WICKER PARK — Another luxury condo development is headed to the area, this time on a popular Wicker Park corner across the street from what used to be an unofficial park.
In recent months, some dog-walkers said they'd been bringing their pets to the double corner lot at 1327-29 N. Wolcott Ave. after the informal park across the street was replaced in late summer with a single-family home that's still under construction.
Wicker Park resident Megan DePumpo, 26, said when she and neighbors saw a fence put up around the grass at 1327 N. Wolcott, they first thought it was a dog park.
"We would take her here," said DePumpo as she was walking her dog with boyfriend Alberto Colon, 34. "One day we came back and it was chained."
Homes inside the three-unit condo building planned for 1327-29 N. Wolcott Ave. will start at $749,800, according to Karen Ranquist of Koenig & Strey, who listed the development earlier this month.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes will come with attached garage parking, according to Ranquist. The penthouse unit will have access to a roof terrace, while the duplex unit will have a private yard.
It's a "really neat project that architecturally we feel very excited about," Ranquist said. Philadelphia-based Interface Studio Architects is set to design the units.
Ranquist said she expected construction to begin this summer and for the homes to be ready by June 2015.
The lot was sold by an individual owner for $512,500 in October 2013, according to Ranquist and Cook County records. News of the development was first reported by Wicker Park Bucktown Insider's Guide.
Resident Winnie Lau, who was also spending time with her dog Wednesday, said she had grown tired of seeing new condo buildings spring up all over the neighborhood and wished more areas near her were devoted to green space.
"I definitely miss the park," said Lau, 58, referring to "Elcott Garden," which got it's name from the Ellen and Wolcott location. She said she wished there was "some place people could get together," on the block.
But DePumpo and Colon said they were unsurprised that another empty area was snatched up by developers, and they said their pet still has plenty of Wicker Park to run around in.
"The great part about the neighborhood is that you can walk your dog all over," Colon said.
