WICKER PARK — Construction of a 15-story, 140-unit apartment tower anchored by retail on the ground floor will be underway soon near the Ashland Avenue and Division Street intersection.
Last week, Centrum Partners, the developers of the tower — part of the long talked about "Wicker Park Connection" retail and residential complex — received a building permit for the proposed tower at 1640 W. Division St., city records show.
The construction of the tower, which includes 50 parking spots, is estimated to cost $32.5 million according to EveryBlock, a site that aggregates city permit data.
The tower, the neighborhood's second tallest, will be across from an 11-story building at 1611 W. Division St. and within sight of the area's tallest building, the 28-story Noble Square Co-Op.
The largest proposed development for the area in recent memory, the Wicker Park Connection would be anchored by retail storefronts in the 1600 block of West Division Street and the 1200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue.
In addition to the tower, the development includes 17 townhomes and a 38-unit condo building.
In the rental tower, most of the units are studio or one-bedroom apartments and 20 percent are two- and three-bedroom units.
There will be 20 onsite apartments for lower-income renters, in compliance with the city's Affordable Requirements Ordinance. That ordinance mandates that certain new buildings over 20 units either allocate 10 percent of their units as affordable housing or pay $100,000 per unit to a city-managed trust fund that helps to develop low-income housing elsewhere.
Centrum Partners' managing partner Larry Powers last year told residents that if everything goes as planned, the homes would be ready in the spring of 2018.
A rendering of the ground floor retail spot at the tower's base. [David Genc/Hirsch Associates]
The Wicker Park Connection is located next to a new 60-unit apartment building, also developed by Centrum Partners, at 1664 W. Division St.
