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| 4730-52 N. Clark (Hanna Architects) |
In May, we were first to break the story about the pending sale of the former C4 property spanning 4730-52 N. Clark.
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| 4730-52 N. Clark (Google) |
Fencing has been up for several weeks now in anticipation of demolition, which has passed initial review but is pending City approval.
Today we got our first glimpse of the proposal along with some detail about the building to be.
We speculated that owner / builder Raftery Construction might elect to build a 3 or 4 story building "as of right" based on the C2-2 Zoning.
But it appears that Raftery is going bigger, MUCH bigger, with a proposed 6-story 95-unit rental development that will require a zoning change and aldermanic approval.
Per the 47th Ward's summary of the plans:
The proposed unit mix is 20 1-bedrooms, 70 2-bedrooms, and 5 3-bedrooms. 19 of the total units would be designated as affordable units under the ARO. The building would contain 40 off-street parking spaces and 95 bike parking spaces. In collaboration with the park district, the applicant is proposing to convert the south portion of the alley into publicly accessible green space.
The proposed building would house rental units, rather than condos.
Designer Hanna Architects' design shows a building that covers the entire footprint of the property other than the privately owned "alley" that is next to the southernmost building. Raftery and Hanna propose making the alley into greenspace that will flow into Chase Park. The developers also pledge to plant trees along the eastern and southern faces of the building.
The building will be energy efficient, with bird protections and onsite EV charging.
With the zoning change, the building will have 6850 square feet of retail that will occupy the first floor. This is relevant because the proposal also calls for the elimination of all 5 of the remaining parking spots currently on the west side of the street. Given the fact that the building has fewer spots than residents (a good thing), there will be some impact on the viability of the proposed retail space. Local businesses have repeatedly complained to us about having fewer customers due to the lack of parking options, and the elimination of more parking will not help Raftery to fill the space. (EDIT: 46th Ward Director of Infrastructure clarifies that the current 'jogged' or offset arrangement for parking will be changed to a straight layout at the developer's cost. This will eliminate parking on the west side of Clark and add parking to the east side. Effectively, this means the 5 spots are moving across the street).
Despite our concerns about the parking, we are thrilled about the additional density. (EDIT: link to comment on the development is below).
Between this building, 4641 N. Ashland and 4701 N. Clark, there are now 210 new rental units (including 40 affordable units) coming online in a very desirable area around Chase Park.
The Clark Street boom continues!
P.S. this building is on the west side of Clark, making it the 47th Ward (Matt Martin). Residents on the east side of Clark are in the 46th Ward. Since the 46th Ward Alderwoman (Angela Clay) has never established a zoning committee in her nearly 4 years in office and carefully limits public access to comment on developments, the only way 46th Ward residents will have a say in the proposal is through the local block club (Clark Street Neighbors Association).
UPDATE: Alderman Martin is soliciting input on this proposal at his development page:
Looks like a significant improvement over the current conditions. Rents are exploding on the north side and more housing like this is how they will go back down. Copy and paste this proposal everywhere!
ReplyDeletehow will housing like this make rents go down across the north side?
ReplyDeleteExpanding the overall supply of all new housing—regardless of price point—is a proven mechanism for lowering costs across the board. When middle- and higher-income residents move into newly constructed market-rate homes, it triggers a chain reaction that relieves bidding pressure on older, more affordable units. This influx of total inventory shifts market power back to renters and buyers, naturally driving down prices throughout the entire community.
Deletein theory that sounds good but in reality greed and capitalism will keep the rents rising no matter how many new buildings like this pop up. rent will not go down on the north side.
DeletePlease cite some credible sources when you say something is “proven”. I believe you, but I would love to see examples.
Deletehope 46 gets a new alderman so we can get stuff like this too
ReplyDeletethese types of buildings suck. they are cheaply made, they use fake bricks and they look really bad. they have retail space on the street level that always sits empty for years. if retail space comes in, you can barely tell what businesses are there due to the crappy design. they also do not contribute to lowering rent across the northside in any way. this stuff is sad garbage that erases local history and makes the neighborhood worse off. it's just gentrification.
ReplyDeleteI’m happy that something new is going on that site, despite it being a very generic and uninspired design. However, the scale of the building with 6 stories and taking up a long stretch of Clark Street will overwhelm the neighborhood and be out sync with everything else nearby. Hopefully the developer will modify the plans to be more in keeping with our wonderful neighborhood by reducing the height, providing more setback, and adding at least a modicum of architectural integrity.
ReplyDeleteAnother development that promises the sun, the moon, and the stars. What will likely be delivered is a very large and cheaply constructed building with retail space that will sit vacant.
ReplyDelete