IRVING PARK — Neighbors will learn more about a developer’s plan to build an apartment and shopping complex in Irving Park that includes an Amazon Fresh grocery store and apartments at the former People’s Gas property next week.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Carl Schurz High School, 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave. Neighbors can also attend virtually by logging into Zoom and using the meeting ID 837 1077 8457 or dialing 312-626-6799 and then the passcode 655805#.
Developer GW Properties is hosting the meeting alongside the Old Irving Park Association, Portage Park Neighbors Association and Six Corners Association.
In addition to 102 apartments, the “Shops at Six Corners” at 3955 N. Kilpatrick Ave. would include an Amazon Fresh grocery store, a Burlington clothing store and a Panera Bread restaurant with a drive-through, according to renderings shared with neighbors at a virtual meeting in April. Nadig Newspapers was first to report on the updated renderings and proposed tenants.
The developer needs a zoning change to move forward with its plans.
GW Properties gave additional details regarding plans to build five new buildings at the property that include:
• Building A: A standalone one-story restaurant with a single lane drive-through
• Building B: A one-story “multi-unit” retail center
• Building C: A six-story mixed use building with 66 apartments over a clothing retail store
• Building D: A two-story “state of the art” grocer with indoor and outdoor dining options
• Building E: A “smaller scale retail office” building
• Building F: A four-story residential building with 36 apartments
Of the 102 new apartments, 20 would be designated as affordable.
The proposal also includes 328 vehicle parking spaces, 116 “designated locking areas” for bicycles and more than 11,400 square feet of green space that includes three “fully landscaped communal socialization areas (pocket-parks), and multiple outdoor dining areas,” according to the developer’s plans.
The developer introduced its plans to the city’s Department of Planning and Development and community organizations in late 2020, according to a city letter sent to the developer.
The project was originally submitted without a residential component, but after objections from several community groups and the city that called for more mixed-use space and more density, the developer updated the proposal with the added apartments, which would sit on the Milwaukee Avenue corner of the site.
“After several more iterations, GW Properties has addressed many suggestions from a technical standpoint. However, the essential nature of the proposed plan remains big-box retail built around large parking lots, and therefore fails to meet the expectations of respondents to [a neighborhood] survey, as well as the clear direction offered by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development,” the Old Irving Park Association said in a statement Tuesday.
The developer, which has worked on similar large-scale retail developments in the suburbs with some of the same tenants as proposed at the Peoples Gas Site, is also behind plans to redevelop the 107-year-old Hollander Storage & Moving site in the heart of Logan Square to add boutique offices, restaurants and retail to the rapidly changing neighborhood.
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