Photos: A 'Transit-Oriented' Lakeview Development Is Replacing The Alley

By Mae Rice in News on Mar 9, 2016 5:08PM

The new development replacing the Alley (rendering from Jonathan Splitt Architects)

Logan Square isn’t the only neighborhood getting a transit-oriented development (TOD). There are two other TODs planned next door to each other in Lakeview, just off the Belmont stop, and the most recently announced one will occupy the building punk and goth shop the Alley just left (after throwing its own funeral).

Construction hasn’t begun on the project yet, but the Lakeview area’s alderman, Tom Tunney (44th), recently posted plans and renderings for the forthcoming development on his website. Designed by Jonathan Splitt Architects, the seven-story building is slated to house 23 apartments and about 2,500 square feet of retail space, making for a roughly 30,000-square-foot development overall.

The new development replacing the Alley (rendering from Jonathan Splitt Architects)

The plans call for the building’s existing facade to be restored, though Curbed notes that the Alley’s famous gargoyles do not appear in the renderings. Due to its proximity to the Belmont Red Line stop, the TOD doesn’t have to meet typical parking requirements. This development will have only six parking spaces, three covered and three outdoors.

Construction on another TOD right next door to the Alley is what “really slaughtered” the store, its erstwhile owner Mark Thomas told Chicagoist in January. That TOD, which Thomas called “stupid,” is slated to be an even bigger development than the one described above, according to Curbed: an eight-story building with 90 apartments, 39 parking spaces, and a Target Express.