.
Inside the restoration work, Mavrek’s team says it has tried to preserve more than the shell. Alicia Frame. director of operations and communications at Mavrek. said the developers plan to celebrate the building and its history as it approaches its centennial. While working on the structure, the team found original blueprints and other artifacts. Frame said those blueprints and findings will be placed throughout the building’s residential floors.
Other historic elements are also planned to remain. In the renovated lobby, an original U.S. Postal Service mail shoot—now decommissioned—will stay. An ornate door has been moved up to the third floor to serve as the entryway to the building’s fitness room. Frame said the Wacker Place logo. a flower. is a nod to the terra cotta flowers surrounding the building’s front doors.
The Wacker Place project is budgeted at $106 million, supported by $17 million in historic tax credits, according to Frame.
Construction has been underway since September 2025, according to Michael Sinickas, project manager at McHugh Construction. The residential floors—four through 24—will each contain 12 units. The mix ranges from studios and convertibles to one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Monthly rent starts from $2,195.
Of the 252 units, 51 will be designated affordable under Chicago’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance. The apartments will include in-unit washer and dryers, quartz countertops, and luxury appliances.
Erin Higgins, vice president of leasing and management at Cross Street, said pre-leasing is off to a “strong start.” She said the building will be fully delivered by November.
Amenities are set to include a fitness room with a yoga studio. a coworking lounge and a resident lounge with a fireplace and demonstration kitchen. On the 25th floor—Zielinkski said it used to house a “card room” for exclusive games—the building is being built out with a rooftop lounge featuring wraparound views. The rooftop will offer a glimpse of Lake Michigan to the Carbide & Carbon Building as well as the Chicago River.
Zielinkski described the building’s position in the city as a meeting point of eras. “We’re in the center of … historic Chicago and newer Chicago,” he said.
That sense of continuity is part of why the conversion is being watched in a broader wave of change downtown. Wacker Place is joining a slew of office-to-residential conversions in the city’s core that are giving new life to empty office buildings. But the pace here is tied to money and timing: unlike other conversions—such as those under the city’s LaSalle Corridor Revitalization initiative—the lack of city funding has allowed the project to move faster.
As of June. 25 office-to-residential conversions are underway in Downtown—more than the last 20 years combined. according to the city’s Department of Planning and Development. The city estimates the conversions will create more than 3. 900 units of housing and will replace 4 million square feet of vacant office space.
For Wacker Place, the storyline is straightforward: the Loop is turning a former hatmaking monument into homes, starting in August, with a delivery targeted for November—while keeping key pieces of the building’s past visible to the people who will live there next.
Chicago news Loop Wacker Place 65 E. Wacker Place office to residential conversion Millinery Mart Building Mavrek Development Cross Street ACRES Commercial Realty historic tax credits affordable units Morton’s The Steakhouse
So they’re turning a hat building into apartments?? Isn’t that like… taking over a landmark for rich people?
Wait I thought Morton’s was there permanently. How can they keep it open if they’re doing construction to convert the whole thing? Feels like a mess already.
It says millinery mart so I assumed it was already apartments or something? Like Chicago never leaves anything alone, always changing names and charging more rent. Also “Loop lease starts” sounds like it’s gonna be all corporate and not for normal folks.
August move in, 252 units… that’s a lot. Are they gonna keep the old hat shipping stuff? I’m just confused why a 100-year-old building for hats needs apartments, like people don’t even wear hats anymore anyway. Also Esquire magazine offices?? That part feels random to mention but ok.