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Proposal Could Reshape Block Of Granville With 20 Apartments, Fine Dining

By Linze Rice | November 22, 2016 6:03am
 A new proposal for the corner of Winthrop and Granville Avenues asks for a six-story building with bottom floor retail and 20 apartments above.
A new proposal for the corner of Winthrop and Granville Avenues asks for a six-story building with bottom floor retail and 20 apartments above.
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DNAinfo/Linze Rice

EDGEWATER — A new six-story building proposed at Winthrop and Granville Avenues in Edgewater would bring 20 apartments and the potential for fine dining to the Far North Side neighborhood if approved for a zoning change. 

Rae Ann and Bob Cecrle, long time residents and new owners of the 1101-09 W. Granville Ave. building, presented plans for how they want to develop the property to about nine community members who attended a meeting with Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) at the Broadway Armory on Monday night. 

Of those who attended, none opposed the project when asked for a show of hands.

The property is currently a two-story mixed-use building with a convenience store at the bottom and vacant studio apartments on top.

Architects Patrick Thompson and Tom Greene showed renderings of the building, which would include 10 two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartments and 10 one-bedroom/one bathroom units, as well as about 5,000 square feet of ground floor and basement retail space. 

Rae Ann Cecrle said 3,000 square feet on the ground floor could accommodate a fine dining restaurant with its larger kitchen while hosting a smaller pub in the lower level. 

Two-bedroom units would rent for around $2,100 per month for 1,200 square feet, while one-bedrooms would go for closer to $1,700-1,800 a month for around 700 square feet, plus utilities. Two units, or 10 percent of the apartments, would be set aside as affordable housing.

The owners said those prices and sizes may change, but the overall plan was to have "good, steady tenants" with low turnover, Rae Ann Cecrle said.

The units are meant to be shared among two roommates or between families or singles, Cecrle said, not multiple college students. 

"They're nowhere near micro," Thompson said. 

Architects Tom Greene and Patrick Thompson present plans for the building they designed to a handful of community member who attended a meeting Monday night. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]

Each unit would have a washer and dryer, dishwasher, forced heat and air conditioning, Thompson said.

The building would also have five dedicated parking spaces, with another 10 available for rent in a private lot a block away, the owners said. 

Building plans don't include a common room or rooftop access, but do show most units with balconies. 

The exterior would boast accents of shiny, glazed "butter yellow" bricks with hints of blues and greens, Greene said. 

Thompson said if the zoning change is approved he hopes to get started on applying for permits as soon as possible with a groundbreaking target for April and rentals beginning May 2018. 

The Cecrles are no strangers to the neighborhood. 

The couple also owns the former Blue Buddha Boutique location down the block at 1127 W. Granville Ave., where the Chicago Mosaic School will soon be moving, as well as property across from the proposed building that will include art galleries. 

Rae Ann said she "wanted to reinvest in Edgewater" with a project that was "very dear to our hearts," so when the opportunity presented itself to buy the two-story Granville property, she and her husband seized it. 

Similarly, James Ness, president of the North Edgewater Beach Association block club, said he and the Cecrles both had worked for many years to clean up Granville Avenue from prostitution and liquor problems. 

"We're really excited about this street," Ness said. "We've done a lot in the past to make it a comfortable street. ... I know other other projects are going on on Granville and we really are going to convert that street. Bryn Mawr did it many years ago, this is now our turn."

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