Current plans call for a three-stage development process. Ultimately the three-tower project could include 850 condominium units, a grocery store, fitness center and 200-key hotel. The towers are likely to range between 20 to 45 stories tall.

Before breaking ground later this year, Sedgwick Properties is asking the city to re-zone the area and approve $40-million to $50-million tax-increment financing.

Phase one will include the construction of a two-story retail facility with a parking garage sitting on top of the retail component. Next, Sedgwick Properties will build a 20-story facility with 150 condos. Construction on this tower, which will sit at the corner of Montrose and Clarendon avenues, is slated to begin in 2011.

"It's going to happen. But it's not going to be easy to get done," Marty Paris, head of Sedgwick Properties, tells Crain's in the report. "It's one of very few parcels left available on the lakefront in the best of the North Side neighborhoods. To us, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Other projects by Sedgwick Properties include Old Towne Place at 437 W. North Ave.; Park View East at 828 W. Grace St.; Marquee Michigan Avenue at 1464 S. Michigan Ave.; Terrazio at 1935 S. Wabash Ave.; Century Station at 6800 Stanley Ave. in Berwyn, IL; and Tower on the Park at 1950 Logan St. in Denver.

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