Redevelopment plans for Happy Foods, Suerth Funeral moving forward in Edison Park

by BRIAN NADIG

The redevelopment of the former Happy Foods and M.J. Suerth Funeral Home sites in Downtown Edison Park on Chicago’s NW Side are moving forward.

“It’s exciting,” Aldermen Anthony Napolitano (41st) said.

Several restaurant closings last year in the commercial district created a stir on social media about the need to re-energize the commercial area, and these two redevelopment projects along with the recent opening of two new restaurants and other other businesses will do just that, Napolitano said.

“We had some commercial storefronts open up. … Some owners felt it was time to move on, (but) it’s too much of a rocking and rolling neighborhood for something else not to move in” or get built, Napolitano said.

In recent months two steakhouses, Weso at 6699 N. Northwest Hwy. and A+ at 6690 N. Northwest Hwy., opened.

And news came this week that a construction permit application for the planned EP Market grocery store at 6783 N. Northwest Hwy. has passed a major hurdle in the approval process and that a zoning application has been filed for the funeral home site, where 82 apartments and commercial space would be built. The City Council Zoning Committee could vote on the housing proposal as early as July.

The market will be opening inside the former Happy Foods, which closed in 2022. The Happy Foods at 6415 N. Central Ave. in Edgebrook remains open.

A permit for the buildout has been pending since December, but an administrative adjustment from the zoning administrator was issued on June 17, and that should clear the way for the issuance of the construction permit in the near future, said Napolitano’s chief of staff Chris Vittorio.

At issue was the city’s landscape requirements, which would have forced the removal of several on-site parking spaces to allow for new green space. Under the agreement, other landscaping elements, such as possible planter boxes along the building instead of in the parking lot, would be allowed.

The permit application calls for new accessible bathrooms, a new bakery, a new cafe, a taqueria, a new drop ceiling with LED lights and new plumbing, electrical and mechanical system.

A permit to start interior demolition of the former Happy Foods store was issued in April.

Meanwhile, a zoning application for the construction of two four-story buildings, each with 41 apartments, 41 parking spaces and storefront space, at 6750-60 N. Northwest Hwy. was introduced at the June 12 City Council meeting. In addition, a demolition permit for the former funeral home on the site has been applied for, Vittorio said.

Napolitano said that there was “large support” for the project and that the height and mass of the complex will be similar to an existing mixed-use development at 6400 N. Northwest Hwy.

The project would include four affordable housing units in each building. These apartments would be offered at below-market rate rents to households earning no more than about 60 percent of the area median income.

The affordable requirements generated concerns about the proposal, but those concerns seem to be addressed when callers to the ward office are told that the affordable units would be leased at about $1,800 a month according to the developer’s own estimates, Napolitano said.

One of the most common complaints about Edison Park is the lack of parking, but plenty of parking is always available during the daytime and evening hours at the Edison Park Metra Station, $2 for up to 12 hours, Napolitano said.

“That’s inexpensive. Parking is double or triple that … if you go further east and south into the city,” Napolitano said, calling it a “misnomer” to say the Edison Park business area lacks sufficient parking.

Also, over the years the Edison Park Chamber of Commerce has maintained parking lots for shoppers.

The alderman added that some of the streets in and around the business district have been recently resurfaced or scheduled to be this year.

• 
  Gunshots, stolen vehicle reported in Portage Park near Pensacola & Laramie on Chicago’s NW Side
  Gunshots were heard at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in the 5200 block of West Pensacola Avenue in Portage Park, at about the same time a stolen vehicle was being driven on the block, according to Chicago police. A resident reported that a black Infiniti sport utility vehicle was being driven on the block
• 
  Burglars hit dozen businesses in Edgebrook, Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Avondale early Wednesday
  by BRIAN NADIG About a dozen smash-and-grab-style commercial burglaries in Edgebrook, Jefferson Park and Portage Park were reported to have occurred early Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, in the 16th (Jefferson Park) and 17th (Albany Park) police districts, and there were additional break-ins in other parts of the city and suburbs, totaling about 20 incidents, according
• 
  Burglars hit at least 9 businesses in Edgebrook, Jefferson Park, Portage Park early Wednesday
  by BRIAN NADIG At least nine smash-and-grab-style commercial burglaries in Edgebrook, Jefferson Park and Portage Park were reported to have occurred early Wednesday morning, Oct. 14, in the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District, and there apparently were additional break-ins in at least two other districts and possibly the suburbs, according to Chicago police. The incidents
• 
  CTA targets fare evaders to reduce violent crime; disappointment expressed in release of suspected shooter at Jefferson Park terminal
  by BRIAN NADIG Violent offenses reportedly are down 34 percent on the CTA from a year ago as the agency targets a section of the Red Line where criminals are boarding, while a shootout at the Jefferson Park CTA Terminal last summer remains under investigation. CTA security vice president Kevin Ryan addressed many crime and
• 
  Crime Watch: gunfire reported on Berteau, car break-ins reported, robbery reported in store lot
  Two men reported that a man fired shots at them at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, in the 5300 block of West Berteau Avenue, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police. A 25-year-old man reported that he was talking to a neighbor, who was sitting inside his parked vehicle, and two men walked toward the vehicle and one of them fired

This is just part of today’s coverage. Get the full story - every article, every ad, every page. Subscribe now.

The Latest From Our Community