UPTOWN — Community members will get another chance to review a proposal to build a $220 million residential and retail development in an Uptown tax increment financing district.
Developers JDL Development and Harlem Irving are behind the proposal, which got positive reviews at the first public meeting in November.
Round two is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Clarendon Park Fieldhouse.
The project would put 776 apartment units, 87,00,000 square feet of commercial space and 557 parking spaces in a two-tower high rise at the corner of West Montrose and North Clarendon avenues. That's in the Clarendon/Montrose TIF district.
The former site of Maryville Academy sits there now, idle and boarded up.
The developers have indicated that they want to reduce the city's 20 percent affordable housing unit requirement for residential TIF district projects by paying into the Low-Income Housing Trust Fund.
There are some unresolved issues related to the project's affordable housing mix, density, height, parking, impact on traffic and potential retailers. There is also a question of what to do with a portion of park space included in the district.
Ald. James Cappleman (46th), who hasn't yet given his blessing to the potential project, said he first wants to weigh the final wishes of the community.
He told DNAinfo that publicly supporting a proposal at such an early stage isn't his style.
But Cappleman also said he sees "an openness," among residents "to seeing something there."
