Three-flat planned for lot on Irving Park
by BRIAN NADIG
The construction of a three-flat has been proposed for a vacant lot at 5031 W. Irving Park Road, while an application to rezone site of an apartment building at 5032 W. Agatite Ave. is being withdrawn.
The 27-foot-tall building would be located along a stretch of seven residential buildings on Irving Park, which is predominantly a commercial thoroughfare. Plan call for the site to be rezoned from B3-1 to B2-2, which permits ground-floor residential uses in a business district.
45th Ward Alderman John Arena’s chief of staff Owen Brugh said that no objections to the project were raised at a community meeting on the proposal which the alderman held last month. There would be six tandem parking spaces in the rear of the building, he said.
The City Council Zoning Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposal at its Oct. 3 meeting.
Brugh also reported that Arena is not supporting the project on Agatite and that the zoning applicant has agreed to withdraw the zoning proposal. The city Department of Buildings issued citations last year for a clogged gutter on the building and for failure to post contact information for the owner or manager of the rental property.
The property’s new owner had been seeking to deconvert the four-unit building to a three-unit structure, but the alderman wants it to be maintained as a two-flat, which is allowed under the existing zoning, Brugh said. The building is located in an area of small apartment buildings and single-family homes, he said.
Also in the 36th Ward, a zoning change is being sought to allow for a two-flat at 5907 W. Waveland Ave. Last year the buildings department issued a stop work order because the building reportedly was being constructed without the proper permit.
Plans call for the lot to be rezoned from RS-2, which is intended primarily for single-family homes, to RT-3.5, which allows for multi-family construction.
In the 38th Ward, a zoning application has been submitted to allow for the construction of a three-story high school with 65 required parking spaces and future athletic facilities at 4201 N. Oak Park Ave. The school system plans to announce next year whether the building would be used as a freshman campus for the overcrowded Taft High School or a new 4-year Dunning high school.
In other development news, the transfer of about 20,000 square feet of land for $1 from the City of Chicago to the Mega Group, the developer for a four-story, mixed-use project at 5201 W. Lawrence Ave., could be completed as early as the end of this year, according to the city Department of Planning and Development. Several storefronts and 39 apartments are planned.
Mega owns half of the approximately 41,000-square-foot site, which is divided by Laramie Avenue.
In 2006 the city paid $1.46 million for some of the lots for a development project which was never built following opposition to the planned 132 condominiums and 10-story height. The 2006 plan would have included additional properties which are not part of the current project and which the city does not own.
