Mixed-Use ‘Lawndale ReDefined’ Apartment Building Gets City Council Approval

NORTH LAWNDALE — A mixed-use, mixed-income development slated for a vacant property along the Ogden Avenue corridor in North Lawndale has won zoning approval from the City Council.

Developers Griggs Real Estate Ventures, 548 Development and Imagine Group plan to construct a six-story, 59-unit apartment building at 3400-3436 W. Ogden Ave. on property that will be acquired from the city. It’ll be called Lawndale ReDefined.

The building’s ground floor will include retail spaces and a 72-space bike parking room. Forty-eight of the 59 apartments will be earmarked as affordable in accordance with the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance, attorney Sylvia Michas, who is representing the developer, said at a Tuesday meeting of the City Council’s zoning committee.

Fifteen parking spaces will be at the rear of the property, and a public plaza and playground will be constructed “for the use and enjoyment by community residents,” according to documents submitted to the city.

The development site qualifies as a transit-served location due to its proximity to the Central Park Pink Line station and Ogden Avenue bus corridor. That means developers can build fewer parking spaces than at a typical development.

Lawndale ReDefined has been in the works for several years under the city’s Invest South/West initiative, launched by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Previous plans for a hotel on the site did not move forward.

Ogden Avenue in North Lawndale has seen an influx of developments in recent years as the city works with private developers and social service organizations to revitalize the area.