Massive rental project planned for Broadway Treasure Island site clears key vote

A transit-oriented apartment development that has the potential to reshape a stretch of Broadway left vacant after the neighborhood’s Treasure Island grocery store closed in 2018 is moving forward in Lakeview—albeit with a revised design.

The Chicago Plan Commission officially signed-off on the seven-story proposal for 3460 N. Broadway, submitted by developer-architect Optima, Inc. Although the dense project will bring 208 rental units and 97 parking spaces to the site of the former supermarket, the building is noticeably smaller than the eight-story proposal first presented to neighbors.

The earlier design had called for 250 apartments and featured a sawtooth all-glass facade fronting Broadway. The latest proposal ditches the angles of the previous iteration for a flatter street-facing elevation and swaps out some sections of glass for swaths of dark brick and in-set balconies.

The Optima Lakeview development faced pushback from some neighbors after its initial debut last summer. Complaints focused on the project’s height and density, according to Chicago Tribune. In November, Alderman Tom Tunney (44th) told the newspaper that his office was working on fine-tuning and downsizing the proposal, adding that “there is going to be density, and it’s going to be anywhere from five to seven stories.”

With the alderman’s support and the Plan Commission’s backing secured, the current version of the Optima Lakeview plan will still require additional votes by the Chicago City Council for the requested zoning change to take effect.