Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

128-Year-Old River North House Squeezed Between High-Rises Could Be Saved

 Photos of 154 W. Superior St., a 19th century row home set to be demolished in River North. 
154 W. Superior
View Full Caption

RIVER NORTH — A vintage row home scrunched between new condominiums in River North has caught the eye of its alderman, who is seeking to scale down the site's zoning so the 128-year-old house can stay. 

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward includes the 19th century Italianate at 154 W. Superior St., filed a zoning application last week that would restrict any future plans for the property. 

The move comes less than two months after a developer went under contract to buy and raze the home. The developer dropped those plans last month after realizing the site is too small for what it wanted to build: a 12- or 13-story tower. 

Now, Hopkins' move could prevent a similar proposal from moving forward. 

"It's clearly inappropriate for a tall, dense residential development," Hopkins said of the site. "The lot is too narrow."

Hopkins' zoning amendment would not protect the row home — one of the few left in the Downtown neighborhood — from demolition, but simply scale down what a developer could build in its place.

But Hopkins hopes that someone with "interests in historic preservation" buys the house, which he said is "structurally in very poor condition." He expects the full City Council to approve his zoning amendment.

"It’s so well concealed by foliage and trees, I had been by it 100 times, but never stopped to look at it," Hopkins said. "If I did I would’ve down-zoned it a year ago." 

The 1,862-square-foot house, built in 1888, is the last one standing on a River North block now populated by new condominium towers.

The property is owned by the estate of a man who refused to sell during his neighborhood's pre-recession construction boom, leaving the home sandwiched between two condo towers built in 2006: the 14-story Superior at LaSalle, 150 W. Superior, and a nine-story building at 156 W. Superior.

The man died in December, and a developer went under contract to buy the home while it was listed for about $1.28 million in May. The home is under contract to a new buyer after being relisted last month for $965,000, records from the multiple listing service show. 

Hopkins' amendment would scale down the property to a DX-3 zoning classification, which would allow a teardown but is one of the city's most restrictive Downtown zoning classes. Hopkins said he would host a community meeting should the house sell to a developer. 

Peter Tortorello of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Koenig Rubloff Realty, who's handling the sale, did not return messages seeking comment. 

RELATED STORIES:

This 128-Year-Old Row House Squeezed Between Condos Will Be Demolished

Sale of Old Home Squeezed Between High-Rises Falls Through, Could It Stay?

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: