PPNA heard from over fifty community members about a proposed mixed-use development at the Southeast corner of Chicago & Lake. This project is up for review by the City Planning Commission this coming Tuesday, November 13th at 4:30 pm. PPNA staff will attend and share what we've heard from the community. You still have time to tell us your thoughts; simply add your comments in the box below this post by Monday before 5:00 pm.
KEY PROJECT FACTS
Project requires one zoning variance.
Plan includes 48 market-rate studio apartment rental units.
Commercial space plans to include Los Ocampo which currently occupies the site
Below, we highlight several community voices about the project from recent PPNA meetings. Powderhorn residents said that the development will...
PPNA VIEW
Considering overall community input, this project only somewhat aligns with preferences. The overwhelming call for projects to include affordable housing is the community's priority.
Additional data points support this view. Specifically, nearly sixty percent of households (59.4%) within the six neighborhoods along the East Lake Street corridor* are renter-occupied and more than fifty percent are cost-burdened, (53.1%). These factors, along with community sentiment, suggest the need and priority is for an increase in deeply affordable rental housing. Another notable factor is that the majority of households represent families (52.4%) and have more than one-person occupancy. This population of families would not be able to live in the new development.
Other community concerns include traffic flow and congestion, available parking, and opportunity-costs associated with redeveloping a narrow parcel without some consideration to the impact and limitations to future nearby redevelopment. There is also material concern that market rate projects of this nature often snowball into homogeneous development that leads to displacement and further erodes affordable housing.
*Powderhorn Park, Midtown Phillips, East Phillips, Phillips West, Central, and Corcoran
NEXT STEPS
On Tuesday, November 13th, PPNA staff will share what we've heard from the community with the Planning Commission.
Ongoing, PPNA will continue to appeal directly to the City and developers in an effort to facilitate public and private partnerships that result in projects that most align with community priorities and preferences.