Roosevelt Square library among projects headed to Chicago Plan Commission this month

The City of Chicago has released the first draft of its agenda for this month’s Plan Commission meeting. The governmental body will vote on a number of zoning changes, Planned Developments, and land transactions necessary to support a variety of new developments across the city.

While the decisions typically require the approval of other groups such as the Committee on Zoning, Committee on Finance, and the full Chicago City Council, the monthly meeting of the Plan Commission provides an enlightening look at some of the new Windy City developments in the pipeline.

Set to be publicly heard on August 17th in Room 201-A at City Hall, here are some of the larger items appearing on the August docket.

Forum Studio

Wilson Avenue and Sheridan Road

↑ Replacing a vacant lot, this Uptown transit-oriented development (TOD) proposal from developer Clayco and architect Forum Studio was first introduced as an eight-story, 147 apartment project before evolving into a more slender 12-story design. Requiring a zoning change from B3-2 to B3-5, the project will now contain 150 dwelling units, ground floor retail, and parking for 29 vehicles.

The Fields

4000-4180 West Diversey Avenue

↑ Known as “The Fields,” this former Marshall Field’s warehouse complex turned loft office development is amending its Planned Development (PD) document to allow for 125 dwelling units and a 3,000-square-foot rooftop addition. The move by developer 4K Diversey Partners away from the originally planned 84 live-work apartments—including a number of larger multi-bedroom units—to smaller “micro apartments” has some Avondale neighborhood activists protesting the change as bad for local families, reported DNAinfo.

Brininstool + Lynch

172 North Ada Street

↑ Naperville, Illinois-based developer Marquette Companies and Chicago architecture firm Brininstool & Lynch are teaming up to redevelop a West Loop surface parking lot at the southwest corner of Lake and Ada with a 13-story apartment building. The transit-oriented proposal calls for 263 rental units, ground floor retail space, and garage parking for 133 cars. Clad in glass, brick, and oxidized Cor-Ten steel, the building will require a zoning change from C1-3 Neighborhood Commercial District to DX-5 Downtown Mixed-Use District.

312 North Carpenter Street

↑ New York-based Madison Capital and D.C.-based ASB Real Estate Investment hope to construct a seven-story office development at the corner of Carpenter Street and Carroll Avenue in the West Loop. The planned 100-foot-tall, brick-clad building comes from Chicago-based Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and would replace an old low-rise industrial structure. As proposed, the development would feature ground floor retail, a rooftop terrace for tenants, and at least 30 on-site parking stalls. The development team is seeking a zoning change from M2-3 Light Industry and C1-3 Neighborhood Commercial to DX-3 Downtown Mixed-Use District.

Jewel-Osco

Cottage Grove and 61st Street

↑ First revealed this Spring, a plan to bring a new Jewel Osco grocery store to Chicago’s Woodlawn Community will go before the commission. If approved, the vacant lot at the northwest corner of 61st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue will be replaced by a 48,000-square-foot supermarket with a drive-through pharmacy lane and a parking lot for 160 vehicles.

SOM

Roosevelt Square Branch Library

↑ The commission will vote to approve a new public library/mixed-income housing development proposed near the intersection of Taylor and Ada streets in Chicago’s University Village/Little Italy neighborhood. A joint project from Chicago Public Libraries and the Chicago Housing Authority, the four-story structure was penned by local architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).

It will feature a Chicago Public Library and community space on the first floor, 73 elderly housing units, extensive rooftop green space, and 35 parking stalls. Two other library/affordable housing “co-location” developments planned for Chicago’s West Ridge and Irving Park neighborhoods passed the Plan Commission in July.

Nick Fotchman

3200 North Clark Street

↑ A recently completed transit-oriented development in Lakeview is going back before the Plan Commission to amend its Planned Development to allow for additional residential units. The eight-story project from developer BlitzLake is looking to grow its 90 rental units by eight—presumably in place of the 5,000 square feet of leasable office space provided directly above its ground floor Target store.

Google Maps

2FM/Kennedy-King College transactions

↑ The Chicago Plan Commission will also vote on measures authorizing the sale of the city’s 18-acre Fleet and Facility Management (2FM) headquarters at 1685 N. Throop as well as the acquisition of land at the former Kennedy-King College campus in Englewood to construct a replacement facility.

With a recently-passed zoning ordinance opening much of the North Branch Industrial Corridor to new, non-industrial uses, the current 2FM site is expected to be sold to developer Sterling Bay for $104.7 million. Partial proceeds from the sale will go towards funding the city’s 311 service and a new 30-acre police and fire training compound in the Garfield Park neighborhood.

• Chicago Plan Commission August agenda [City of Chicago]
• Chicago Development News [Curbed Chicago]