New Housing OK’d For Avondale, McKinley Park, Streeterville And Across From Johnny’s Icehouse

CITY HALL — Two large developments pitched for Avondale and McKinley Park that include both apartments and townhomes were advanced Tuesday by a key City Council panel.

The council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards also OK’d numerous other projects across the city, including a Streeterville hotel-to-residential conversion and an apartment building on the West Side. All of the approved projects must still win final approval from the full City Council, which meets Wednesday.

The Avondale proposal at 3231-65 N. California Ave. near Melrose Street is backed by local development firm Stocking Urban, in partnership with construction company Macon Construction.

The final development plan was greenlit on Tuesday after neighborhood feedback resulted in earlier plans being downscaled due to concerns over density, parking and traffic. The project was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission earlier this month.

The approved proposal calls for 105 housing units, with 40 townhomes and 65 apartments, down from a previous proposal of 152 units. The $65 million plan replaces the northernmost apartment building included in the first proposal with 14 three-story townhomes.

The latest proposal will have 107 parking spaces, according to zoning attorney Michael Ezgur. Notably, the townhomes on the site will be available for rent, not purchase.

The updated development plan also calls for 21 units for families at below-market rates, in line with the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance. That includes 13 apartments for residents making between 40-80 percent of the area median income and eight townhomes for those making 50-70 percent of the area income, according to the development team.

On Tuesday, Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th), whose ward includes the site, praised the development and the compromise project.

“When the developer came forward and proposed this residential development, residents had expressed the desire to have something there,” Quezada said. “The original proposal was something that residents felt like was a little bit too dense for that little corner of Avondale, and so through our process, through community feedback, the project was revised, and we landed at 105 units with 21 affordable units.”

Rents for the townhomes, which would have a two-car garage and three to four bedrooms, would start at $6,000, while rents for the apartments, which would vary in layout, start at $2,500-$3,000 for the market-rate units, Rolando Acosta, another zoning attorney for the development team, previously said.

Here are more details on the McKinley Park development as well as on additional projects advanced by the zoning committee Tuesday:

McKinley Park Mixed-Use Development

In McKinley Park on the Southwest Side, a similar development including both apartments and townhomes is slated to come to 3033 S. Justine St., near the Ashland Orange Line station. The site is currently a vacant manufacturing building, zoning attorney Tyler Manic said.

The project will include one commercial building with almost 16,000 square feet of retail space and two residential apartment buildings with a total of 199 units, plus nine townhomes.

Forty-two units will be earmarked as affordable in line with city regulations. The overall unit-size breakdown includes 48 one-bedrooms, 85 two-bedrooms and 33 three-bedrooms. Some 165 parking spaces will be built at the development.

Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th), whose ward includes the site, called the project a “transformation” as the neighborhood seeks to revitalize parts of its formerly industrial areas.

“The mixed-use is going to also promote mom-and-pop shops as well, which people are always looking for in order to support in our community,” she said. “More importantly, the location of this new development is close to the Orange Line train station, and so we’re really excited to be able to create housing in a [transit-served] development area.”

Streeterville Hotel Residential Conversion

The zoning committee on Tuesday also advanced plans by the owners of a Streeterville hotel near Michigan Avenue to convert the building into rental apartments. It’s the latest example of Chicago’s ongoing residential conversion boom — although many of those projects are in former office buildings.

Churchwick Partners has partnered with bKL Architecture to turn the Sonesta ES Suites at 201 E. Walton Place into a 221-unit residential building, after acquiring it last year.

The 18-story building was actually constructed as an apartment building in the 1950s, although has been a hotel since the 1980s, attorney Danielle Cassel said on Tuesday.

The project will be entirely privately funded, Cassel said, and is essentially “shovel-ready.”

If fully approved, hotel use at the site would end by December, with construction to follow, according to Urbanize Chicago. Seventy-two existing parking spaces in the hotel would remain, according to materials submitted to the city.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) announced his support for the redevelopment in a newsletter last month.

“All units will be fully renovated, and resident amenities will be added. Substantial improvements to the building’s street frontage (aesthetic and functional security technology) will be included as well,” Hopkins wrote. “I am especially proud to support this addition of housing stock to our neighborhood as there is also further development momentum along Michigan Avenue.”

West Side Apartment Buildings

Plans for several apartment buildings in West Town and East Garfield Park were also advanced by the zoning committee on Tuesday.

Developer Dan Popovych is seeking to build two five-story, mixed-use apartment buildings at 2315 and 2323 W. Grand Ave.

Taken together, the buildings will include 68 units and ground-floor retail, according to zoning attorney Fred Agustin.

And in East Garfield Park, a developer is planning to construct a 42-unit apartment building on a vacant lot at 2553-2565 W. Madison St., across the street from Johnny’s Icehouse West ice rink.

The development will also include 20 interior parking spaces. The site is currently owned by the city of Chicago but will be sold for market value, around $500,000, attorney Agnes Plecka said on Tuesday.

Ald. Walter Red Burnett (27th) praised the apartment proposal on Tuesday, and said it represents a “really exciting opportunity” for East Garfield Park, which has long struggled to attract meaningful investment.

“We’re doing a ton of work with the Department of Planning … and bringing back housing and density to an area that is historically very rich and vibrant of culture, and it’s been around 70 years since it’s had that type of energy, and so this is one of the first projects that institutes the ideology of what we’re trying to do, in growing in that area,” Burnett said.