UPTOWN — Landry Park has watched his father run his beauty supply store since he was a child. For the last 20 years, he's grown up in the store located inside City Sports and had plans to take over for his father. But he threw those plans out Monday night.
"I was going to take over the business and revamp the store, but with all that's going down there's no reason to plan," said Park, who attended Monday's 46th Ward Zoning and Development meeting to find out more about a 197-unit development with retail shops proposed for the corner of Wilson Avenue and Broadway.
The development would replace the building where City Sports rents space.
The 46th Ward Zoning and Development Committee approved the proposal with 14-5 with one person abstaining. The committee is composed of 41 representatives from the ward, who vote on zoning changes and projects costing more than $10 million in the ward.
Twenty-one of the 41 representatives were not present at the meeting Monday. The project will now move to the City Council's Zoning Committee, said Ald. James Cappleman (46th), a supporter of the project.
If developers win the zoning change, the two buildings on the site that currently host City Sports as well as Family Dollar, Rainbow Shops and Wilson Optical would be demolished and replaced by the new structure.
Park said he was disappointed he was unable to learn more about the owners of the property and what the rent would be for retailers in the new project. Developers would only say that the "market" will determine the rents.
The development has been proposed by Wilson and Broadway LLC, a group of developers formed specifically for this project. This is the developers first project as a group, but individually have been responsible for numerous developments such as grocery stores and strip malls in Chicago and the Chicago area, according to Tyler Manic, a lawyer for Schain, Banks, Kenny and Scwartz, Ltd.
Of the 197 units, only five will be designated as affordable units on site. Instead, developers will give about $1.5 million (or $100,000 per unit) to the Low Income Housing Trust Fund to satisfy the requirement necessary for the zoning change.
The proposal was first presented to Cappleman about two years ago during a meeting with the owner of City Sports and the developer. Since then, he's worked with the City's Department and Planning to make the proposal viable, he said.
In June, he presented reworked plans with changes to hide the parking garage and to make it "fit in with the Historic District" in the 46th Ward newsletter. The plans were then presented to members of the Truman Square Neighbor Block Clubs, who approved them last week.
"It's clear the residents of Truman Square are enthusiastically excited for this development," said Jeff Souva, the representative for Truman Square Neighbors on the 46th Ward Zoning and Development Committee.
"This development really speaks to our block club and what the people wanted to see," he said.
The committee's representative on historic structures, Martin Tangora, voted no, saying the proposed 11-story building was "too tall" and that he wanted more time to vet the developers.
Anonymous comments from the ballots reflect similar concerns about the developer, the height, the number of studio apartments and affordable housing.
"[I] would like more transparency in the future rather than opaque legal structures. [It's] impossible to vet developer if we don’t know who they are," one commenter said.
"I’m more of an architectural traditionalist. Anonymous investor/developer makes me nervous. I am not persuaded that there is no political influence available to ‘encourage’ inclusion of a few more affordable units in addition to [the low income trust fund] contribution," said another.
Others said they were "anxious to get more eyes on this intersection," and liked the design.
"This is a blighted corner and the proposed development will have a large role in changing the nature of the area — more activity and a better selection of retail will reduce crime. The affordable housing units added and funds sent to the trust fund are a great benefit," one comment said.
