Developer Plots 340 New Residences As North Branch Transformation Poised To Ramp Up
By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 19, 2017 6:30PM
The ink is barely dry on the official go-ahead of the North Branch Framework, but the sweeping redevelopment that it augured already seems to be already be picking up its entirely expected steam.
The plan opens the door for all kinds of changes, but it looks like one of the early major potential ones is (perhaps unsurprisingly) a residential-plus-retail pitch: a local luxury developer is looking to purchase a prime slice of real estate in the former industrial corridor with designs to build 340 condominiums and apartments, according to the Tribune.
The 4.5-acre plot lies between North Elston Avenue, West Webster Avenue and the railroad tracks behind the Bucktown Mariano's, on Ashland Avenue. Perhaps a portent of windfalls to come, the developers, the Chicago-based Belgravia Group, would buy the parcel for around $20 million if the deal goes through, according to the Tribune. The mixed-user would see some 90 condos and 250 apartments, plus some 60,000 square foot of retail space.
The proposal would need a zoning change to actually come to fruition. Some aldermen whose wards fall in or around the North Branch corridor were anxious that an influx of new residents and (in their view) not enough new green space would burden already stressed public park space; and some, such as Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), worried that manufacturers would be incentivized to cash out.
As the Tribune mentions, other preliminary plans had emerged for some space within the corridor ahead of the city's official approval, with Sterling Bay ponying up for the former Finkl Steel site, for $140 million, last year.
The North Branch was OK'd by the Plan Commission in May and will guide necessary zoning changes for the influx of incoming interests, be they business (the corridor had already begun transforming into something of a tech hub), retail or residential. Or as we're apparently seeing already, some mix of the above. We get the feeling it'll be one well-thumbed framework over the next several years.
[H/T Curbed Chicago]