Chicago Plan Commission approves Lakeview tower
The Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday approved a proposal to replace a vacant lot in Lakeview on the North Side with a 12-story apartment building.
Builder DLG Development plans to create 188 units, including 38 affordable apartments, at 3611 N. Halsted St., and transform an adjacent alley into a public park.
The $70 million project, called The Phoenix, gained support from Ald. Angela Clay, 46th, along with a number of neighbors, said the city needs more housing and a broader tax base. Other local residents were concerned that the building was too large and out of scale compared to the surrounding area, and conservationists said the plan did not take enough steps to protect migratory birds.
DLG Development still needs the green light from the City Council Zoning Committee and the full City Council.
“Chicago, and Lakeview in particular, where this project will be built, desperately need more housing,” said Zach Welden, who lives nearby. “Developments like this will help curb rising property prices and rents.”
Brandon Willis, a homeowner in the 46th Ward, said proximity to the CTA Red Line and several busy bus routes to the 3600 block of North Halsted Street should ease concerns that the project would choke streets with traffic.
“I drive past this parking lot four or five times a day,” Willis said. “We must have something there.”
The brick-and-masonry-clad building will include 77 underground parking spaces, enough storage space for 188 bicycles and will generate about 32 vehicles per hour during peak hours, said Mark Peters, principal of Studio Dwell Architects, the project’s architect.
It will also include a rooftop garden, ground-floor commercial space and transform part of the south-side alley into a small park open to the public, Peters said.
Many residents of The Dakota Condominiums, located one door north of the site, oppose DLG Development’s proposal.
“The proposed removal of south alley access to Halsted Street is particularly concerning,” said Cameron Thomas, a Dakota resident. “This alley is a public right-of-way relied upon by residents, service providers, emergency vehicles and city operations. Vacating or functionally eliminating this public alley would remove shared public infrastructure for the benefit of a private developer.”
Ald, member of the Planning Commission. Daniel La Spata, 1st, said he liked the idea of using the alley as a park, and that developers in other neighborhoods like Fulton Market, where a development push has brought thousands of new residents but few new park spaces, should consider it.
“It’s a smart way to add open space,” La Spata said.
Butler Adams, a Chicago resident, told commission members that the 137-foot-tall Phoenix should fit in well with the rest of Lakeview.
“It’s not out of scale for the neighborhood, there’s a building 100 feet taller just two blocks to the north,” Adams said.
Christine Esposito, a representative for Bird Friendly Chicago, said her organization has lobbied Chicago developers to adopt design features that experts say protect migratory birds, and she praised some of the Phoenix’s design features. DLG Development agreed to minimize fatal bird collisions by using steel balcony railings and exterior dark-sky lighting, she said, but the developer should also include bird-friendly windows.
“Any untreated glass will pose a deadly danger to birds,” she said. “No one wants to see a bird hit a building and fall dead to the ground.”
La Spata, who voted in favor of the new development, said he hoped the developer and architect could come up with a plan to improve the bird-protecting features before submitting it to the council’s zoning committee.
The Plan Commission also approved construction of a 54-unit supportive housing development at 4432 N. Clarendon Ave. in Uptown by Sarah’s Circle, an Illinois nonprofit that serves women at risk of homelessness.
Commission members also approved the development of hundreds of new apartments in the Fulton Market neighborhood, including a proposal for a 29-story, 347-unit building at 215 N. Racine Ave. by Domus Real Estate Group. There would be 70 affordable housing units.
Zoning Administrator and Plan Commission member Patrick Murphey opposed the Domus project as proposed, saying the zoning classification necessary for such a tall, dense building was generally reserved for downtown.
The Commissioner of the Ministry of Planning and Development, Ciere Boatright and Ald. Walter Redmond Burnett, 27th, supported the $175 million project and said it would help the city alleviate its long-standing housing shortage.
The Plan Commission voted 11-2 to send it to the Zoning Board with a positive recommendation.
“We need jobs and housing,” Burnett said.
