UPDATE: Officials at Odds Over Vacant ‘L’ Stop Development
Walgreens is still the main contender for the lot next to the Paulina Brown Line staion. But officials say they’re not interested in making Roscoe Street two ways for traffic.
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While officials say a convenience store such as Walgreens would be a welcome addition to the vacant lot next to the Paulina Brown Line train station, making West Roscoe Street a two-way street is apparently out of the question.
This comes after Keeler-Fog Real Estate, LLC recently purchased the almost 11,000-square-foot lot on the corner of North Lincoln Avenue and West Roscoe Street for $915,000. It’s been sitting vacant since 2009, and was appraised at just $875,000.
West Lake View Neighbors President Will DeMille told area residents during the organization’s latest meeting that he’s been in talks with the new owners about what they might see at the vacant space.
“The people that purchased that had approached us about potential uses for that,” DeMille said. “The person is very familiar with drug stores and looking to do a drug store on the first floor, with some sort of residential above it."
While DeMille was originally quoted as being against the addition of apartments to the lot, he said WLVN wrote a letter to the developer outlining their position on what should fill the space:
"We offer this letter so that you are clear on our position with respect to your plans. Our hope is that the parcel is developed as a 'Transit Friendly Development' in accordance with the City of Chicago’s Transit Friendly Development Guide. This would tend to call for a multi-story development with a residential component above a commercial space at ground level. With this parcel being located adjacent to the Paulina El stop, we view this location as ideal to support a higher residential density."
DeMille said investors would need support from WLVN to proceed with something different. According to City of Chicago data, the lot is zoned as B3-2, meaning there has to be a community shopping destination built there, with residential units as an optional extra.
And because Roscoe is a one-way street on the south end of the vacant property, DeMille says real estate investors wanted to talk about making it a two-way street to increase accessibility to the new business. The one-way street is just a couple of blocks from where Roscoe Village’s main business corridor begins.
“We are worried about the traffic impact, especially when they proposed making Roscoe a two-way street,” DeMille said. “We flat out said we didn’t think that was a good idea.”
The CTA approved the sale of the lot in December, with a spokesperson saying the new owners were moving through the necessary approvals with the city’s zoning process to create a mixed-use development with apartments.
While it’s still unclear what business will fill the space, the real estate company behind the acquisition has recently developed four Walgreens in the Chicagoland area, according to Keeler Real Estate employee Edwin Vdovets’ LinkedIn page.
PJS
4:57 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
I assume they'd vacate the Paulina and Belmont location if they opened here?
Krystyna Zwolinski
5:15 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
There is another Walgreens so close...I would vote for a (small but still nice) dog park!
Justin
12:27 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Is Demille playing with a full deck? Residential isn't appropriate for this location? That is crazy, there literally isn't a more appropriate place for residential in the city than next to transit.
Justin
12:48 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Also, last time i checked, neighborhood groups aren't 'officials'. No one elected them, no one asked them to form this group, and they certainly don't in any way represent the collective thought of the neighborhood. They are most often just blowhards with too much time on their hands that only seek to serve their own interests and not those of the neighborhood.
David
1:02 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
One cannot argue against transit oriented residential development and then say just a Walgreens with a parking lot because of traffic. Its hypocrtical.
urbaneddie
11:36 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
i couldn't agree more.
Eric M
1:49 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
David and Justin are right on. Anyone listening to people who oppose residential immediately adjacent to a transit station should be tarred and feathered, drummed out of the city and thrown into a pack of wild dogs.
Seriously, what is wrong with people? We just spend HALF A BILLION DOLLARS renovating and expanding the Brown Line stations and people are advocating building things that don't make full use of that investment? WTF!?
As a taxpayer in this city I'm OUTRAGED that anyone would propose anything less than full use of a lot next to this very new, very expensive new station. DeMille deserves nothing less than outright scorn and hatred.
John B.
11:23 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thank you, Eric. At least someone in this city has any sense. Neighborhood groups do nothing but serve their own interests at the expense of the city. As a resident of the city of Chicago and a taxpayer who knows ANY and all development in the city affects the city at large (no, developments in your neighborhood don't exist in a vacuum, WLVN), the development paradigm of this parcel should absolutely NOT rest in the hands of the WLVN. Squandering our transit-oriented development opportunities should be ILLEGAL in this city. Everyone wants walkable-pleasant streets with unique shops, but this will not happen without people. PLEASE do not let a Walgreen's with a giant parking lot and multiple invasive curb-cuts ruin what is one of our last few precious pedestrian streets that hasn't been gutted and destroyed by developments that cater to the automotive hegemony that is taking over this city.
Michael M
10:42 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
The idea that the builder should not be allowed to build apartments right next to an L station is ridiculous. Apartment rental prices are going thru the roof since there has been so little residential built up until this past year. There is a housing shortage. This plot of land can help ease the shortage and make the area more affordable and bring more people and shoppers to an area that needs taxpayers, shoppers, customers, and the money they bring with them. The West Lakeview Neighbors must be drunk or something. Do they have any idea that this is a city and not some dumb suburb!
Erik Glass
12:17 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
So happy to see people angry about this. Restores some faith in sanity.
Jacob E. Peters
1:05 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
But apartments bring undesirables...like teachers and Walgreens managers...oh wait
Justin
9:31 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
As it turns out, this article basically got all the important information wrong. The comments by DeMille were actually quite the opposite and quite favorable for the location. I (and I am sure others do as well) apologize for some earlier sentiment.
Ryan
10:34 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
Glad to hear the article has been corrected and WLVN is supportive of residential apartments above the retail space and against turning that stretch of Roscoe into a 2-way street. While I'd prefer to see a multi-retailer development vs. one dominant Walgreen's (that will pull dollars from local businesses), at least something is finally going up there.