The project, dubbed Logan’s Crossing, will be one of the neighborhood’s largest when it rises where the indoor flea market once stood.

LOGAN SQUARE — The word “transformative” was used again and again to describe the massive mixed-use development coming to the former Megamall site at Thursday’s official groundbreaking ceremony.

The project, dubbed Logan’s Crossing, will be one of the neighborhood’s largest when it rises in the 2500 block of North Milwaukee Avenue where the indoor flea market once stood.

Plans call for 220 apartments, 62,000 square feet of retail space, including a small-format Target and an adjacent 44-spot parking lot for shoppers. The development will be split into two buildings connected by a skybridge and anchored by a clock tower. Tenants will have access to an outdoor pool, bocce ball court and a fitness club, among other amenities.

Developers will set aside 10 percent of the apartments as affordable housing, officials confirmed Thursday.

Though construction started several weeks ago, the development team, their various partners and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) all convened for a ceremony Thursday morning at the construction site to congratulate each other on getting the project past the planning finish line and into the construction phase.

“Today you can’t find an apartment building that provides the amenities and ease of Downtown living that these renters desire in Logan Square, which is why we’re incredibly proud to be developing the first of its kind with Logan’s Crossing,” Lindsey Senn, vice president at development firm Fifield Companies, said during her remarks.

Waguespack, whose ward includes the project, took to the podium next to praise Senn, who brokered the deal, and her team, along with project partners Terraco and Antunovich Associates, for their hard work over the last several years.

“It’s really going to result in a transformative property and a transformative location here in Logan Square,” said Waguespack, one of a few speakers to use the word at the event.

The alderman continued, saying, “I know I joke about it sometimes, and all jokes aside, the effort that went into this is a lot more than just the financing, a lot more than just going back and forth on email. It was several meetings with a lot of neighbors. Our first meeting was probably a record that I’ve had. It was probably about 450 people at the first meeting. To get through that, and have this final product that we have today, says a lot about the entire team here.”

The Megamall building came down last March, but the site sat empty until this summer, when construction crews started excavation.

Randy Fifield, co-owner of Fifield Companies, said of the lag time: “We work very hard as developers to meet with the neighborhood, the alderman, the city of Chicago, bankers. Mindful development takes time. When things come too quickly, that’s usually a sign that somebody is not dotting their ‘I’s and crossing their ‘T’s .”

The indoor flea market lasted more than 20 years, despite being slapped with more than 100 building code violations, a yearlong shutdown, a move by the city to seize it via eminent domain and a 2007 fire that reduced the showroom space to less than a third of its original size.

The redevelopment project is the latest large-scale development to join the neighborhood. As of 2015, Logan Square’s development boom had brought more than 1,000 luxury apartments to the neighborhood, and that number has only increased since then.

Fifield said she’s confident demand hasn’t waned.

“We own a number of workforce housing developments in Logan Square and already turnover is very low. People like to be here, and they need more housing here,” Fifield said.

Fifield and Senn declined to disclose how much the project will cost in total, saying they don’t openly discuss figures. But early reports pegged it as a $100 million development.

Aside from the small-format Target, which replaced Jewel-Osco as the grocery tenant, no other retail tenants have been formally announced. Fifield said they’re in talks with several potential tenants, however. She said to expect a restaurant, as well as smaller businesses like a pet store and nail salon.

The development team is expecting to start move-ins next November.