Nine residential units planned for former Garden Terrance parking lot; different developer plans to redevelop adjacent banquet hall site
by BRIAN NADIG
The City Council on Feb. 23 approved a proposed nine-flat for the parking lot of the former Garden Terrace Banquets, while a different developer plans to build on site of the banquet hall at 6330 W. Irving Park Road, according to project attorney Paul Kolpak.
The site of the 7,830-square-foot parking lot at 6338 W. Irving Park Road, is being rezoned from B3-1 to B2-3, which allows for ground-floor residential uses in a business district. Under the previous B3-1 zoning, no more than three residential units were allowed.
The three-story building will be 33 feet tall, and nine parking spaces in the rear of the site are planned. ERG Real Estate is listed as the owner and zoning applicant, according to city documents.
A different developer is planning to build on the adjacent lot where the banquet hall is located, Kolpak said. In 2020 the hall site was rezoned also for a nine-unit residential building.
Zoning projects of fewer than 10 units are not subject to the city’s affordable housing requirements.
The Saranecki family operated Garden Terrace for about 60 years, and one of the owners once lived in an apartment above the hall. The building, which is across from Merrimac Park, was a department store before it was converted for banquets.
Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th) said that traditional banquet halls have been hurting in recent years due to the popularity of “destination weddings” in which couples and their friends and family fly to resorts, including those in the Caribbean or Mexico, for the wedding.
Also on the block, a six-flat recently was constructed at 6322 W. Irving Park Road.
In 2019, a proposal called for a series of four six-flats on the block, and a zoning application was filed for the project, but it was never approved.
In other 38th Ward development news, demolition of the former Bakers Square at 3649 N. Harlem Ave. is scheduled to start this week, Sposato said. A Starbucks Coffee with a drive-through facility is planned for the approximately 29,000-square-foot site.
A Starbucks also is in the works for a vacant lot at 8345 W. Irving Park Road. It would include walk-up and drive-up windows.
