LAKEVIEW — Italian restaurant Zia’s Lago Vista will soon be knocked down and replaced with a five-story apartment building after City Council approved developers’ request for a zoning change on Wednesday.
The restaurant owners are selling the land to Mavrek Development, which requested a zoning change for the site at 3817–19 N. Ashland Ave. that will allow the firm to build a 48-unit apartment building in its place.
The development, which was unanimously approved by City Council, will have 31 one-bedroom units, 13 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom apartments, according to the developers’ proposal, which is listed on Ald. Matt Martin’s (47th) website.
Ten of the units, including one three-bedroom apartment, will be priced affordably, which is more than double the number required by the city’s affordable housing ordinance.
The project’s site is less than a half-mile from the Irving Park Brown Line station and Ashland Avenue bus corridor, so the development would meet the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance, exempting the building from standard on-site parking requirements.
This leaves the building with 24 car parking spots and about 36 spaces for bicycle parking, developers previously said.
Martin supported the project despite opposition from a few neighbors who worried about the new apartment building contributing to traffic congestion and other problems in the area.
Martin said he was aware of the immediate neighbors’ concerns, so he required the developers to conduct a traffic study, which was presented during a previous community meeting.
Martin also asked the city’s transportation department to review the study and provide feedback. City officials determined the development would have a “limited impact” on traffic and pedestrian safety.
Additionally, the building will be removed from the permit parking “buffer zone,” Martin said, meaning its residents won’t be able to park in the area bounded by Irving Park, Broadway, Addison and Ashland.
In a previous statement announcing his approval for the zoning change, Martin said he was “pleased to see much-needed affordability come to the Lakeview neighborhood.”
Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.