WICKER PARK — Two proposed developments that include 40 total residential units near the Division Blue Line station in Wicker Park have been approved by the City Council.
Grand Properties Acquisitions, LLC was seeking zoning changes to build two five-story buildings at 1235-37 and 1257-1301 N. Ashland Ave., the current home of Mike’s Furniture.
Those measures were passed Tuesday by the Council’s zoning committee and Wednesday by the full City Council.
The developer plans to build 16 units with ground-floor commercial space at 1235-37 N. Ashland Ave., according to plans submitted to the city. At 1257-1301 N. Ashland Ave., the company envisions 24 units, also with ground-floor commercial space.
Eight units across the two buildings would be affordable, meeting the city’s 20 percent affordability requirement.
The developments were temporarily held up this spring after some neighbors objected to their height, design and other issues.
The Wicker Park Committee, a community group that reviews zoning decisions in the neighborhood, voted against the proposals at a meeting last month. A committee within that group previously wrote a letter opposing the project to Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), saying the height of the buildings doesn’t fit with the area.
The two developments would be one story higher than the tallest buildings on the eastern side of the 1200 block of North Ashland Avenue. Several buildings nearby on Milwaukee Avenue and Division Street are seven stories and higher.
Since the projects were first proposed this spring, Grand Properties Acquisitions has updated the facade design several times, as well as expanded proposed setbacks to the fifth floors on each building to make them less visible from the street.
The building at 1235-37 N. Ashland Ave. will have a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. At 1257-1301 N. Ashland Ave., updated plans call for almost all two-bedrooms, with one 1-bedroom on the top floor.
In May, the eastern side of the 1200 block of North Ashland Avenue was shifted from the 2nd Ward to the 1st Ward under citywide redistricting, leading Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) to delay the proposals to take in additional community feedback.
The 1st Ward office said out of about 100 digital survey responses from neighbors in the West Town area, around 70 were in favor of the projects. La Spata allowed the developments to move forward this week.
The buildings will replace “approximately 5 existing residential units” on the 1200 block of North Ashland Avenue, 1st Ward chief of staff Nicholas Zettel said in an email last week.
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