This “special to the Chicago Tribune“ caught our eyes this morning, and not simply for its lack of detail. According to the Trib, Forman Realty plans to build 79 one- to three-bedroom condos and 200 parking spaces at the northwest corner of Sheridan Road and Oakdale Avenue in Lakeview East. The story didn’t say much more than that, but it was enough to have us scratching our heads. Really? Right now? And 200 parking spaces?
I wasn’t able to reach any of Forman’s principals this afternoon but was told to expect some more information later this week. I’ll pass along anything I hear. In the meantime, it seems that we actually mentioned this project once before, back when Crain’s ran a story about it in late February. Some of our readers even offered an explanation for all that additional parking: Wirtz Corp, of which Forman is a subsidiary, owns two apartment buildings just to the north of this proposed project, and since neither of those buildings have parking, some of those 200 spaces presumably will be set aside for their tenants.
The new building, should it go up, would be Forman’s first condo tower, Crain’s reported. Pappageorge / Haymes apparently designed the 19th-story high-rise, which would have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedrooms ranging from 800 to 1,300 square feet. (The rendering above ran with the Crain’s story but doesn’t appear on the Pappageorge / Haymes site.)
The site’s address is 2950 N Sheridan Rd, which would place the tower about half a mile north of the much larger Lincoln Park 2520 and about four-tenths of a mile south of Lake View’s only other proposed new-construction tower, The Winchester. Kroupa’s two latest conversions, Sheridan Tower at 2930 N Sheridan Rd and 3033 North Sheridan, are located across the street and one block north, respectively.
I live right near here and it is an awesome area. While I have my doubts about LP2520 being built and don’t know a thing about the Winchester it looks like this would be a beautiful addition to the neighborhood.
I just wish there were pricing details available so I’d know if I might want to live there.
it definetely would be a great addition to the neighborhood, but skip the horrendous architecture! Pappageorge needs to stop designing hideous embarassing architecture! We can do a LOT BETTER than this for such a prime corner!
i hope they talk to some other developers in the neighborhood before building too much parking. i think the vic residences built too large of a garage — it seems mostly empty most of the time and they seem desperate to get people to rent spaces. they also owned the building next door, which has no parking, though not many residents use the garage. in fact, a lot of the residents don’t have cars at all. i would be shocked if these oversized garages proved to be wise financial decisions for the developers, considering the cost of a garage.
Lee,
I don’t know the specifics of this deal, but it’s not uncommon for a developer to cut a deal with a parking operator and pre-sell the parking to the operator to facilitate the development’s financing. What appears on the surface to make little sense may make a lot of sense to the developer.
The Vic garage is an “income stream” for the management due to people parking there for Vic Theatre events, Cubs games (park and ride the L or just walk), Saturday night club-hopping, etc.
This is literally no parking between Broadway and Sheridan so a parking lot is a gold mine. My guess is that they could sell covered parking for at least $35k, maybe even $40k or $45k.
I also agree that the building design looks pretty bad. Also, I wouldn’t mine seeing more density. 25 floors, 100+ units?
I used to live right around the corner from the mysterious fenced plot of lawn and trees where this building is going. No way this design fits into the context of that corner. A shame all the way around. That bit of green space deserves better.