Talk about a missed opportunity.
It’s good news that a parking lot located at the southeast corner of Lake and Aberdeen in the burgeoning Fulton Market District will soon be replaced by a mix of residences, office space and retail. But it’s a crying shame that the developer MCZ Development is also building a glut of off-street car parking on the site, which is located a mere three-minute walk from the CTA’s Morgan ‘L’ station.
It’s especially regrettable because, thanks to the 2015 update of the city’s transit-oriented development ordinance, MCZ is effectively not required to provide any parking at all. The beefed-up ordinance waives the usual parking requirements for new developments within a quarter mile of a rapid transit stop, and within a half mile on designated Pedestrian Streets. Instead of taking advantage of this perk, the developer is choosing to build an excessive number of car spaces, which will encourage residents, workers, and shoppers to drive.
As recently reported on Curbed Chicago, MCZ was recently issued a foundation and crane permit for the 0.66-acre site, referred to as 165 and 175 North Aberdeen. Before it was a parking lot, the location housed the three-story Best Meats building, which was razed in 2014. The building permit for the new 11-story structure was issued last year.
The development will feature 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail, 40,000 square feet of office space, and 75 housing units, ten percent of which will be affordable units. So far, so good.
But not only will every one of those units have a car space earmarked for it, but MCZ is building 65 spots for office workers and shoppers. That’s a whopping 140 spaces for the 75-unit structure. Essentially, the developer is flipping the bird at the opportunity provided by the TOD ordinance.
As Mayor Emanuel is fond of pointing out out, one of the big reasons why the Fulton Market District is booming is because of the Morgan stop, which opened in May 2012, attracting major players like Google to the area. Along with amenities like the Randolph restaurant row, the district’s pedestrian- and transit-friendly nature is a key factor in why it’s a such hot area right now.
But by bringing dozens and dozens more automobiles to the area, which makes the streets less safe and pleasant for walking and biking, new developments like this one squander that competitive edge. And because garage spaces cost tens of thousands of dollars each to build, the cost gets passed on to the residents, which undermines affordability.
Here’s hoping that as density grows in the West Loop, more developers recognize that car-centric projects like this represent a backwards-looking way of doing things. Real TOD is the wave of the future.
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