The Harris Trust and Savings Bank building at 111 W. Monroe St. is pictured. [Chicago Department of Planning and Development presentation]

The City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards on Tuesday will consider a proposal that’s part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to cut bureaucratic hurdles, a landmark designation crucial to a downtown office-to-housing conversion project and a proposed downtown cannabis dispensary. 

The zoning committee will meet at 10 a.m. in council chambers.

The committee will consider an ordinance (O2025-0015577) that would allow minimum parking requirements to be reduced to zero for properties located near Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) or Metra train station entrances and exits and CTA bus corridor stations.  

The proposal would also allow developments that fall under the Affordable Requirements Ordinance and are located near public transit to reduce their minimum lot area and increase their floor area ratio without having to go through the rezoning process or planned development review process. 

The ordinance is in line with recommendations from the mayor’s Cut the Tape initiative report. 

Alderpeople will also consider a substitute to an ordinance (O2025-0016695) to restrict the amount of public-facing window space a business could obstruct with signage to 25 percent or less and would specify that buildings that are two stories or less — which can install signage on up to 33 percent of their wall area — may not use their window glazing in their wall area calculations. The original ordinance, introduced by the mayor, was deferred in May. The substitute was not available on the City Clerk’s website by Monday afternoon. 

The zoning committee will also consider a proposed landmark designation (O2025-0017334) for the Harris Trust and Savings Bank building at 111 W. Monroe St. in the 34th Ward, which is planned to undergo an adaptive reuse to turn vacant commercial space into housing. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks recommended approval of the designation in April. 

Related: Landmark commission recommends designation for latest adaptive reuse proposal downtown 

The building was constructed in 1911 and includes a 1960 addition known as the East Tower. The original portion of the building was designed by the firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, which also designed the Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Cultural Center. The addition was designed by Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and supervised by noted designer Walter Netsch. 

Developers Prime Group Inc. and Capri Investor LLC are planning a $179.2 million adaptive reuse project to turn 14 floors of vacant commercial space into 345 residential units, 104 of which would be affordable. 

The zoning committee will also consider the approval of an adult-use cannabis dispensary in vacant retail space at the corner of West Madison Street and South Clark Street, roughly 101-115 W. Madison St. and 2-4 S. Clark St., in the 34th Ward, which will be preceded by a required public hearing before the committee gets underway. 

The applicants are seeking authorization (O2025-0016450) to operate a dispensary on the first and second floors of the existing building. The property’s DC-16 Downtown Core District zoning designation would remain the same.