January 25, 2008 - A proposed development next to Wrigley Field doesn’t have many fans among neighbors and patrons of the ballpark. Crain’s reported that a presentation was made last Wednesday night by Jack George, a lawyer specializing in zoning, and John Lahey, an architect with Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Associates. The project would be a mixed-use one consisting of two towers reaching nine stories. The entire complex would include 150 rental apartments, a Hyatt Place Hotel with 137 rooms, health club and nearly 100,000 square feet of retail space. The developer of this proposal is Steve Schultz of Preferred Properties, along with Anthony Rossi. Rossi has considerable previous experience developing apartment projects.

Opposition has been stiff so far. The area is already congested due to crowds and traffic during home games. The development’s height is another sticking point. At the planned 105 feet, it would more than exceed the current restriction of 55 feet for that zone. Finally, property values and current rental rates for the area came into question. If built, the new apartments would rent at around $1,800 per month. Residents expressed concern about their rents going up and whether or not they would be able to afford to live there in the future.

Tom Tunney is the alderman for that ward and assured residents that the project wouldn’t proceed until all concerns had been addressed and satisfied. We’ll have to stay tuned to this one and see if it gets on the score board or grounds out. Other proposed developments such as X/O and Evanston’s high-rise have faced opposition and managed to gain approval. There has been an increasing demand for Chicago Apartments, and more developers are probably going to try to cash in on the trend.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Luxury Condos(t) , News(t) . You can leave a response.