This being Wicker Park Week, we thought we’d visit a condo development that has caused all kinds of controversy in the Wicker Park / Bucktown neighborhood.
Would you move into a condo building that had this mural (it’s one of two) on the east facade, and if you did, would you see it as a positive feature, or would you try to sway the condo board to remove it?
That’s only the latest issue to crop up at MCM Realty’s conversion of the old Prairie School-style building Association House, the social services agency’s former digs at 2150 W North Ave. MCM plans to keep the mural but says the condo board gets the final call.
In previous controversies: the developer also bought the lot adjacent to the building, that was being used as a kids’ playground. The developer wants to construct a 45-foot condo and retail building there. MCM has agreed to set back the building from the street so as not to detract from Association House.
The historic building is in the Wicker Park Landmark District. Some Wicker Park locals wanted to preserve the playlot, argung that it is part of the landmark district, but the city doesn’t currently recognize plots of land as landmarks. Yo hears the city has approved the development but the developer isn’t close to marketing the project yet. The picture was taken by Josh Hawkins for the Chicago Journal.