Tentative plans call for grocery store to anchor shopping center on former Peoples Gas site in Six Corners

by BRIAN NADIG

A grocery store would be the likely anchor in a three-story redevelopment of the former Peoples Gas site at 3955 N. Kilpatrick Ave., according to a preliminary marketing plan for the property.

“The redevelopment of the Peoples Gas site at Kilpatrick and Irving Park in Portage Park is a generational project drawing from the existing success of (the) intersection located immediately west at Cicero, Milwaukee and Irving Park. The overhaul of the six-plus acre site will cater to both the residential density surrounding the site and vehicular traffic feeding I-94,” states the marketing brochure from the Mid-America Real Estate Corporation.

The brochure states that deals are pending for a 40,000-square-foot grocery store and a 7,000-square-foot retail or restaurant tenant on the ground floor of the development.

A tentative site plan of the ground floor shows a 4,000-square-foot building, presumably a bank, with an attached three-lane drive-through facility, an 8,000-square-foot restaurant with outdoor seating, and three other retail spaces, measuring 7,000, 7,400 and 30,000 square feet in size.

Above the two largest retail tenants would be a second-floor with 100,000 square feet of retail or office space, which could be subdivided to accommodate multiple tenants. There also would be a third-floor parking garage with 281 spaces, the preliminary plan states.

There also would be approximately 340 parking spaces on the ground floor, but the center’s design could vary based on the build-out requirements of a tenant.

According to the preliminary site plan, there would be one driveway on Irving Park, with access limited to right turns only. Meanwhile, two driveways on Kilpatrick would permit left-turn access.

A Mid-America representative said that more details on the development may be available in August.

The development site is located across from the Marketplace at Six Corners, 4664 W. Irving Park Road, whose tenants include Jewel-Osco and Marshalls.

A zoning change would be required for the development. In 2003 the parcel was downzoned to RS-3, which is intended primarily for single-family homes and two-flats, according to the city zoning map.

The site also is near two other large redevelopment projects, including the former Six Corners Sears department store site at 4730 W. Irving Park Road, where an 8-story complex would include 434 residential units. The other is a 10-story project on the former Bank of America parcel at 4747 W. Irving Park Road, where a 258-unit senior living complex and an Aldi grocery store are planned.

Alderman James Gardiner (45th) said that the planned retail project for the Peoples Gas site is another good redevelopment opportunity for the community and that it would help reach his goal of bringing at least $500 million in investment to the ward during his first term.

Gardiner said that he gathered much input on the area’s redevelopment when he went door-to-door talking to residents about the Sears and Bank of America sites. “I’m starting at Six Corners at Cicero and Irving and going to work my way north up Milwaukee Avenue,” he said, adding that developers have a high-interest level in the 45th Ward.