March 28, 2008 - The year and a half tug of war between Chicago real estate developer Joel Pickus and community group West Loop Concerned Citizens may have finally ended. Both groups have been at odds over several aspects of the original plans for the 1260 West Madison site. With support from the citizen’s groups and alderman plus a zoning change from the Chicago Plan Commission that could take place next month, the project could move on for approval from the City Council.

According to the Sun Times, Pickus and the community group reached an agreement on the heights of the two future towers planned for the site. Pickus had originally presented plans for the height to be 115 feet, but scaled it down to 90. The development is designed by Antunovich Associates and will have a total of 350 units when completed. Whether or not those units will be condos or apartments is still being decided, but either way 18 of the units will be offered at a reduced purchase price or lower rent.

The affordable housing factor had been a point of contention about the project. The Sun Times article said the West Loop Concerned Citizen’s group was pleased that Pickus agreed to change unit sizes to accommodate more families and also removed studio and convertible floor plans from the development. The new design calls for units that are at least 700 square feet. There will be 318 units combined in the two 90 foot towers plus another 32 units in a four story building on 1300 West Madison. The amount of retail space was also reduced from 68,000 to 25,000 square feet, again demonstrating the amount of input that Chicago Neighborhoods have when it comes to developments.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Luxury Condos(t) , News(t) . You can leave a response.