Friday, October 26, 2012

Somerset Development Community Meeting Planned

Great Somerset Info from Margate Park Block Club and Joe Trendl:

All neighbors from Broadway to Marine Drive, Lawrence to Foster are invited to the community presentation of the Somerset Development plan.

November 15, 2012 6:30PM
Margate Field House 4921 N Marine Drive


Last night, Block Club Leaders had an initial meeting with the principals and representatives of Somerset and we were presented with the plan for the re-development of the Somerset property at 5009 N Sheridan (Sheridan & Argyle). In addition to the Block Club Leaders from: Gunnison, Castlewood, Margate Park Block Club, Winmore, Carmen Winona also present was Uptown United, Alderman Osterman & Dan Luna.

The meeting was held at Self-Help Senior Home on Argyle and our thanks to Hedy Ciocci, her team and the residents for their gracious hospitality.

Somerset is now owned by Zidan Management Group, www.zidans.com.  Fitzgerald Associates Architects will do the redevelopment plan (Chicago since 1919).

We were told that we are still at a conceptual level in the planning, but as structured, the plan is to keep the current entrance on Sheridan as is.

There will be commercial /retail space at the ground level on Sheridan and on Argyle.  There will be a small parking lot on the north side of the property for 17 cars, with entry off Sheridan Road, along with a necessary curb cut. The parking lot will be narrow and per city guidelines will be one way east with exit into the alley. The Landscaping Ordinance and its parking lot requirements will be adhered to.

A deal has been struck between Zidans Management and the owners of the Aon bldg on Broadway to provide up to 100 additional parking spaces for Somerset residents at a deep discount to market rate (Zidans will pick up the majority share of the monthly parking fee, the remainder to be paid by the residents who opt for the parking).

A property manager or maintenance person will live on premise.  There will be 160 rental units at market rate:
  • 61% will be One Bedroom (approx 700 square ft)-market rate rent of $1450 / month
  • 11% will be Two Bedrooms (approx 1200 square ft)-market rate rent of $1900 / month
  • 28% Studios (approx 500 square feet)-$976 rent/month
Per city CPAN Ordinance, 10% of those units will be set aside (16 total). These units per the city will carry a lower monthly rent for those who apply to the city and qualify and then must be re-qualified to Zidans' standards. THIS IS NOT SUBSIDIZED HOUSING. The plan was originally instituted to help teachers, firefighters, etc afford housing in the city. The rent is reduced to $723/studio; $764 1 Bedroom; $920-2 bedroom and these are set by the city.

The property will be bike and pet friendly.

The owners are leaning toward small privately held businesses for the commercial spaces whenever possible. They will NOT allow liquor stores, bars or nightclubs but will allow restaurants that have a liquor license. The facade will be repaired where needed and the window arches will be restored along Argyle. Depending on the type of businesses attracted the Sheridan Road windows may be altered or enlarged. Unfortunately all of the original terra cotta has been removed and or lost.

The name Somerset will remain as will the phone number.

THERE WILL BE NO SECTION 8 or other subsidized housing.  They will work with the Alderman's office on a best practice solution for screening potential residents and already have a robust system in place for their other properties.  There will be an internal laundry. The lobby space will be preserved and returned to its original look.  There are 9 floors with the 9th floor to be a 'penthouse' setup----2 larger, 2 bedroom units
Roof deck garden at the south roof area for residents to use. The property will be re-zoned back to the previous zoning designation in order to allow for commercial businesses.  Best efforts to have any delivery traffic approach from Sheridan Road to the parking lot and exit alley to Argyle.

Land acquisition: $3 million
Renovation Cost: $12- $15 million
Total Project Cost: $15-$18 million

Lender: JP Morgan Chase (project is pre-approved for up to 100% financing and JPM is the banker for all Zidan projects)

Anticipated date of construction: March 2013
Anticipated date of completion: March 2014

Thanks to Joe Trendl for the detailed notes.

8 comments:

  1. Huge win for the area...pretty much perfect.

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  2. The developer is doing 100% of the financing?

    In a down economy?

    I must be dreaming.

    For years we'd been told that without a TIF, there'd be no way -whatsoever- that we'd see new development in this area.

    On top of that, a public meeting?!

    The world is just going crazy.

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  3. WOO-HOO!!!!

    and wow, take a look at Google street view of this dump taken in April 2009:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=somerset+place+chicago&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=35466521&biw=1241&bih=800&wrapid=tlif135127226830310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

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  4. Sounds like it is going to be a really nice, high quality development.

    Two words - MARKET RATE!

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  5. VERY exciting news! Sounds like a classy joint.

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  6. This plus the 5050 Sheridan property... we're gonna have so many new residents... We SERIOUSLY need a decent gym in this area!

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  7. That's market rate? I lived in Uptown for years and NEVER paid anything that high.

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  8. Market rates change over the years. They tend to increase overall.

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