The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday its first interest rate cut since the pandemic, a move real estate developers say could eventually help kick off the construction of new apartment complexes across downtown Chicago and dot the skyline with cranes. Thousands of residents want to move downtown, especially to amenity-rich neighborhoods in the West Loop such as Fulton Market, and developers have been aching to break ground on new projects, but some proposals got too costly after the Fed began hiking interest rates in 2022. “We need to have cranes in the sky,” said Regina Stilp, founding principal of Farpoint Development, one of the developers aiming to build a 7 million-square-foot innovation hub on the former site of Michael Reese Hospital in Bronzeville.