The city hopes to reach a memorandum of intent with a master developer in July for the 2.8-acre site bounded by State, Washington, Randolph and Dearborn streets.

Retail REIT General Growth Properties Inc. is teaming with Higgins Development Partners while Urban Retail Properties Inc. is involved with the developer Steven Fifield's bid. Wheeling, IL-based Joseph Freed Co., involved in such projects as a mixed-use development in Downtown Palatine as well as a condominium and retail redevelopment of Uptown's former Goldblatt's property, is linked with the high-end condominium developer Fordham Co. MCL Cos., whose last completed project was the Embassy Suites in the River East area, is hooked up with the Mills Corp.

Among those taking a pass were Beitler Co., Forest City, Jones Lang LaSalle, Legacy Development, McCaffery Interests, Northern Realty and Tishman-Speyer. Representatives from those firms were present at a pre-submittal conference last month hosted by the department of planning and development.

City department of planning and development officials told interested teams they envision a phased development, and are unsure how much public money will be available for the next project. The city committed nearly $40 million in subsidies for a $250-million mixed-use project that was doomed in part by a collapse of the hotel lending market. Also, tax increment financing expires in 2007.

Meanwhile, London-based Harrod's is eying the site, across from Marshall Field's, for a department store.