CANARYVILLE — Zoning officials have approved a developer's plans to build an upscale housing and retail development in the neighborhood, according to Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th).
It's the same development pitched to Canaryville residents in September, when neighbors worried the development would siphon parking spots off the streets.
"That development is moving forward," Thompson said at a Wednesday night CAPS meeting.
Construction will likely begin in the fall, Thompson said.
The developer, BCG Enterprises, will start with "Phase 1" — a four-story building stacked with 12 luxury apartments up top and two apartments facing a courtyard.
The building is the first of four structures the company wants to build in the 4300 block of South Halsted.
The units would feature one-bedroom and two-bedroom floor plans with rents between $1,600 and $1,800 a month.
At a community meeting in January, David L. Chase, property buyer with BCG Enterprises, offered an official goal for the project: “To provide quality, luxurious housing while engaging the community with pedestrian friendly retail.”
Chase, who first pitched the project to the neighborhood in September and offered revised plans in January, was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
At the January meeting, Thompson said the first phase of the plan would be a chance for the developer to prove himself to the neighborhood.
"It's one building at a time," Thompson said. "It's a 14-unit building with a retail space and as long as it meets everything that the developer's telling us it's going to meet, then he has a right to go to the next building."
On Wednesday night, Thompson said he is excited about the development.
"It's going to be a great project for the community," Thompson said. It "will really help that area — that corridor — because, eventually, those two buildings, with a courtyard in between, will be an added benefit to the community."
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