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Windy City Magazine
Discover Chicagoland and the Businesses That Drive It
Downtown Chicago

River North

River North is the wedge of the Near North Side between the Chicago River on the south and west, Chicago Avenue on the north and Michigan Avenue on the east, part of the Downtown Chicago group. The city has no separate community area for the neighborhood; officially the blocks are part of the Near North Side, according to WTTW. The Merchandise Mart fills the riverfront at Wells Street, and Art on the Mart, the digital projection show on the building’s south face, runs in warmer months.

This was a district of breweries, tanneries and warehouses in the 1800s, and the brick loft buildings that survived became galleries, restaurants and offices. The gallery cluster around Franklin, Superior and Huron gave the area the River North name in the 1970s, and the restaurant density along Hubbard, Clark and Kinzie followed. Today the neighborhood is steakhouses, hotel bars and tech offices by day, and nightlife on Hubbard Street and Clark Street after dark. Residents get a short walk to the Loop, the Riverwalk and the Magnificent Mile, and they accept weekend noise as part of the deal.

Housing and prices

Housing is loft conversions in former warehouses along Kinzie, Hubbard and Franklin, plus glass condo and rental towers built since the 1990s along the river and around Ohio and Ontario. Construction dates run from the 1880s to the present. Condos typically range from about $350,000 for a one-bedroom to $2 million or more for river-view units in newer towers. These are broad editorial estimates as of September 2026, not appraisals. Timber-loft units with exposed brick tend to hold value, and rentals in the tall new buildings on Kingsbury and Wells set the top of the market.

Getting around

The Brown and Purple Lines stop at Merchandise Mart and Chicago (Franklin), the Red Line stops at Grand and Chicago under State Street, and the Blue Line stops at Grand under Milwaukee. The 22 Clark, 36 Broadway, 65 Grand and 66 Chicago buses cross the neighborhood, and the Ohio and Ontario Street feeder ramps put drivers onto the Kennedy Expressway within a few blocks. Lower Wacker Drive handles cross-downtown traffic. Divvy docks are common. Street parking is metered on the main streets, with residential permit zones on a few side streets and garages under most towers.

Where to eat, drink and shop

Mornings start with doughnuts. https://windycitymagazine.com/business/doughnut-vault/ sells out early from a tiny Franklin Street storefront, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/firecakes-donuts/ on Hubbard keeps longer hours. Deep dish history sits at https://windycitymagazine.com/business/pizzeria-uno/ on Ohio Street, where the style was born in 1943, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/portillos-river-north/ on Ontario is the tourist stop for Chicago dogs and beef. The two Italian beef stands people argue about are here too: https://windycitymagazine.com/business/mr-beef/ on Orleans. On Grand Avenue, https://windycitymagazine.com/business/sushi-san/ runs a loud sushi and hip-hop room downstairs while https://windycitymagazine.com/business/the-omakase-room/ upstairs seats a handful for a set menu.

Drinks lean tropical and smoky on Clark Street. https://windycitymagazine.com/business/three-dots-and-a-dash/ is the tiki bar below street level, and https://windycitymagazine.com/business/bar-sotano/ is the Bayless family’s mezcal bar next door to Frontera. For a quieter afternoon, the https://windycitymagazine.com/business/driehaus-museum/ on Erie Street is a restored Gilded Age mansion with rotating exhibitions.

Businesses in River North

Directory listings in River North, in alphabetical order.

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