LOGAN SQUARE — After months of construction, the 60-unit apartment complex that replaced Pierre’s Bakery on Logan Square’s Milwaukee Avenue is gearing up to welcome its first tenants.
Signs for apartment showings through property management company Stellar Performance recently went up at the six-story complex, which lists its address as 2740 N. Spaulding Ave. but faces Milwaukee Avenue.
A 650-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in the building will rent for $1,895 a month, while an 823-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment will go for $2,195 a month, according to real estate listings. Amenities include modern finishes, in-unit laundry and “a common area rooftop,” according to the listings. The building is steps from the Spaulding Avenue Blue Line entrance and offers 32 parking spaces.
Developer Michael Fox of R.P. Fox & Associates said he expects all of the apartments to be finished and ready for renters by the end of January.
The development is four years in the making. Fox’s redevelopment project surfaced in 2017, stirring up controversy among Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) and community leaders over its lack of affordable housing.
The project’s opponents marched in protest, calling on Fox to reserve some apartments as affordable to mitigate the effects of gentrification. Ramirez-Rosa even tried to block the project with a zoning change.
But Fox built the apartment complex with very little affordable housing over the objections of Ramirez-Rosa and local leaders. Fox said he’s set aside three out of 50 apartments as subsidized units through the Chicago Housing Authority. The developer isn’t required to include any affordable housing because the city’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance doesn’t apply to the project.
In addition to 60 market-rate apartments — a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units — the development is home to four ground-floor retail spaces, according to city permits.
The development, which towers over Milwaukee Avenue, replaced a one-story, pastel pink building that was home to beloved Mexican baked goods shop Pierre’s Bakery for 25 years.
Pierre’s moved out in 2013, which opened up the building to redevelopment. For years, the building hosted the weekly indoor farmers market during fall and winter months and was used by a vintage dealer to store furniture, but it mostly sat empty.
In the debate over the site’s redevelopment, some neighbors said they’d prefer to see a large apartment complex rather than a vacant building. But others said the project could lead to more displacement of Latino residents and is a symbol of gentrification, especially given that it replaced a Mexican bakery.
Fox said the building has drawn a lot of interest from renters since pre-leasing started a couple of weeks ago.
Fox is known for revamping the Goldblatt’s building at Milwaukee, Diversey and Kimball avenues, which is just down the block from the Pierre’s site.
For more photos of the apartments at 2740 N. Spaulding Ave., and for more information about the development, visit the property management company’s website.
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