LOGAN SQUARE — After nearly a year of contentious community meetings, the ongoing “micro apartments” development proposal has been approved by the city’s Plan Commission for construction in Logan Square.
If approved by the City Council in April, the building would rise to five floors on a lot housing a car wash at 2328 N. California Ave. (formerly 2340 N. California Ave.), and it could break ground as early as August.
The Transit-Oriented Development would house 52 units with average sizes of 439-square-foot studios, 537-square-foot one-bedroom units and roughly 1,000-square-foot two-bedroom units, according to Savoy Development senior associate George Triarchou.
Studio apartments will be $1,200, one-bedroom units $1,400, and two-bedroom units will go for roughly $2,100, Triarchou said Tuesday.
The plan for the Logan Square development features 18 parking spaces, two Zipcars and six affordable housing units — 10 percent of the total units. The building is the first transit-oriented development from Savoy Development and will be run by NOCA 2340 LLC, Savoy owner Enrico Plati’s management company.
Triarchou called the March 19 Plan Commission meeting “pretty straightforward” with fewer than four people offering support or objection to the plan before the building was approved.
The units are larger and more affordable after recent revisions to Savoy’s original plan, according to Triarchou. At a meeting on the proposal nearly a year ago, the plan called for 63 units. It was always meant to target millennials, students and young professionals who could afford $1,000 for rent.
Last April, Plati, a developer of 35 years, compared his vision for Logan Square to his past work in the West Loop, stating that he “truly believes [Logan Square] will be just as desirable” as Downtown in years to come.
But residents at two community meetings mostly panned the building in April and August of last year — at one point alleging foul play when meetings between Savoy and the Greater Goethe Neighborhood Association were allegedly held behind closed doors.
The initial proposal categorized the building as an SRO. The single room occupancy designation most closely related to transient hotels — housing of last resort that would have allowed Savoy to construct more units. But that plan eventually was scrapped.
The current proposal was “absolutely approved” by the Greater Goethe Neighborhood Association at the last meeting between it and Savoy, Triarchou said. If a zoning change is approved by the city, the five-story building at the corner of Fullerton and California will consist of retail and parking on the first floor with apartments above.
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