Townhouses proposed for Matz Funeral site in Portage Park on Chicago’s NW Side
by BRIAN NADIG
Townhouses are being proposed for the former Matz Funeral Home site in Portage Park.
MK Construction and Builders Inc. has filed a zoning application to allow for the building of nine, approximately 30-foot-tall townhouses, with two-car garages, at 3438-58 N. Central Ave., where the former two-story funeral parlor building is located. The site measures about 25,850 square feet.
Fimla Construction Inc. has filed a similar application to build nine townhouses at 3500-16 N. Central Ave., where Matz had an accessory parking lot. The parcel measures about 22,500-square feet.
Both applications call for the properties to be rezoned from B3-1 to B2-2, which allows ground-floor residential uses. Both sites are located in the 36th Ward but are being relocated to the 30th Ward under the citywide remap.
The city’s affordable housing requirements do not apply to either project since fewer than 10 units would be built on each site, according to the applications. The properties are separated by West Cornelia Avenue.
Both applications list the property’s owner as MFH Holdings Inc.
Matz reportedly closed a few months ago, and calls to Matz are being forwarded to Muzyka and Son Funeral Home, 5776 W. Lawrence Ave.
Also, a zoning application was filed to allow for the expansion of a one-story commercial building at 6101-05 W. Diversey Ave., where a furniture business operates in one of the site’s three storefronts, according to the application. The other two storefronts are vacant, the application states.
The 7,170-square-foot lot would be rezoned from B3-1 to the less restrictive B3-3 under the proposal. There would be a one-story addition to the existing building and a new two-story addition off the rear, creating a new, unified two-story, 33-foot-tall retail structure under the proposal.
There also is a proposal to rezone from B1-2 to C1-2 the site of a vacant, one-story commercial building at 5546-48 W. Belmont Ave. to allow for a tattoo parlor.
These zoning proposals are scheduled to be introduced at the City Council’s meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18.
