The influential West Loop Community Organization says that ever since the high-rise condo development Skybridge was built at 1 N Halsted St a few years ago, the neighborhood group has been battling developers trying to slip 200-foot towers past them.
The West Loop, of course, is one of the city’s original loft neighborhoods. The neighborhood has a variety of zonings but the WLCO pushes for new developments to be less than 115 feet high.
The group’s president, Eric Sedler, is pleased that some developers have abided by the 115-foot limit in several recent developments, but Sedler says he’s currently fighting high-rise proposals on several fronts.
Most of the projects are in the conceptual stage and haven’t yet been announced, but Sedler says he’s concerned about proposals for a high-rise on the 1200 block of Jackson Boulevard and another one on the southeast corner of Halsted Street and Adams Street.
“We support development, we want to see development,” Sedler says. “But our view is that there’s something between being anti-development and having a 200 foot-high-rise.”
West Loopers have been lobbying for a new park and other neighborhood amenities, and feel frustrated that they may be expected to take in thousands of new residents when the neighborhood lacks some basic necessities, Sedler tells Yo.
“It’s very difficult to ask a community to be willing to absorb 1,000 new condos when we still don’t have a park built,” he says.