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Logan Square 'Micro Apartment' Plan Divides Car-free, Driving Locals

By Darryl Holliday | August 28, 2014 9:57am
 The development showed tentative redesigns and gained support Wednesday, but some opposition remains.
The development showed tentative redesigns and gained support Wednesday, but some opposition remains.
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Savoy Development

LOGAN SQUARE — A development that was slammed by many Logan Square residents when it was first proposed found some support Wednesday night after changes were made to appease local residents.

The transit-oriented development proposed for 2340 N. California Ave. originally was slated to include 63 studio or "micro" apartments — billing itself as sort of an upscale single-room-occupancy complex.

But after meeting with frustrated residents in April — and the Greater Goethe Neighborhood Association Aug. 11 — Savoy Development presented a new plan at a Wednesday community meeting.

Now, instead of 63 studio apartments, the building will offer various models: 28 studios, 18 one-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom units, with six of those units set aside for affordable housing.

 A proposed five-story apartment building at 2340 N. California Ave. that originally called for 63 studio apartments has been reconfigured to allow for a variety of apartments.   
'Micro Apartments' Logan Square
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Parking remained a concern for some of the 75 or so residents present, highlighting a  “generational gap” between supporters of the project and opponents.

The California Avenue development would be built on a heavily traveled but run-down location, set between a post office and an old car wash. It would offer 18 parking spaces — a number developer Enrico Plati would like to see dropped to zero, based on what he called a trend among the young, car-free clientele his building wants to draw.

Longtime neighborhood resident Barb Gray said the proposal was more agreeable since it was first proposed in April — a tense presentation by all accounts — but she said the parking issue showed the “generational” differences between the neighborhood’s established residents and incoming neighbors.

In the foreseeable future, she said, those young apartment-dwellers will begin to require and demand parking for their growing families.

Logan Square landlord Peter Cavanaugh and others present said they saw the car-free trend in their own lives and believed it was here to stay.

“[It's] the way the neighborhood is going,” Cavanaugh, 29, said. “I see it with my tenants and my friends.”

“I just don’t want to make this an old versus young,” he added, striking a conciliatory tone. “It’s really two different visions of what a city can, or should, be. The thing I hope we all remember is that everyone here cares about the neighborhood. I’m invested.”

The development is a defining decision for the neighborhood, as it would bring a lot of new residents to the area. Supporters say the density is appropriate for the location — a main street out of the way of nearby two-and three-flat homes.

“I haven’t decided where I am on this — for or against,” Ald. Joe Moreno told the crowd Wednesday night. “I haven’t made a decision.”

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