40-unit proposal for Central-Elston intersection gets rejected at community meeting hosted by Ald. Gardiner

by BRIAN NADIG

A proposed 40-unit apartment complex with 61 parking spaces at the southwest corner of Central and Elston avenues was met with opposition at a community meeting hosted on March 26 by Alderman James Gardiner (45th), who does not plan to support the current proposal.

Residents raised concerns about how the project would impact parking and traffic in the area, and some said that they were worried about “transient” tenants and low-income housing, although the apartments would be offered at market-rate rents, except for up to eight affordable housing units.

“I fully understand where the pulse of the community is on this. We clearly are not going to be in favor of this,” Gardiner said toward the end of the meeting. Only a handful of the 70 people at the meeting raised their hand when Gardiner asked if anyone was in support of the proposal.

Project attorney John Pikarski Jr. responded that he did not feel the audience “is a representative sampling of the community,” adding that those in favor of a development typically do not come out to these community meetings.

Pikarski said that he believes the project would win in court if the development team were to take a legal route if the City Council were to reject the proposed zoning change. (A zoning application for the project has not been filed with the city.) Some residents said that the property is an “eyesore” and that a development eventually needs to get built on the vacant parcel, whose address is 5700 N. Central Ave. Some residents said that condominiums instead of rental units or only 30 apartments would be more supported by the community.

The proposal calls for three floors of apartments above a partially below grade parking garage.

The height of the building would be 41 feet. The proposed B2-3 zoning (currently B3-1) would be required to allow for the 40 planned apartments, including ground-floor residential units in a business district.

Forty of the parking spaces would be located in the garage, with an additional 21 spaces outside. Access to the garage would be from North Parkside Avenue, and there also would be curbcuts on Parkside and West Seminole Street for the outdoor parking.

The proposed 1.5 spaces per unit exceeds the zoning code requirement and is “unheard of … in this day and age,” Pikarski said.

Pikarski said that traffic impact from the project would be “minimal,” generating objections from many audience members.

One audience member said that the building would “burden us with more traffic” and that it would create a “blind corner,” creating a safety hazard.

“They are speeding through that intersection at 2 p.m.,” a woman said, adding that southbound traffic on Central gets backed up from Elston going north to Edgebrook during the afternoon/evening rush.

Another said that 61 parking spaces would not be enough since families typically have two cars, resulting in spillover onto the nearby side streets.

The triangular-shaped, 33,272-square-foot parcel was previously home to Republic Bank and before that it was the longtime home of DiLeo’s restaurant and banquets.

Previous proposals called for 52 and then 45 apartments for the site.

“The mix is 12 one-bedroom, 25 two-bedroom and three three-bedroom units,” Pikarski said. “The idea behind that mix is that people who live in the area will be moving here. There are no studio (units).”

An initial plan for the site called for ground-floor commercial space but that was eliminated based on community feedback, project officials said.

The apartments would include in-unit washers and dryers and balconies. The building also would include a fitness room and bike storage.

The facade would include stone features.

Four to eight of the 40 units would be designated as “affordable housing,” as required under city law. These below-market rate units would be reserved for households earning below the area median income. All the other units would be offered at market-rate rents, according to project representatives.

One resident, who identified himself as a police officer, said that he does not want the building turned into a low-income, “Section 8” complex. He said that the mixed-income building at 5150 N. Northwest Hwy. has been a “disaster” for the community. The 75-unit 5150 complex consists of affordable, CHA-subsidized and market-rate apartments.

The meeting was held at the Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity School, 6040 W. Ardmore Ave.

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